Why Does the Bible Feel So Dead to Me?
When you read Scripture as one rakes for leaves, you accumulate information to suit your own internal biases. Don’t do this. Instead, read to allow the God-breathed Holy Spirit-inspired text to transform your life.
The reason many Christians feel the Bible is dead to them is because they read it the wrong way.
They read it to be informed and not transformed.
Have you ever heard of The Thomas Jefferson Bible? Officially titled The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, this work was compiled by the American founding father Thomas Jefferson in 1820. Using a razor and glue, Jefferson edited the New Testament to create a version that reflected his Enlightenment-era belief in reason and morality while excluding supernatural elements.
He removed references to miracles, the resurrection, and Jesus’ divinity, focusing instead on Jesus’ ethical teachings and parables. Jefferson’s intent was to distill what he saw as the essence of Jesus’ moral philosophy, free from theological interpretation. The result is a concise and rationalistic text that reveals Jefferson’s admiration for Jesus as a moral teacher while illustrating his rejection of traditional Christian doctrines.
This is how many Christians read Scripture. They cherry-pick those parts they love and dismiss those parts they find uncomfortable or confusing.
If they are consumed by American politics, they’ll link the Bible and the American Constitution together and see America as an extension of ancient Israel. If they’re pacifists, they’ll emphasize Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount and gloss over the Apostle Paul. If they’re into social justice, they’ll say the entire point of the Bible is, as Micah 6:8 says, “to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
So how do you avoid this? Here is the secret.
Stop Raking Leaves and Start Searching for Diamonds
In How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler, he writes,
If a book is easy and fits nicely into all your language conventions and thought forms, then you probably will not grow much from reading it. It may be entertaining, but not enlarging to your understanding. It’s the hard books that count. Raking is easy, but all you get is leaves; digging is hard, but you might find diamonds.[1]
All throughout Scripture, we see this repeated theme that the Word of God is something we’re to thirst for, to hunger for, and to prize above all else. Psalm 19:9-10 says, “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are reliable and altogether righteous. They are more desirable than gold—than an abundance of pure gold; and sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb.”
When you read Scripture as one rakes for leaves, you accumulate information to suit your own internal biases. You’ll Thomas Jefferson your way through Scripture, cutting those parts you don’t like and keeping those parts you do. Don’t do this. Instead, read to allow the God-breathed Holy Spirit-inspired text to transform your life.
Don’t just try to read all 66 books in a year. Read to be changed. As Adler adds, “It's not how many books you get through, it's how many books get through you.”[2]
So, How Do You Put This Into Practice?
First, start your own Bible reading plan. Maybe you read through the entire Bible in a year. Or maybe you read a lot slower. That’s up to you.
Next, read the Bible in context. Remember that all of Scripture can be summarized in one word—redemption. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible points to Jesus’ redemption of humanity and the day that Christ returns for his bride, the church. The first covenant points to Jesus’ redemption, while the second speaks of the fulfillment of his redemption.
Third, read to be changed. Let’s say you get to Psalm 1:1-2 and read, 1 “How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! 2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.”
Instead of merely reading this as a text to people several thousand years ago, allow God’s Word to be a laser to your heart. Ask yourself, do I delight in God’s instruction? What does this even mean? And soon, your questions will prompt you to search for answers that unveil the diamonds in the rough.
Sunday Christians read to be informed. Monday Christians read to be transformed.
Be a Monday Christian.
[1] Mortimer Adler, How to Read a Book
[2] Mortimer Adler, How to Read a Book
