The Holy Bible is a wonderful book. It is the best-selling book in the world and for us Christians it is our rule of faith and practice. Those who have already had the opportunity to taste some of the biblical teachings will never be the same people again, as the Bible is alive and the power of God's word is transformative. The famous evangelist Billy Graham said something interesting about the Bible, he said that “the Bible is more current than the newspaper that will circulate tomorrow”. And he's right. Even after hundreds of years, the writings are current.
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However, even with all these positive characteristics we cannot deny that the Bible is not such an easy book to read and that its reading must be careful so that it is not distorted. With that in mind, I listed the five main mistakes that many people make when reading the Bible. Avoiding these mistakes will help any reader passionate about God's word to extract its real meaning from it, which is God's desire for the reader of His word.
Mistake 1 – Reading the Bible by randomly opening it
It is not difficult to find people who practice this type of reading. In fact, I know of churches that allow preachers to use this “technique” in the pulpit. In other words, they open the Bible at random and wherever they fall, they start reading. They understand that in this way God will speak mysteriously. This is one of the worst ways to read the Bible, as there is no systematic study that seeks to understand the contexts, sequences, facts and other important information for understanding a text correctly in its meaning. Generally, those who read the Bible in this way don't know anything about the Bible, they can't understand much of what they are reading and they are left trying to guess what the text that fell in front of their eyes means.
Mistake 2 – Reading the Bible without reading the contexts
Every text has a context, which is what comes before and what comes after that text. Many read the Bible in pieces. That is, today they read a chapter of Psalms, tomorrow they read a chapter in Genesis, then they read Revelation, etc. This type of reading greatly undermines the correct understanding of what God wanted to communicate in the Bible. It is very important that the readings are done encompassing the entire context. If you are going to study, for example, the book of Genesis, study it in its entirety in sequence, trying to understand in general the history and context mentioned there. Or if you are going to read an excerpt from a book, read a little of what was written before and after that excerpt. Texts read outside of their contexts can take on different meanings that are completely contrary to what they really mean.
Mistake 3 – Reading the Bible without a dictionary nearby
No one is so educated that they know and remember all the meanings of words. The Bible is a long book, it uses hundreds of words, many of which we don't know the meaning of very well. Many read the Bible and don't quite understand the meaning of some passages, as they don't check a dictionary when they come across an unfamiliar word. In this way, they miss the teaching of that text and also end up not understanding nearby verses that depend on that one. Having a dictionary is very important for anyone who wants to read and understand the Bible. Not researching the meanings of unknown words makes reading poor and weak.
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Mistake 4 – Reading the Bible anywhere
Reading and studying are acts that require attention. Although there are a few who can concentrate on several things at the same time, the majority cannot. Many complain about having read the Bible several times, but still don't understand much of what they read. It's no wonder many of them don't understand because they don't read with focus and attention. Reading the Bible in noisy, busy or distracting places is a waste of time. I like to compare a good Bible reader to a surgeon. Would a surgeon operating on a patient do well to place a TV in the operating room and, while operating on a heart, also watch his favorite program? It’s not possible, it’s not true! Just as surgery requires the surgeon's exclusive attention, the Bible reader must also give exclusive attention to this encounter with the sacred text and its author.
Mistake 5 – Reading the Bible without regularity
I find it interesting how some people read the Bible: once a week, at most twice. Five to ten chapters just a week, and some more relaxed ones, it takes a whole month to read this. This is very bad. For our brain to learn complex things, it needs to be exposed to them with a certain frequency. For example, no one can train in a profession by going to college once a month and studying nothing on the subject on the other days. Colleges generally encourage studying at least five days a week, then there are internships to experience the study in practice, work, etc. All of this forms a professional who masters the subject of study. Anyone who wants to “master” the biblical text also needs to learn to be regular. This means that it is important to have contact with the word of God for a longer period of time and not just a few minutes a week. It is a big mistake to think that you will get to know the Bible in depth by studying it 30 minutes a week.
