What am I to do with the Bible?

What to do with the Bible

by rev. w. h. pike

THE Bible is wonderful because it gives us a knowledge of God, of men, of the Universe, and of Redemption. No other book can be compared to it in this respect, but it not only informs us about these important truths, but it also tells us what we are to do with it. We have within the Bible itself instruction as to our attitude toward it

We are exhorted to:

How shall I Study My Bible?

How Shall I Study My Bible?

by frederic w. farr, d. d.

PEOPLE are always asking, how shall I study the Bible? What is the best method? There is no short cut, no royal road, no magic method. Say to such an inquirer, “Read the Bible over and over again—not once, nor twice, nor thrice, but many, many times.” And that is all any one can do. Read it until you become familiar, cognizant of its contents, until you are so familiar with your Bible, be it Bagster or Oxford, that you can close your eyes and visualize the passage by locating it upon a particular page just where it belongs.

In riding upon a railroad train, you hear the trainmen call out the stations, and you refer to your time card to verify the call as each station is passed, and you wonder at the trained memory of the man who can repeat that long list of way stations without a mistake, and you ask him how he ever does it, and he smiles and replies that he has done it so long it is automatic, done without thought and without effort; and so the best product of Bible study becomes spontaneous and involuntary. You have read the Bible so frequently, so thoughtfully, so earnestly, so prayerfully that it comes to you without direct effort on your part where to locate a passage and you label it instinctively. And when the facts of Scripture are all in your head and heart, you can safely trust the Holy Spirit to interpret those facts, and you need not that any man teach you, and therefore the only thing to seek and to secure is to become familiar with the contents of the Word—thoroughly cognizant of all the facts of Scripture, and read them so often that you see them on the page where they occur, even with closed eyes. In that way, a man with one book, if that book be the Bible, has a large and liberal culture and an education that will serve manifold purposes in solving the problems and bearing the burdens and discharging the duties of daily life.

Test yourself in your regard for the Word of God

This post piggy backs off of a previous post titled submission. I am concerned on how we view and approach the Word of God. Here I have given a few verses and questions to test ourselves in.

Joshua 1:7-8: "Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."

Questions: Are you careful to obey the Word? Do you believe that the Bible has the best and wisest things to say about the most important topics of human existence? Do you believe that aligning yourself to the teachings of Scripture bring life, peace, a life that flourishes, and success (not success in a worldly sense but success in God's eyes: being conformed to his image, growing in faith, and growing to love Him and others more)?

A short thought: Reading the Word afresh

What if we had never grown up learning about Christianity from other people, and the first introduction we had to Christianity and to the person of Jesus was reading through the entire New Testament in one sitting. What would be the overall sentiment and impressions we would come away with? What would be the main topics and themes that would emerge the strongest? I want to think about this question more and try reading the Bible with this fresh perspective and (as best I can) without presuppositions or biases, and with an open mind and heart. I think I might be surprised.