Why Read the Bible?

What is the point of Bible knowledge? A fair question and one which has many responses. For me, knowing about the God described in the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, has helped grow my faith in times of doubt and despair. Well, not always in despair, but mostly. I didn’t grow up in a Christian home so my exposure to church and Bible study has largely happened since adulthood, with just a few sparse seeds sown in early childhood and adolescence. Never underestimate those random seeds!

I can remember one of the first Bible studies I attended as a new Christian, which unfortunately, was on the book of Revelation. I had children under five years old during this study, and the way it was conducted absolutely terrified me. I panicked about bringing these two precious lives into the world when it could crash and burn at any moment! Mercifully, I have experienced other studies over the years that have brought light and life to my growing understanding of who God is and why I could trust that what I have read and heard is true. Faith has been a process of reason and experience for me, and really continues to be so. Learning about others’ evolution of faith through well-led Bible studies has helped me to believe that what I really want to be true is actually true.

Some may relate to the tendency to believe something only if there is evidence to support that belief. Thomas, the disciple often known as doubting Thomas, was such a person. Perhaps the epithet is a bit unfair; after all, it seems like good sense to make sure the person you are going to lean the weight of your faith against is one who will not give way and leave you flat on your face. Thomas had previously said, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” I get that. I too want to be sure I’m leaning my faith, hope, and my life against something more solid than wishful or magical thinking.

This is where it helps to learn the stories, the events, the interactions of God--Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit--with the likes of women and men in history. The Bible reveals a cross section of humanity, people we can relate to or whom we recognize: some of dubious character, some who tried but failed, some who acted courageously yet still doubted, so many who did their best and their worst, who grumbled and complained, criticized and judged others. Those who trusted a lot and those who trusted hardly at all. These are like the ones Jesus might be referring to when he looks on at the people of Jerusalem before his crucifixion. Through my study, I can almost hear the grief in his voice when he says, “how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” These people are like me when I get lost in the mire of my own self-concern.

In a similar way, I remember singing a hymn early in my life as a Christian. One of the stanzas was taken from some verses in Luke which describe one of a hundred sheep that gets lost. Jesus, through the words I sang, stresses the value of that one sheep, saying it will be searched for, no matter how long it takes. Then when it is finally found, it will be carried home with great rejoicing. As I sang, I yearned to be that one sheep, so loved that even when I was lost I could trust that God would find me again and carry me home rejoicing. The song and the Luke passage goes on to describe how this one of a hundred sheep represents the sinner who recognises and admits who they are. The embarrassing irony here is that I didn’t even realise at the time, I was that one who was lost! Learning about God through Bible studies has helped me not only to connect my lived experiences with the people and stories I read about, but also to make connections with God. Seeing how God responds to people in history, whether in action or allegory, helps me see a little more clearly, a bit like the lenses used by an optometrist during eye exams.

Another example of this type of connection happens when I read the metaphor described in Hosea 11:3-4. Here I am instantly reminded of the love I have for my children:

         It was I who taught Ephraim [Israel] to to walk, taking them by the arms . . . To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them. I led them with chords of human kindness, with ties of love . . .

I remember doing the same with my little ones as they learned to walk, and when I think about God loving me as much as I love my own children, I’m moved closer to trusting that this is really true. In the same way, I read about God as a husband, a brother, a friend, protector, challenger, burden bearer, an expiation and sacrifice . . . and the inhabiter of my soul. So much in this book shows me I can lean my weight against my understanding of who God is and how unfathomably I am loved. This knowledge frees me to see others in a new way. I am better able (though not perfectly able) to experience love and compassion for those around me. It is easier to see the person that God rejoices in and to feel that joy myself. It is also becoming much easier to forgive. 

I’m not a theologian or a priest, but I don’t think I need to be in order to come closer to the truth of God’s presence in my life and in the world. I am pretty sure I will never be able to say I have God all figured out and I trust completely. But if learning a bit more and trusting a fraction more brings me greater confidence in the one I am leaning against, I’ll take that.

Gaye Pope Carlson is English, and now gratefully holds dual citizenship after moving to Minnesota as a young woman. She retired from teaching writing and literature at Normandale Community College and is a member of Trinity in Excelsior.