TL;DR the Bible
How to Digest a Huge Book
“The Bible is so long. How do you read it?”
“The Old Testament is so boring. What does it all mean?”
Maybe you have heard these phrases. Maybe you have even used one of these phrases (eek!). It is shocking to me how many people call themselves Christian and have not read the Bible.
It’s a big boy. I get it. But the rewards are many.
Let me get one thing out of the way. You are not required to read the Bible to be a Christian. Reading the Bible will not get you to heaven. We are saved by the grace of God and through belief in His son. If you believe, you are going to heaven. It is through faith, not works that we are saved.
But at the same time, we want to grow in our faith. We are striving to be more like Christ. For this reason, I wanted to read the Bible after I was saved. It is a one-part love letter and one-part instruction manual. When we read the Word, it buries itself in our hearts. Through the implanted Word, God speaks to us and our faith grows.
If you say you believe something, you should know what that something is. Did you learn of Christ through a sermon, or did you read the first-hand accounts in scripture? If I’m going to bet my life on something, I wanna know all the fine print. That’s one heckuva privacy agreement!
Spoiler Alert: There’s no fine print on the Good News of Jesus. That’s why it’s called the Good News. You believe. You are forgiven of all your sins. Even the bad stuff. You go to heaven when you die.
But you should find out for yourself.
So how do you go about reading such a massive book?
Anatomy of the Bible
There is a total of 1,189 chapters in the Bible. 929 Chapters are in the Old Testament. 260 chapters are in the New Testament. You can get through most chapters in about 5 minutes. It can take longer to microwave a frozen burrito (depending on the power of your microwave… and the thickness of the burrito).
If you read one chapter a day at frozen-burrito speed, it would take you three years to get through the entire Bible. That’s not a bad goal… as opposed to not reading the Bible at all. Can you turn off Netflix for 5 minutes? Just 5 minutes?!
When I was saved, I was like a dry sponge. I wanted to know all about my new life. I wanted to slurp down the Bible as fast as I could. I devoured the Bible in a few months. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I gave it a good chew.
I kinda binge-ate the Bible.
Second Time is a Charm
When I read through on my first pass, I noticed that some of the stories seemed to be in scrambled order. This drove the editor in me a little nuts.
I turned to the Bible App. This link is for Android, but it is available for the iPhone as well. The app has many different devotional plans. I found a “Chronological” plan. This does two things:
1. The Bible reads in the order that historians think events actually happened.
2. Each day contains about three chapters.
Following the plan, the Bible can be read in a single year.
Yes, but What’s It All Mean?
The New Testament tells the story of Jesus Christ and how to live in the new covenant. The Old Testament tells the story of the Jews and their kings. It contains a lot of symbolism that points to Christ and the New Testament. God knew what he was going to do and he uses a lot of clues and hints.
But I was never big on mysteries. As I am going back through, I continue to cock my head sideways as I read. “Huh?”
Google to the rescue (or your search engine of choice). Scholars have been tearing apart the Bible for a very long time. If there is symbolism, some old dude has found it (or dude-ette).
The Bible is coming alive for me (even the driest of Old Testament chapters). I find myself nodding and saying, “Ooooo. That’s what that means.”
My favourite site so far is BibleStudyTools.com
Be warned, most of the Bible is the rated-G parts of the story. Things can range from PG-13 to R when you start to get the whole explanation. But most of us are adults when we start to dig around here. We know that sex happens. It was created by God and it is good (in approved situations).
Here’s an example of a deeper story (fully G-rated):
The Israelite got a whole bunch of super-strict rules after they left Egypt. God said they couldn’t eat certain things. God said they couldn’t touch certain things. If you read through quick and casual (like I did on the first pass), you might think that God is super-strict. Like in an OCD way. I even missed it on the second read, but then I looked up the explanation. I was filled with wonder at God’s tender love and caring for his people.
God did not want his people to mingle with other groups that they were encountering. The easiest way to keep the Israelite together was to give them a bunch of super-technical rules. The people around them wouldn’t care about such rules. The easiest way to follow the rules would be to stick together.
Also, the group was in the desert. The surroundings were full of poisonous critters and other dangers. The Israelites had to be very slow and cautious. They didn’t want to touch or eat the wrong thing. They would be careful about sticking their hands in a dark hole, for instance.
Sometimes a parent gives a child a rule without explanation. The rule is usually given for the child’s protection. The child does not need to know why. They only need to trust their parent.
I trust that God has our best interests at heart. His laws and rules are to help us, not hurt us. Discovering the deeper meaning of the Bible is growing my faith.
I recommend that you learn the story behind The Story.