# Why We Don't Read Our Bibles



## SolaGratia (Jun 21, 2008)

This according to this blog from (The Gospel-Driven Church: Why Don't We Read Our Bibles?)

and 

Note: NLT has a new study bible coming out with more notes than any other study bible. 

Below is NLT blog respond. (from NLT Study Bible :: The NLT Study Bible Blog: Why We Don't Read Our Bibles)


Monday, June 16, 2008 
Why We Don't Read Our Bibles 
Last week Jared Wilson listed several reasons why we don't read our Bibles. Here are some thoughts about the NLT Study Bible in relation to each of the points that Jared makes:

1. “We don't understand it.” It is a lot easier to understand the Bible when it is translated into “the language of the heart.” In our case, this means using good, contemporary, standard English. The NLT Study Bible uses the NLT, which is a clear winner for clarity and understandability. If people would just read the NLT, they would make great progress in understanding the Bible.

2. “There's nobody explaining it to us.” We do our best in the NLT Study Bible to focus on the significance and meaning of the text of Scripture, so that readers can clearly understand what it means by what it says. We put a big premium on helping people understand how it all fits together. That's why we devote so much space to the book introductions and section introductions, and why we have so many "theme notes," in-text articles that follow the threads of important biblical themes across the boundaries of specific books.

3. “Scripture is being touted less and less as central to the Christian life.” This is not something that we can address directly in the study materials, especially because our purpose in the NLT Study Bible is not to provide "life application," but to explain Scripture clearly so that the Holy Spirit can apply it in the hearts of readers. I do think, however, that when you understand the Bible clearly, you are more able to see how it applies to life. So in editing the NLT Study Bible, we made it our aim to remove the walls that would stand in the way of the Holy Spirit's work. • This is also a good place to mention the "Reading Plan" that we included in the back of the NLT Study Bible. It encourages a habit of daily reading and study on a reasonable, maintainable schedule over many years. Perhaps it will help steer a few more people to make Bible reading a part of their day.

4. “It is wielded as a weapon against people.” I really hate it when people try to do that to me, and I pray for the good sense to avoid doing it to others. In editing the NLT Study Bible, we've definitely tried to steer a theological course that is non-sectarian, while at the same time faithfully explaining Scripture. Doing that job well is an extraordinarily tricky business. It helps that we had people from a variety of theological camps working together and calling each other to account for their theological assertions in the study materials. It also helps that we tried to stay close to what the Bible actually says about things and avoid going very far beyond it in working out logical systems of thought. Of course, the challenge there is that we might be accused of inconsistency on this or that point. But as Paul says in the context of the local church, "Let two or three people prophesy, and let the others evaluate what is said," 1 Cor 14:29. Allowing a variety of perspectives and being open to evaluation is healthy for the body of Christ. In editing the NLT Study Bible, we worked hard at avoiding contradictions, but we also made a conscious decision to keep as many interesting things in the study materials as possible.

5. “The Bible says things we don't like.” Well, I can't help much there. In fact, if we translate the Bible clearly and explain it well, it will make people more uncomfortable. I've also noticed that we experience a real temptation as interpreters of the Bible to put "walls" around what the Bible can mean or how it can apply to us. The Bible says quite a number of things that are unacceptable to the contemporary mind. It is the most natural thing in the world to say of such things, "This is not applicable to us." As editors, we made every effort to remove such "walls" from the study materials. Our goal was to help readers to understand Scripture as it would have been understood by the original hearers. Our goal was not to work out just what that "means for me." I expect that the result will be greater discomfort among readers at some point or another. My hope is that readers will recognize the discomfort, take note of its source, and then consider before God how to answer it.

6. “Experts have eroded our confidence in Scripture.” Then I'd encourage you to read the NLT Study Bible carefully, because the experts who wrote it make it very clear that the Bible is worthy of our highest confidence and trust. We devoted a lot of space, particularly in the book and section introductions and in the chronology articles, to discussing the reliability and historicity of the Bible.

7. “We are undisciplined and lazy.” No argument there, and I am as lazy and undisciplined as anyone. As editors, we tried to provide some help to readers by giving them a "Reading Plan" at the back of the Bible. It lays out a course of reading that requires about 15~20 minutes each day, five days per week, 52 weeks per year. If you do that, you get through the whole NLT Study Bible in five years -- Bible text, notes, articles, everything (except the topical index and concordance; we didn't see any need for a reading plan on those features). We feel that this kind of schedule is something that people can actually maintain. We also did not assign dates to the individual readings, because in my own experience, having dates just means falling behind and experiencing guilt/failure. Who needs that? Wherever you are, and whatever date it is, pick a place to read and start reading.

So, there you have a few thoughts about how the NLT Study Bible addresses the reasons why we don't read the Bible. Are there other reasons that we haven't addressed

Taken from http://www.nltstudybible.com/blog/2008/06/why-we-dont-read-our-bibles.html


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jun 21, 2008)

"Odd, the way the less the Bible is read the more it is translated." -- C.S. Lewis


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## toddpedlar (Jun 21, 2008)

I could give you some reasons why I don't read the NLT bible, but that would be


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Jun 21, 2008)

toddpedlar said:


> I could give you some reasons why I don't read the NLT bible, but that would be


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## SolaGratia (Jun 21, 2008)

toddpedlar said:


> I could give you some reasons why I don't read the NLT bible, but that would be



"Off topic" I agreed, because this really aint about the NLT. 

It is more about how "so called" christian companies hired scholars like Tremper Longman III, Douglas J. Moo, Iain Duguid, and more, to come up with, yet another study bible.


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## Pilgrim (Jun 22, 2008)

VirginiaHuguenot said:


> "Odd, the way the less the Bible is read the more it is translated." -- C.S. Lewis



That's a quote from Lewis that I can wholeheartedly agree with.


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