Can We Talk About the Bible?
Stop me if this story gives you that weird feeling of déjà vu.
It’s Sunday morning and—like a good Christian—my butt is planted in the church pew. I usually look forward to Sundays. In fact, I’m here because I think this Jesus guy is pretty compelling. But then I hear it. Halfway through the sermon, I can feel that dreaded sentence coming. By the time we get there, I already know what the pastor is going to say.
“Church, we really need to be reading the Bible more!”
There they are again. Different Sunday, same feelings. All it took was just that phrase for all these emotions to come right back. Shame. Disappointment. Apathy.
(Déjà vu, maybe?)
I don’t think I’m alone in these feelings. I think many of us are often told about how important the Bible. How it can guide us. That it brings such good into our lives. But sadly, our actual experience reading the Bible more often instead leaves us confused, bored, or angry.
So, can we be honest? Let’s start by just acknowledging this simple fact: many of us love Jesus but find the book about him utterly confusing. This was my story. Pastor’s kid. Youth leader. Christian Ministry major in college—and oh yeah, a guy who had pretty much given up on the Bible.
But now it’s time to lay all my cards on the table. Somehow today, I believe that the Bible is one of—if not the most—misunderstood yet beautiful gifts God has given us as his dearly loved children. I am utterly compelled by the story of God’s love for humanity and the radical upside-down Kingdom of Jesus that the Bible tells us about. Still with me?
In the last couple of years of wrestling, I spent having real, honest conversations with pastors, sociologists, historians, and theologians about the Bible. They told me a God who was big enough to answer my hard questions about the Bible, and even gave me new ones as well. What I learned changed the way I read the Bible.
If you’re hoping for a silver bullet—the one highlighted point that will fix everything—I apologize in advance. But, here’s the invitation I do have to offer. Come along for the journey. Learn. Wrestle. Grow. For me and countless others, we can say it was worth it.
Below you’ll find a free video project that I and many others have spent the last year working to create. I encourage you to give it a shot. Grab a coffee, grab a friend. Commit 38 minutes and 46 seconds to just the possibility of having a fresh relationship with the Bible.
Watch the “Reading Blind” documentary here:
Clay Crofford is a freshly graduated Indiana Wesleyan student who is both excited and terrified to put that Christian Ministry degree to good use. He's deeply passionate about helping people root their lives and identities in this strange and beautiful story of God.
