Allen Webster

Topic(s): Bible Study

Links to this entire series:

• Was Joan of Arc Noah's Wife?: Part 1
• Was Joan of Arc Noah's Wife?: Part 2

WHY DO PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE?

BECAUSE THEIR MINDS ARE CLUTTERED WITH OTHER THINGS.

Jesus spoke of “thorny soil” hearts where the seed of the Word was choked. One of those thorn bushes was the “care of this world” (Mt. 13:22). Perhaps this is the one that is true of more Christians than the others. It is not that we don’t study at all, or that we don’t really want to know God’s will. It is just that we are too busy to work the Bible into our daily routines. Family, food, finances, and fun take up too much space to give the Word room to grow. As we are “busy here and there” opportunities for spiritual growth escape (1 Kgs. 20:40). Lot got busy making the most of his business opportunities down on the “well watered plains of the Jordan” and lost his family (Gen. 13:10-13). Martha got busy in the kitchen and missed the chance of a lifetime to sit in her living room and listen to Jesus teach a Bible lesson (Lk. 10:38-40). By contrast, Job said he “esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food” (23:12).

Even those who take time to read the Bible (perhaps as a part of a Bible reading program) may fail to meditate upon its precepts (Psa. 1:2). Only one in seven Americans report an involvement that goes beyond just reading the Bible. Fourteen percent of Americans currently belong to a Bible study group.[1]  This is down a full one-third from 1990 when 21% said they were involved in a Bible study group.[2] A “hurry-up” bedtime chapter or a newspaper-style glancing will not do much good. Jeremiah “ate up the Word.” He said, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart…” (15:16; cf. Rev. 10:9)

Bible study must become important enough to us that we make time for it. The average person spends 7.5 hours sleeping, 7.1 working, 5.3 in leisure, 1.45 doing housework, 1.15 eating, and .3 hours grooming per day.[3] No knowledge is as important as Bible knowledge. We spend thousands to send our children to secular college, but a free weekly schedule of spiritual education in Bible school is forfeited. Are we “seeking first the kingdom” (Mt. 6:33) when we stay home from a Gospel meeting to watch television, go to sports practice, or go to bed early to be fresh for the next day? Are we good parents if we make sure our children attend school each day, and get their homework each night, but let them skip Bible class sometimes, and never check to see that they have their memory verses ready for Sunday morning?

BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT LEARNED TO RIGHTLY DIVIDE IT.

A great number of people do not know that the Bible is “divided.” Paul said, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). There is an Old and a New covenant—the Law of Moses and the law of Christ (Heb. 8:8-13). In our Bibles these are called, the “Old Testament” and the “New Testament.” We live under the New Law (Col. 2:14). If one misses this, he will never understand the Bible properly.

Further, one must always take into consideration who is speaking in order to understand a verse in the Bible. The words of Satan (cf. Gen. 3:1-3; Mt. 4), fools (Psa. 14:1), and false teachers (Jn. 9:34) are recorded. Get the context!

BECAUSE THEY ARE PREJUDICED AGAINST IT.

If we wear sunglasses over our eyes, the world looks dark. When we put “shades” over our mind’s eye, the Gospel light is dimmed. Many come to the Bible with their minds already made up as to what it says. They make it “fit” their beliefs rather than fitting their beliefs to it. This makes proper interpretation impossible. Jesus reprimanded the Jews for this very thing: “For this people’s heart is waxed gross[4], and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Mt. 13:15).

We can understand the Bible! Let’s remove the obstacles from our path and run the race to heaven (Heb. 9:27)!

___________

Other interesting information about Americans and their Bible study habits:

• Slightly more than half of the Protestant adults who read from the Bible during the week read along with other members of their household (57%). Catholics were less likely to read the Bible together (35% of those who had read the Bible in a given week had also read it at least once with other household members). Overall, 24% of all Protestants had a family Bible reading time, compared to 7% among Catholics (1994).

• Bible reading by adults during the week by region—Northeast 35%; South 51%; Midwest 38%; West 40% (2002).

• Which gender is more faithful at reading the Bible at least weekly? The prize goes to the women. Women (46%) are more likely than are men (37%) to have read the Bible in the past week (2002).

• What version do people prefer? Among Bible readers, the King James Version is preferred to the New International Version by a 5 to 1 margin (1997).

• 88% of evangelical Christians have read the Bible in the past seven days (2002).

• An estimated 75 million adults (42%) said that reading the Bible is very important to them (1997).

Continued from Part 1.