It really is about Jesus

"If the knowledge we acquire through our reading and study of this
text [the Bible] that involves us in following Jesus, diverts us from
the very Jesus we started out following, we would have been better off
never to have opened the book in the first place."
- Eugene Peterson, p. 58

Today I read my greatest fear of "bible studies" in Eat This Book. For
years our churches have been doing bible studies, but as of today we look
like they have diverted us from following the Jesus that we so
arduously study. The same churches that are champions of bible study
look no MORE like Jesus than some who have never picked up a Bible.

Something is wrong and I don't believe the fault lies with the Bible
we study or the hearts of the people who study it. We simply do what
we think is best for us and what others say will help us be better
followers of Jesus. I believe we have a faulty system. Our churches
have failed in providing an adequate system to delivery this
incredible story we have been adopted into. We have approached the
whole thing like school - more knowledge is better. Knowledge is
better but we have accepted knowledge as fact-gathering, instead of
"knowing" as in a relationship that affects and impacts every area of
our lives.

In the scriptures when a man "knew" a woman, this was much more than
factual knowledge. This sort of knowledge was an intimate knowledge
that affected and impacted their lives.

The Holy Scripture was given to us so we might know Jesus and follow
him. I want to "know" Jesus. I want to "know" this book. I want to get
into the stories and let them get into me. I want them to change me. I
want them to be more than facts. I want to Eat This Book.

Came from my iPhone.