Yes, we all should still read the Bible
Here are 4 reasons why ‘GQ’ is wrong
In the news business, it’s known as click bait — a deliberately provocative, often sensational and always shallow article written solely to attract page views and in turn drive advertising revenue. Which brings me to GQ magazine’s recent “21 Books You Don’t Have to Read.”
The lineup of supposedly notworth-your-time literature includes Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, The Old Man and the Sea and, to the horror of Kurt Vonnegut-loving Indianapolis, Slaughterhouse-Five. But the book on the list that has generated the most media attention and the strongest pushback is the Bible, which author Jesse Ball dismisses, in all of three sentences, as “repetitive” and “foolish.”
Ball condescendingly describes folks like me as people “who supposedly live by it but who in actuality have not read it.” Except I have read the Bible — from Genesis to Maps — several times. This year and last, I’ve started most days by reading a New Testament chapter. So, yes, I am biased, but it’s a bias grounded in the fact that the Bible shapes who I am, and shapes who I aspire to be.
Still, let’s meet Ball and others like him where they are. If you reject the idea that God, even if you do believe in a deity, would communicate to humanity through a book, why would reading the Bible be worthwhile? In the best tradition of click bait, here are four reasons, none of which addresses the spiritual value of the Scriptures:
❚ To understand Western culture. From Michelangelo’s Pieta to Handel’s Messiah to C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, it’s impossible without at least a cursory knowledge of the Bible to appreciate the inspiration behind art that continues to capture the imagination and admiration of millions. The Bible, far more than any other source, has for centuries shaped Western culture.
❚ To understand history. Our founding document states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are en- dowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Where did those self-evident truths originate? They’re rooted in the biblical concept that all humans are created in God’s image.
I’d argue that the same idea was the inspirational and philosophical bedrock of the abolitionist and civil rights movements. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist preacher; to truly understand his work and writing, you have to read the book that most inspired him.
❚ To understand current events. Why is abortion still a hot issue? Why are the Israelis and the Palestinians still fighting? What motivates Vice President Pence and the voters who keep electing him to high office? Why is Chick-fil-A closed Sundays? You don’t have to accept the Gospels as gospel, but if you don’t read the Bible at least once out of intellectual curiosity, you’ll be lost when many big stories break.
❚ To understand your neighbors. My pastor on Sunday morning described how he spent a year reading the Bible and making notes in the margins as a gift for each of his daughters. What motivates such devotion to an ancient book? The answer is as complex as the Scriptures themselves.
I’ve been amazed by people I have met around the world who make incredible sacrifices to help others in distress because they’ve been inspired by the Bible. I’ve also been appalled by people who wrap their anger and biases in that same book. Human behavior is complex and inconsistent, but it sure helps to know something about the ideas that drive so many people to acts of love and of hate.
You don’t have to love your neighbors as yourself to see value in understanding them a bit better. For hundreds of millions of your neighbors on this earth, that means taking time to learn what the book that shapes their lives really says.
Like it or not, the Bible will continue to influence culture, history, current events and billions of lives worldwide. And it will do so long after GQ is less than a footnote in history.