It's very easy for us to take for granted all the choices we have these days, isn't it?
I'd like to tell you about the family of a friend of mine who lived in Fiji quite a few years ago. Now, in those days Fiji wasn't a great international tourist resort, and there weren't nearly so many choices available. When it came to eating you just ate whatever was in season. If breadfruit was in season you ate breadfruit; if coconut was in season you ate coconut.
So far, so good - the trouble began when they got back to the UK. My friend's mum told me that the first time she went into a supermarket in the UK she just ran away without buying anything. She was so overwhelmed by the enormous range of choices in front of her she couldn't make any decisions at all. It wasn't just a case of cheese or no cheese: it was a case of which of the fifty different types of cheese should she choose.
You'll be pleased to hear that she's learnt to cope with all that now and Tesco no longer holds any fear for her (mind you, I find it pretty scary myself sometimes).
It's a bit like that these days with religion, isn't it? Things were so much simpler in the old days when we basically just had the two choices: you were either Protestant or you were Roman Catholic, weren't you? And even those decisions were largely out of your control.
Nowadays it's as if we are in a whole supermarket of religions with shelves filled with a bewildering array of flavours and packages. You can go for the off-the-shelf pre-packaged brands like your standard Islam or Judaism or atheism - but even these come in dozens of flavours and varieties. Alternatively you can be more adventurous and head over to the deli-counter and do a bit of pick and mix: I'll have a bit of Eastern Mysticism seasoned with some Buddhism and a dollop of Christian teaching on the side, please. If you think I'm going a bit overboard with this then just take a look at the religion section of a bookshop next time you find yourself in one.
On the surface the supermarket of religions might look quite attractive; after all, we like our choices; we like to be individuals. But there's a real and very serious danger with this modern, or rather Post Modern, approach to religion. The danger is that we base on lives on something which looks good, feels nice, works for us, but fundamentally, at the end of the day, it just isn't true.
I don't want anyone to become a Christian because they think Christianity is in some way better or more satisfying or more fulfilling than other religions, although I believe it is. No, I want people to become Christians because they have looked at the facts about Christianity and have recognised that it is true. It is The Truth. That makes the seeker less like someone shopping in a supermarket, and more like a scientist who has a number of theories, each of which he tests until he has nailed down which one is the truth.
It's vital that we build our lives on the truth, isn't it? Which of us wants to build our lives on a lie? Yet, tragically, people all around us are doing just that.
So, why am I giving you all this heavy stuff about truth this evening? Well, as you know our title tonight is "Why and How should I read the Bible?", and it is in the Bible that the Christian believes truth can be found. I don't want you to think of the Bible as a Good book, I want you to think of it as a True book.
The Bible is true because it is based on revelation from God, and because it is true the Bible forms the foundation for our relationship with God. Those are the two topics I want to cover this evening: revelation and relationship.
First of all, the Bible is true because it is based on Revelation from God. That is, the Bible reveals God to us.
Philosophers and theologians start with the really big questions, don't they, like "How can we know God?" Let's start with a simpler question. Most of you don't know me yet, so let's ask, how can you know me? Or, perhaps an even simpler simpler question, let's ask, "What did I have for breakfast this morning?".
One way you could approach this deep and meaningful question is to sit around guessing. You might guess that I had porridge, or muesli for breakfast. You might assert earnestly that I definitely had last night's left-over curry, but that wouldn't make it true. It's silly, isn't it? But that's the way many people go about trying to know God. People try to guess what God is like. They say things like "I like to think of God as [blank]", and fill in the blank with whatever they happen to like the idea of.
No, the only reliable way for you to know what I had for breakfast, since no-one else was around at the time, is for me to tell you.
In the same way, it's foolish for us to sit around trying to guess what God is like, because he has told us what he is like. God has revealed himself to us in the Bible, and that's what I mean by saying it is revelation.
We believe that the Bible is God's revelation to us - that it is God's truth - because that is what Jesus believed. Often we find Jesus is discussing some matter and he will quote some Bible text and say it is written..., at which point it is the end of the argument. As far as Jesus is concerned the Bible is the last word; it is God's word; it is completely trustworthy.
Now, you might counter, that only applies to the Old Testament, the Bible that Jesus had. What about the New Testament which was written after he had died? Well, Jesus had entrusted the writing of the New Testament to his disciples - he himself chose and guided those who would write it down, so that we can trust that the New Testament says just what Jesus wanted it to say. The New Testament is also God's word.
Since we're talking about the Bible, let's have a quote from the Bible! One of Jesus' Apostles wrote this,
First of all this verse reinforces what I have been saying: the Bible is "God-breathed". Although it was written over a timespan of 1500 years, in 66 different books, by more than 40 different human authors, there is a unity of purpose in the Bible, because there is a single divine Author behind it.
All scripture is God-breathed, so it comes to us as a whole. We are not at liberty to pick and choose bits we like and don't like. We can't accept just the bits we agree with, and reject those that we don't. It's tempting, isn't it? For example, it's easy to accept the bits of the Bible that talk about God's love, but we must also accept the bits that talk about his judgement.
If we want to get a true understanding of God then we must take the Bible as a whole, because it is all written by Him. This was the attitude of Jesus toward the Bible that he had, and has been the attitude of the vast majority of the Christian church down the centuries.
So, the sentence that I read just now says that the Bible is "breathed-out" by God - it reveals Him to us. And it goes on to say that, because of this, the Bible is our handbook for life.
In other words, the Bible reveals God's character to us, but it also reveals God's will for us.
The verse said that the Bible is useful for teaching and rebuking - that is, it defines what we believe as Christians - and it is useful for correcting and training in righteousness - that is, it tells us what to do and how to behave.
In the Bible God has given us a handbook so that we can live life as it is meant to be led.
Instruction books can be very useful, can't they? Sometime ago, when my wife and I moved into our first house we were kindly given a gas cooker by some friends. We had been happily using it for a while, but one day the kind people who gave it to us sent us the instruction book which had been lost in the meantime. When I read the instruction book I discovered all sorts of exciting things. For example, the cooker had a timer function, so we could set it to cook while we were out. But best of all, the instruction book told us that the oven was self-cleaning. In fact, it said that we musn't even try to clean it in case we damaged its self-cleaning properties. Unless I had read the instructions I'd have had no idea.
If we want to get the best out of life, we need to follow the instructions - they are here in the Bible.
So, the Bible is true because it is God's revelation to us. It tells us what he is like, and how he's designed us to live. It reveals God's character to us and it reveals His will for us.
Now at this point you could be thinking that the Bible doesn't sound like a very good read. Is it just a serious of logical propositions or a boring old text book?
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The bible is full of poetry, narrative, letters, proverbs, stories, history, speeches and some of the finest literature ever written. It's like this because it is the story of God's relationship with people throughout history in all its aspects. That brings me to my second R: relationship. Because the Bible is true it can form the basis of our relationship with God.
When I became a Christian at the age of 16, one of the very first things I did was to go home and read the Bible. All these years later I can clearly remember opening it up, turning to a passage, reading it, and just being stunned at the power of God's voice speaking to me as I read. It felt like Jesus himself was sitting with me telling me his thoughts.
And still today, when I want to know Jesus better, to build my relationship with him, I turn to the Bible, because the Bible is primarily a book about Jesus.
I don't know about you, but I love reading biography. If you were to look at my bookshelves, among other things, you'll find biographies of Billy Graham, preacher; Galileo Galilei, scientist; and Tony Adams, footballer. In a similar way the Bible is like a biography of Jesus.
It's been said about the different parts of the Bible that: the Old testament is Jesus predicted; the Gospels are Jesus revealed; Acts is Jesus preached; the Epistles, Jesus explained and the Revelation, Jesus expected. The point is, it's all about Jesus.
Through the Bible we get to know Jesus better, and through the Bible he speaks to us today. It is like a letter from someone we love - sharing their news and thoughts; a very special thing.
Because God wants to have a relationship with us we must not get stuck at the point of merely reading the Bible; the point of our Bible reading should be to bring us closer to God.
Jesus said this to some very religious people,
These religious people had missed the point: when we read the Bible it should be more than an intellectual exercise of our minds. As part of our relationship with God it should involve our hearts and wills as well, like reading that letter from someone we love.
As before, our example in this is Jesus. If Jesus needed his Bible then how much more do we? And Jesus did know his Bible: our Old Testament! His Father spoke to him clearly through it, and it was for him a complete guide to life. If we read and obey the Bible, hearing God's voice in it, then we will become more like Jesus.
So, the Bible guides us, but it can also help us in other ways.
When you were at school you might have been given a little Bible or New Testament by the Gideon organisation. I've still got mine, and in the front it has a great little section on where to look in the Bible in all sorts of different circumstances. For example:
Where to find help when you're anxious; when you're bereaved; when you are contemplating marriage; when lonely; when needing peace, and loads of other situations. Whatever your situation the answers are in the Bible: find someone who can help you to search the scriptures for answers to your questions. The answers are there, and God wants to talk to you about them. That's part of his relationship with us; God is longing to speak to you.
So the Bible is true because it is God's revelation to us, and because it is true it can form the basis of our relationship with God. So I hope you agree that this makes the Bible completely unique. It explains why the Bible is a uniquely popular book, a uniquely powerful book and a uniquely precious book.
It is estimated that 44 million Bibles are sold worldwide every year, and that's around 2000 years after it was first published. If cumulative sales of the Bible were frankly reflected in bestseller lists, it would be a rare week when anything else would achieve a look-in.
If, as Christians believe, the Bible is the words of the living God then it is no surprise that it is powerful.
A man who worked on translating the Bible into English in the 1940s said this about his experience of it,
As he worked on the Bible's text he says he could feel power running through it. It would be strange to say that about any other book, wouldn't it? But this is the experience that Christians have: the Bible is a powerful book. It has a supernatural power, because it is not written by people, it is written by God.
People today are looking in all sorts of strange places for spiritual power and spiritual authority, whether to gurus, or meditation, or horoscopes or the occult. But spiritual authority is right where it has always been: in the Bible.
I have a friend by the name of a Giles who is now a vicar. However, 20 years ago he was a student studying Russian, right in the middle of the Cold War. As part of his studies he had to spend six months in Russia. When he went to Russia he took with him two copies of the New Testament translated into Russian, so as to help out the Russian Church. The Russian Church was delighted to receive this gift, but Giles could tell that they desperately wanted more Bibles.
Part way through his visit he briefly came back to Britain. On his return to Russia this time he tried to smuggle a whole shoebox full of the little Bibles. Unfortunately, his luggage was searched, and his Bibles found and confiscated.
As he finally left Russia some months later, Giles was interviewed by the KGB. It became apparent to him that all during his stay in Russia he had been followed by the KGB, and all of his activities recorded. It was potentially quite a dangerous situation.
Giles knew the risks. Why was he prepared to risk his safety for the sake of a few Bibles? It was because he knew how precious these Bibles were to the Russian Christians he knew.
Another measure of how precious the Bible is, is how much effort has been put into translating it into other languages. For comparison:
I think this demonstrates that the Bible is uniquely popular, powerful and precious. It is those things because it is God's revelation and the foundation of our relationship with him.
The title of this session is "Why and How to Read the Bible". You'll have noticed that I've spent almost all of my time this evening on the "why" part, so perhaps something you could discuss in your groups is the "how" side of things. It might be interesting to ask your group leaders how they go about reading the Bible.
Just a few quick remarks. The Bible is like no other book, so it's probably best not to treat it like a novel and just read it from cover to cover. If you've never read the Bible before then it's not usually a good idea to start right at the beginning, some of the earliest books can be a little hard going! An excellent place to start would be in the New Testament with one of the accounts of Jesus' life in the gospels.
Also, the Bible is a big book: we should approach it as we would approach eating an elephant: one bite at a time. So we should aim to take a bite of Bible every day. There are loads of books and guides that can help us to digest it: you could try asking in the Greyfriars bookshop for some suggestions.
But reading the Bible is only part of the story: it's vital that we try to put it into practice. The Bible is my handbook for life, so it must affect the way I live my life. One writer in the Bible wrote this:
When we see in the mirror that our hair's in a mess, or our face is dirty, or there is a big bogey hanging down from our nose, then we do something about it, don't we? And it's the same with the Bible: as it shows us what we need to do, as it reveals to us our faults, we must go and do something about them.
The point is that the Bible was not given to increase our knowledge; it was given to change our lives.
That was a very, very brief overview of the "how", as I said, it would be a great thing to discuss further in your groups.
So, why should we read the Bible? In short, because it's true!
I've tried to make the case that the Bible is true because it is revelation from God, and because it is true it forms the basis of our relationship with God. If we truly want to know God and to know about God then we have to engage with the Bible.
Now, here's a challenge. If you want to find out if what I've said is true you're going to have to go and read the Bible for yourselves, aren't you? And I pray that God will bless you as you do so!