I'm a reader. I love reading. I like to think that someone could call me a voracious reader or a committed reader or a diligent reader. I read history, I read theology, I read methodology, I read fantasy, I read modern fiction, I read classic fiction, I read . . .
I (almost) always read the prologue, the introduction, the preface, the acknowledgements, the conclusion, the epilogue, the footnotes, the endnotes (even though I ABHOR endnotes!), the "about the author" page, as well as the front cover and back cover and dust jacket.
Now, you may think that this is a very self-serving post so far. Well, maybe it has been. But here's why I bring this up and why I entitled this post "Skipping." When I'm reading a Christian book (theology, Christian living, textbook, commentary, etc.) I all to often find myself reading everything but the quoted Scripture in the book! I've been challenged on this omission several times by Gunner Gundersen, the Associate Dean of Men at The Master's College, and yet I still do it quite consistently.
Even now, as I'm reading Right Thinking in a World Gone Wrong, I keep having to remind myself to SLOW DOWN and go back to read the Bible passage that was quoted. I think I do this because I grew up in the church, God saved me at a young age and I'm now in my 19th year of Christian education. It's like I've inoculated myself against feeling the need to read the Bible verse(s) not because I don't know the passage - I probably am familiar with it - but because I somehow think that I've exhausted all the truth and meaning from the passage long ago.
This is the very thing that I'm concerned about for the youth under my care at Village Bible Church. I continually tell them not to rely on the third grade flannelgraph (most of them don't have any idea of what I'm talking about! I blame this development squarely on VeggieTales.) stories they learned so long ago as if they heard the story and have the content and the applications/implications for their lives stored away forever! May I see this blindness in myself and fight against it with heart, soul, mind and strength!
What about you? Do you find yourself doing this? Do you even read? Do you read theology and Christian living and Christian (auto)biograhies to strengthen and encourage your walk with Christ? Are there other reasons that I/we skip over the Bible passages in the books we read? Let me know in the comments to help think further about this issue.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12
6 comments:
I actually don't do that. I've never had that problem. I think it might be because I am a slow reader. I love to read (I totally identify with your first two paragraphs) but I read slowly, and one benefit of that is that it's hard for me to skip anything.
Ouch!
Okay, so mostly just read fiction, but even if I am reading Christian fiction with some Bible in it, I tend to skip over the Bible verses.
This is a very convicting reminder. Thank you.
I know exactly what you're talking about.
I read a lot so I do try to "strategically skim" just in general. But I noticed that somehow I had trained myself that Bible passage quotes are always to be in the "skim" category.
I realized this especially when reading two books: Let the Nations Be Glad (Piper) and A Call To Spiritual Reformation (Carson). In both books, scripture is often quoted at length. So they can actually be read pretty quickly if you skip the scripture. But if you do... you miss the point of the whole book - which is to drive you to scripture to find out what God is saying!
So, I do think it is ok to skim quotes. Often authors seem to include them for little to no benefit. But when I let myself include scripture in that same category of quotes to be skimmed... I'm often robbing the author of the intention of the book - and myself from its benefit!
I just almost skipped over the Hebrews verse posted at the bottom or your blog entry because I already knew what it says.
Andrew, thanks for writing that...I do the same and think about that a lot!!!
Andrew,
I do this too much, even when I'm reviewing notes for Sunday School. I have to consciously make the effort to read the Scriptures that go with the notes. Thanks for the exhortation my son.
Da
Post a Comment