Have you ever noticed that when you are reading a good book, there are things that make sense later in the story that shed light on something that happened earlier in the story. When you read chapter one, there are things going on that are better understood when you are reading chapter seven, than they were when you were reading chapter one. It also happens in movies. You watch a movie the second time and say to yourself, "How did I miss that?" but your eyes are only opened when you know the whole story.
The Bible is written like this. It is a vast narrative written to draw us into the ultimate Story. Unfortunately I don't always read it that way. And to be honest, it's hard to read it that way. As I said before, I was taught to read in order to gather information, facts and morality. Only recently have I begun to understand that, rather than a collection of individual books of historical accounts, poems, songs, and letters, the Holy Scripture is actually ONE large story. Northrop Frye (great name), an advocate of reading largely, said, "Every sentence is the key to the whole Bible." He understood that the "immediate context of the sentence [any sentence in Scripture] is as likely to be three hundred pages off as to the be next or preceding sentence."
Understanding this to be true, brings to light one of the greatest dangers of modern Christianity. If we continue to reduce our reading of the Scriptures as simply a gatherings of facts, a production of a morality or even a kettle of inspiration, we will miss the Story, thus robbing Scripture of the transformational power in our lives. We cannot simply read because we have to, but must begin to read because we are drawn into. I have known people who have read the Bible through, more than once. I am not one of those people...yet. I have also heard these people say that each subsequent read is better than the previous. Why? Because the Story pulls them into the intricacies once you know the ending. Great stories do this to you.
How have you been taught to read the Bible? If you are like most people, you didn't come upon your reading style by attending a formal class. The classes often tell us that we should read the Bible, but not how. I'm interested to know if I am alone in my assessment so far. I'm also hoping to hear that some of you have discovered the Bible as a Story and would love to hear your thoughts.
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