What are the reasons people do not read or trust the Bible? Part 1

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Question: What are the reasons people do not read or trust the Bible?

S.M.K.

ATP: The reasons people don’t read the Bible range from simple and practical to complex and spiritual.

Some do not read the Bible because reading in general has never become a habit in their lives or because it is a struggle. For those who grew up loving to read and for whom reading comes easily this may be hard to fathom, but reading isn’t enjoyable for everyone and many people struggle with it.

Others don’t read the Bible because they have never been told or taught that it is something they should be doing.

A third group doesn’t read the Bible because they find it hard to sit down and relax!

A more complicated reason for not reading the Bible occurs when some feel that they just couldn’t understand the Bible anyway, so why try; or when they have tried and just couldn’t figure it out and gave up.

Some don’t read the Bible because religious leaders in their lives have told them (or their parents) that interpreting the Bible is for the professionals and that lay people should leave it alone.

And frankly some don’t read the Bible because it is too convicting!

I had professor in college who explained a remarkable thing about the Bible that I have found to be true: One of the greatest proofs that the Bible is truly the Word of God is that it exerts its authority over you!

What he meant was that when a person reads the Bible there is a divine “ought to” that comes into the person’s heart and mind. The writings don’t feel like suggestions! With other books we tend to take or leave the advice and counsel found in them. Not with the Bible. We are more inclined to accept what is there as how things should be, or to fight against what is there because we don’t want to obey.

Hmmm, where did that word obey come from?!

But that is precisely the feeling we get when we read the Bible: we are to obey it. And when a person isn’t living the way they are supposed to be living, obedience to God is the last thing they want to be thinking about, so they may avoid reading the Bible altogether so they won’t have to “listen” to Him.

There are more reasons for not reading the Bible—laziness, lack of discipline, forgetfulness etc.. Some are benign in terms of being a cause for lack of reading, but all have the same effect in our lives: spiritual atrophy, that is spiritual weakness, lack of spiritual direction and peace.

I’ll comment further on this in the next blog, but just know for now that reading the Bible should be part of every Christian’s life, and I would recommend it for those who are in a searching process too. Very often the opinions people have about the Bible have been formed in the vacuum of never having read it for themselves.