“I fear that as Christians we can sometimes spend so much time studying about the Bible or talking about the Bible that we don’t just read it. To use a similar analogy, we are like people who spend hours preparing a meal but never sit down to eat it.” - P&D
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)
Don’t Just Study the Bible, Read It
Since 2005
Image
Discussion
NewHow?
How does that work? I’m struggling a bit to understand what kind of “study” process this is and who is training people to do that. … and why? I mean, laziness is always a strong motivational factor with humans, but in this case, getting a good result would have to be harder that way, I would think, not easier.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
NewStruggling as well
It is true that elite chess players do indeed spend a fair amount of time learning strategies, openings, and the like, but at the end of the day, they become elite chess players by playing chess. So with Aaron, I am befuddled as to how one can actually be said to be studying the Bible without actually reading it.
On the flip side, if the author is warning of the hazards of being overly academic, that point is well taken. I've heard a number of pastors say that seminary was one of the most hazardous things ever to their faith, and sometimes an excess of academic rigor can steal one's love for the text. To that reality, sometimes the best way to recover one's love for His Word is to simply read it without any plan in mind.
On the light side, being overly academic about God's Word could also be similar to having an overly analytical way of approaching one's wife, and if one is lucky, she'll pull you close and say "shut up and kiss me".
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.