People throughout history have done all sorts of things with Bibles. Some have bought them and left them on shelves. Others have burned them in book burnings. Bibles have been manipulated like sock puppets in the hands of people who want to make the Bible say what they want it to say. So what is the best way to use the Bible?
Here are six options for how you might read the Bible. Why don’t you take a few minutes and ask yourself which of these six best describe how you read the Bible?
Option 1: I don’t.
Just owning a Bible doesn’t mean you read it. (And if we’re being honest, just reading it doesn’t mean you understand it.) The truth is the Bible is a massive book that was written a long time ago, and it can be intimidating to open. Especially since it’s been known to change the lives of people who take it seriously. So one option is simply not to read it.
Here’s another reason people, even Christians, might not feel like reading their Bibles: They feel like they already basically know what it says. But do they? A lot of people who grew up in the church basically learned a seven-year-old’s version of the Bible. They learned some stories, they learned some moral lessons (we should be a good person, not a bad person), and they learned that Jesus died and rose from the dead. And that’s about all they learned. The truth is the seven-year-old’s version is like a swimming pool, whereas the Bible is like an ocean. You could spend your life studying just a few of the Bible’s books and still have more to learn by the end.
“You could spend your life studying just a few of the Bible’s books and still have more to learn by the end.”
Option 2: I proofread it to find problems.
Some people read the Bible looking for reasons not to like it. Slavery was a part of everyday life in the ancient world, so people might read the Bible to say, “See! There’s slavery in the Bible!” Women were often treated as second-class citizens in the ancient world, so people might read the Bible, get to tragic moments where men treated their wives and daughters cruelly, and say, “See! The Bible is anti-women!”
Now, it’s important to recognize that the Bible often describes things that God didn’t approve of. Even still, God did approve of some things in the Bible (like pouring out his wrath on groups of people who did evil things), which can make us feel uncomfortable. Some people take these uncomfortable parts of the Bible as reason not to take it seriously.
Option 3: I manipulate the Bible to make it say what I want.
Did you know you can make the Bible say whatever you want it to say? Here are the main steps:
- Figure out ahead of time what you want the Bible to say.
- Focus on a verse or two that can be made to say what you want them to say, and ignore the context (the verses that come before and after).
- Formulate a new meaning, saying, “Actually, this is what the Bible teaches!”
Here’s an example: Let’s take a very straightforward Bible verse. In John 14:6, Jesus said to his disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Then along comes Eckart Tolle. Tolle is a well-known spiritual advisor for the Oprah Winfrey Network. In his book A New Earth, Tolle sadly takes Christian passages, jerks them out of context, and drags them kicking and screaming into a pantheistic mold. Pantheism is the belief that everything is made up of God (especially us). Listen to how Tolle uses John 14:6, the verse we just read. 
“Formulate a new meaning, saying, ‘Actually, THIS is what the Bible teaches!'”
Tolle writes, “The Truth is inseparable from who you are. Yes, you are the Truth. If you look for it elsewhere, you will be deceived every time. The very Being that you are is Truth.” And then listen to what Tolle writes next: “Jesus tried to convey that when he said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’”
Did you catch what Tolle did? He took the verse where Jesus says he’s the only way to God, and he used that verse to say, if you want to know the truth, don’t look up there (to God) but look in here (in your own heart). We are the truth. That’s manipulating the Bible to say what we want it to say.
Option 4: I read it to find inspiration (and ignore the rest).
Many Bible verses and stories can be very inspiring. The ending especially is very inspiring, as it describes heaven and how evil is finally defeated. So if we go to the Bible looking for inspiration, we’ll find some. Here’s an example of a verse that has inspired a lot of people to believe they can do anything if they put their mind to it: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13, NASB). People have used this verse to inspire themselves to run faster, throw harder, and lift more pounds than they thought possible. Yet is that what this verse truly says? Does it say, “Christ gives me the strength to accomplish anything I want to accomplish”?
Actually, if we zoom out to the context, we’ll see that the verse refers to going through hard times. The author Paul says, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:12–13). In other words, whatever life throws at me, Jesus can give me the strength to handle it. That’s much different from, “I am able to do whatever great things I want to accomplish.”
Yes, a lot in the Bible is inspiring. But we can find inspiring stuff in concerts, movies, and sporting events too. The Bible isn’t meant to be a succession of fortune-cookie declarations about the success we’ll have in life. The Bible is first and foremost about God, and it tells us truth, not just inspirational sayings that make us feel good.
“The Bible is first and foremost about God, and it tells us truth, not just inspirational sayings that make us feel good.”
Option 5: I study it so I can be smart.
The Bible contains truth, and truth does make us smarter. But learning something to get smarter can be good or bad. On the negative side, learning can be a means of pridefully puffing yourself up. (1 Corinthians 8:1 says, “Knowledge puffs up while love builds up.”) People who think they’ve arrived because they know the Bible are tragically fooling themselves. The point was never just knowing with your head but believing in your heart and putting it into practice with your hands and feet.
On the positive side, learning can be a means of growing in wisdom to make sensible decisions (see Proverbs 1:1–6). If you like the idea of growing in wisdom, the book of Proverbs makes it clear that it starts with fearing the Lord: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).
But, again, the point of reading the Bible is never meant to be only about getting smarter. In fact, it will teach you to do things that a lot of people will see as not that smart. It’ll teach you to care about people nobody else cares about. It’ll teach you to forgive people who seem unforgiveable. It’ll teach you to share the gospel even if people don’t understand why you care so much about it. There’s a much better reason to read the Bible.
“The point was never just knowing with your head but believing in your heart and putting it into practice with your hands and feet.”
Option 6: I see it as the authority over my convictions and character.
Over and over, throughout the Bible, the authors claim to be writing messages they’ve received from God. If that’s true and the Bible is from God, then the only logical response would be to let the Bible be your authority. What do we mean by “authority”? This means letting the Bible be the main voice you listen to when it comes to what you believe (your convictions) and how you live (your character). If you really believe that the Bible is the Word of God, then you’ll go with what it teaches even if the people around you believe something else.
