How do people learn to read the Bible for themselves?

Hi.  I know it’s been a long time since I posted.  Sorry.  I got a new computer and forgot to add my own blog onto my new favourites list.  Muppet.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking this evening.  (Yes thanks, I’m fine.)  I’m convinced that a significant number of Christians don’t know how to read their Bible.  I mean properly read their Bible, study it, learn from it and apply it to their lives.  For myself, I would say that I only really learned to do this by being involved in regular Bible studies at university.  And because of this observation of my own experience (and pretty much the experience of anyone else I’ve asked about it), I’m fairly confident that there are many Christians who don’t have the fortune to be involved in regular Bible studies.  So where are Christians supposed to develop the skills to read, study and understand the Bible for themselves, if we don’t teach and practise it in churches?

I’ve been thinking about this all evening, and come to realise that as a Christian youth worker, I have a massive responsibility in this.  I think that so often in youth work we want to see our young people grow in their faith, so we’re willing to spoon-feed them the answers to the questions we’re asking.  I know I’m guilty of this in a lot of the things I do with the young people I work with – I write a session, work out what it is I want the young people to have learned by the end of it, and then work out what discussion questions I can ask that will lead to me having the opportunity to give them the answers, and a number of Bible verses to back myself up.

The problem with this approach is that the Bible verses that we so often use, as brilliant and relevant as they may be, are plucked out of their context when we read out just one or two verses to our young people.  This means that they can have no understanding of what it means to read a verse or passage in its context!

For example, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought with a price.  Therefore honour God with your body.”  These are the last couple of verses in a passage about sexual immorality.  Why is it, then, that all too often we hear the words “your body is a temple” quoted as justification for teaching on healthy eating and exercise, as well as things like smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, and a number of other issues unrelated to sexual immorality?

What these verses mean is that since as Christians we have God living in us (the temple being the dwelling place of God in the Old Testament, so if our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit lives within us), we should live in a way as to avoid sexual immorality so that we honour God with our body.  Now, I’m not saying these verses aren’t appropriate or relevant when talking about things like smoking or substance abuse, because the call to honour God with our body absolutely applies to these things too.  What I’m saying is that when we talk about smoking or substance abuse, or even sex (to use the passage in its original context) with young people, we simply say “don’t do it, because the Bible says ‘your body is a temple’.”  This is not enough.

Is it any wonder that people don’t learn to really study the Bible for themselves when they’re spoon-fed verses in this way in what are often their most formative years?  What’s wrong with sitting down with a group of young people and showing them the entire passage surrounding this verse, and going on a ‘journey of exploration’ with them to find the meaning of the verses?

If we can use this approach in our youth work in churches, then I am convinced that we will raise up a generation of people who read the Bible for themselves, question its meaning, and dig deeper in their own understanding of God’s Word to us, and inevitably of God himself.  One of the biggest criticisms on Christian youth work is that young people are ‘brainwashed’, told what to believe, and/or manipulated.  Surely we have a responsibility as older, more (spiritually) mature Christians to encourage young people to think for themselves?  Then we not only respect them as people by encouraging their own thought processes and questions, but we will, in the long run, develop more grounded and secure Christians who possess the skills to read and understand the Bible for themselves.