Someone once said, “The Bible needs no more defending than a lion.”
God’s word stands for itself and does it’s work in the hearts of people.
A bit of scripture from God’s Holy Word can change a person! Even reading about the Bible can change us. For example, John Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed while hearing Luther’s intro to Romans.
I’ve been reading Scot McKnight’s book, The Blue Parakeet, about how to read and understand the Bible. Here are ideas I want to share:
The Gospel Strikes Home
The gospel is capable and designed to strike home in every culture, every age and in every language.
Scot McKnight
God’s voice is heard, even today, through the story told in Scripture. We engage with God’s word, not by reading the pages, but by the connection with God that results. God seeks this oneness and has been seeking it since creation.
The Gospel Is For Us Now
We need twenty first century Christians living out the biblical gospel in twenty first century ways.
Scot McKnight
God isn’t asking us to step back in time to live the way they lived. He is calling us to follow him as he speaks to and works with each generation in that generation’s ways.
As we read the story through Scripture, God’s heart is for us to know more of him, be filled with grace and love, and live out our faith confidently. The Scripture, as we read and/or listen to it, teaches us and empowers us. It shapes us and changes us.
It has the power to work today in spite of us.
Let the Bible be the Bible.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness… 2 Timothy 3:16
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Matthew 24:35
Here’s a link to this book, The Blue Parakeet. (The title refers to how birds copy each other. Likewise, we try to change the Bible instead of allowing God’s word to change us.)