Why and How Should I Read the Bible? Stories and Illustrations

There was a art contest held in a local school one Christmas season a few years ago in East Texas. One of the prize winners was a picture drawn by a nine year old boy showing three men, offering gifts to the baby Jesus in his manger. What made the picture unique is how the three gift presenters arrived – there was fire truck on the side of the picture. The principle asked the boy about his decision to draw the truck and the boy, in his heavy East-Texas accent, was quick to reply: “Well, the Bible says the wise men came from a-far.”

Over 44 million Bibles are sold in a year.

A couple of years ago I read a great book called "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. It's a story about a very normal woman from a very normal Dutch family who did the right thing and hid Jews from German soldiers at her home. I don't want to give away the book's story, but Corrie and her family end up being arrested by the Gestapo. She ends up in various prison facilities, including a concentration camp in Germany called Ravensbrook. At various points, she risks a lot just to smuggle a Bible through. Once when she was taken to a hospital, a friendly nurse asked her secretly if she could do anything for her. Corrie asked for a Bible. The nurse was able to smuggle her 4 separate gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) wrapped in a newspaper. Later when her family smuggled a full Bible to her, she gave away the other portions of the Bible to other prisoners who received it as if they just received their freedom. She treasured this Bible throughout her ordeal at the concentration camp. She hid it as if her life depended on it. When the Bible was saved, she thanked and praised God and rejoiced.

How can this be? How can it be 100% human authors and 100% God? Sir Christopher Wren, perhaps one of the greatest architects of his time, built St. Paul's Cathedral. He started building it in 1676; it took him 35 years to build it. He was 44 when he began and he was 79 when it was completed in 1711. Sir Christopher Wren "built" St. Paul's Cathedral, but actually, he didn't lay a single stone; other people did that. But he direct the whole operation - he inspired it - he was the architect behind it. And in the same way, God himself didn't 'write' this; he used human authors. But he inspired them, he was the architect behind it - he brought it about. Every stone in St. Paul's Cathedral was there because Sir Christopher Wren intended to be there. And the Bible is, we believe, as God intends it to be.

Imagine a Super Bowl game without rules or referees to enforce the rules. Is it more freeing to play with the referee or freeing to play without a referee? Imagine a world without traffic laws. It would be too scary to step into any vehicle. Imagine a world without criminal laws. It would be too scary to step outside. Imagine a marriage without any boundaries - it wouldn't be a marriage at all.

Imagine you work for the police in the days before computing and printing. All messages are hand written or individually typed. If you worked at a tiny police department in the highlands of Scotland and you received a command from central office it would have gone through many different departments before getting to you and have been copied many times. How could you tell whether you have heard or received the message correctly?