“Here, then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.” – R.C. Sproul
There are many important reasons as to why every Christian must read (or listen to via audio books) and study the Bible for themselves. The Bible not only allows us to come to know God personally but it also acts as a user’s manual for each and every one of us in regards to how we are supposed live our lives.
Just like when you’re putting together or assembling a complicated product that requires instructions in order to do it right, so too do Christians require the Bible in order to receive the proper instructions on how to properly assemble a righteous life. Christians who do not study the Bible for themselves are subjecting themselves at best, to opinions, estimates and guesses in regards to how God wants them to think, behave and act.
I think C.S. Lewis said it best when he said, “Odd, the way less the Bible is read the more it is translated.”
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard people foolishly say that there is no way for any man to truly know what God’s will for man is. While this statement may be somewhat truthful in certain select scenarios and in some select cases, for the most part this statement is absurdly wrong.
I find that the majority of the individuals who so boldly state that no one can truly know God’s will, laws and commandments, merely say so because they are either ignorant or double minded. Being a double minded individual in essence is someone who wants to have one foot in hot water while they have their second foot in cold water. In layman’s terms, it’s an individual who wants to have their cake and eat it too.
The double minded person is one who attempts to proclaim that they are a Christian but are at the same time defending or justifying certain sins. It is double minded philosophies that result in such gross errors and blasphemies as so called “Christians” who are homosexuals. These so called “Christians” not only claim that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality but they even go so far as to say that the Bible supports homosexuality.
Another example of double mindedness is a “Christian” who claims that smoking weed is okay by God. These “Christians” claim that because the marijuana plant is a naturally occurring plant, that it was God who created it and therefore God, created it for us to smoke.
A double minded philosophy is also to blame for “Christians” who believe polygamy is permissible or that “Christian” men are allowed to have sex with as many women as they want as long as no type of birth control is being used.
At the end of the day, all of these double minded reasons are stupid, moronic and wicked. While it is one thing to do evil and commit sin while at the same time knowing it is wrong and never excusing it, it is a completely different and greater evil to try and pass off sin as righteousness.
Yet, this is exactly what Christians are subjecting themselves to, doing and condoning when they don’t study the Bible for themselves. There is only one authority in regards to what is right and what is wrong, in regards to what is moral and what is immoral and that is God!
So where exactly can we find God’s thoughts, feelings, laws, commandments and opinions on any given subject? Since we all obviously know that the answer to this question is the Bible, what possible reason or reasons can you have as to why you don’t study the Bible? If the blind are able to listen to the Bible as audio books and if the deaf are able to read the Bible, do you really have an excuse as to why you don’t?
“The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God himself in the core and center of their hearts.” – A.W. Tozer
