What is the Bible... and how do I read it?

"What is the Bible anyway?"
How would you answer that question? Certainly there are some obvious answers that we could agree on...

• God's Word
• Holy writings of the Christian Religion

But answers like these raise as many questions as they answer, especially when talking to someone unfamiliar with the Bible.

Further, how we answer this question will in many ways determine our practical approach to the Bible and how we actually read it. Our view of the Bible will shape which sections we choose to read, how often we study, how much we tackle each sitting and what we expect to get out of it.

Most importantly, our answer to the question is directly linked to how excited we are to open the Bible and dig in. I think that one of the main obstacles to our motivation to read the scriptures, and to our enjoyment of them when we do, is rooted in a misunderstanding of the primary purpose of scripture. Often, we can take a valid and legitimate use of scripture and confuse it with the primary use of God's revelation to His people.
In this study, we will begin by considering some of the normal approaches to Bible reading and some positive aspects of each. But we will also seek to see why keeping secondary approaches to the Bible in their proper place frees the Bible do that for which it was truly intended.

We will then seek to understand the primary purpose of the Bible better, so our love for it and our understanding of it will deepen and grow.

Come join us!