The Dog Ate My Bible – Excuse #2: “I Don’t Like to Read”
This is the second post in The Dog Ate My Bible series, and it addresses the problem of those who don’t read the Bible because they don’t like to read. Technology is mostly a good thing; however, with the increasing popularity of the internet, bigger TVs, and cool gaming systems, reading is becoming more rare. This is true even for those like me who love to read. It’s just easier to let our minds wander and surf the internet, watch TV, or play a video game. If you genuinely don’t like to read, you do have a hurdle to overcome when it comes to reading the Bible. Fortunately, you do have options. Here are four tips:
1. Listen to the Bible free at a site like Biblegateway.com. Many different Bible translations are available. Choose the book, chapter, and verse and listen directly online. The only downside is that you can only do this if you are near your computer or have an internet connection on your mobile device. This leads us to option #2.
2. Purchase an audio Bible. These can be quite pricey, but they are worth the cost. Browse your local Christian bookstore or search Amazon.com to check out the vast selection of audio Bibles. On Amazon you may be able to find them used. You can play the CDs in your car or load the content onto your MP3 player, making an internet connection unnecessary.
3. Watch movies about the Bible. There are a number of movies based on biblical stories. The difficulty is that many of them take liberties with the biblical content, either adding content not found in the Bible or leaving out crucial information. I’ve recently begun watching these movies to see what’s out there and plan to do a blog post in the future about my findings. Movies are a great medium to portray the awesome stories of the Bible, but I’d like to see more faithfulness to the biblical text. The problem with watching Bible movies is that, if you don’t already know the Bible, it will be hard to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Therefore, this step should combined with options 1, 2, or 4.
4. Just do it! Yes, even though you don’t like to read, read the Bible anyway. You may start out only reading 5 minutes a day and that’s fine. You’ll read more as you develop the habit. Sometimes you’ve just got to make a decision and get it done. Every day we do things we don’t want to do, but we do what’s necessary. Since reading and understanding the Bible is so important for spiritual growth, don’t you owe it to yourself to go ahead and do it? Even with all the other methods available of accessing the Bible, reading is still the best way of truly absorbing its information. It’s harder for your mind to wander when your eyes are glued to the page. You can also underline and take notes.
Until next time, happy reading (or listening or watching).
Missed part one? Read it now: The dog ate my bible and other reasons for not reading the good book
truuu! there is no excuses! audio bible is a life saver sometime lol.