Why I Bring My Bible To Church – And Why You Should Too

 

Why I Bring My Bible To Church – And Why You Should Too

Robert L. Withers, 2024.

 

A friend told me that there was no reason for him to bring his Bible to church because he has the text on his phone. I was surprised to hear this, for he is a leader in his congregation.

As I have pondered this, a phenomenon which is common in both church and small group settings, I wonder if we are thinking this practice through, and I wonder if pastors aren’t contributing to it by displaying Bible text on screens – giving attendees one more reason not to bring their Bibles – and with frankly not insisting that their people read the Bible – yes, I wrote “insisting.”

We have come to view the Bible as information and data, I hear this language all the time. We think we are cute when we say that B.I.B.L.E. means basic instructions before leaving earth – which again turns the Bible into a manual. We talk about the Bible being like a car manual in a glove box. If the Bible is a manual, if it is data and information, then okay, let’s use our tablets and smartphones and video screens because universal and cosmic and spiritual context and relationship don’t matter – and I do think that is what the Bible has become, when it is anything at all. I think we even skirt a danger zone when we speak of the “text” as an object for analysis and when that becomes our primary viewpoint – for a text is impersonal and there is no life in the impersonal.

If I open a Bible to read a passage I will see its context, I will not see the context on a video screen on my phone, a tablet, or on a screen in church.

As for the argument that we put the text on screens so that everyone will be reading the same version, I don’t think this was a problem before video screens when it was not uncommon for people to use different translations – after all we are supposed to be adults.

If my pastor is using an ESV and I have an NASB and my neighbor an NIV, we ought to be able to follow along and note differences – in fact, those differences ought to stimulate our thinking. Furthermore, good preaching and teaching can take differences into account when they matter. Again, we are supposed to be adults.

If we must display Bible texts on screens, let us please do it with a warning that what is on the screen is no substitute for viewing the text on the page of a physical Bible.

       

Peter tells us (2 Peter 1:4) that through the promises of God, which are in the Scriptures, that we become partakers of the Divine Nature. This means that reading the Bible ought to be sacramental, that in reading the Bible we partake of the very life of God, that God transmits His life to us. Instruction manuals do not transmit life, my Toyota RAV4 manual does not make me a RAV4, but the Living Word transforms me into the image of Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures reveal Jesus Christ. Most of us no longer believe this. Most of us have been taught that when we read what we call the Old Testament that there are some “Messianic texts” and those are the texts we gravitate toward. While there certainly are some texts which are Messianic in Technicolor; if we are to believe Jesus, the Apostles, and the Church Fathers, all of the Scriptures reveal Him – they give us a composite and holistic portrayal of Jesus Christ and His Body. Consider:

“Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:27).

“Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’” (Luke 24:44).

The writers of the New Testament see Jesus Christ from Genesis to Malachi – and they see His Body – they see the Head and the Body as a unity, as do many of the Fathers.

How can we not thirst for the Old Testament when Christ reveals Himself to us through it? How can we not thirst for the New Testament when Christ, who is our life (or at least is supposed to be) comes to us through the Gospels and Letters? (And let’s recall that Revelation is a letter).

The Scriptures are Holy Ground, how have we taken the Holy Bible and turned it into a religious database? A self-help book? A therapy manual?

The Scriptures are to be engrafted within us, not downloaded whenever we need to reference something. (James 1:21; 1 Peter 22 – 25; Psalm 1; Hebrews 4:12).  

Here is another thing we seem to have forgotten, for centuries men and women and families have risked their lives, and often paid with their lives, to preserve and distribute the Bible. Even today, Christians distribute Scripture in dangerous places and are imprisoned and executed for their faithfulness to God’s Word and love for others. As I write this, there are men and women and families who have dedicated their lives to translating Scripture in difficult and sometimes dangerous environments, foregoing the cotton – candy lifestyle of American professing Christians; yet many of us are too lazy to open the Book or take it to church.

May I ask, what image and example are we giving to our children and young people when we do, or do not, bring our Bibles to church? What are our children seeing? What image is being planted in their hearts and minds? What is our testimony to our neighbors when they see us walk from the front door to the car to drive to church?

When I was a young Christian, it was not unusual for believers to carry pocket New Testaments, sometimes with the Psalms, in their shirts or purses. Nor was it unusual for Christians to have Bibles in their cars for their devotional use during the week and for sharing Jesus with others. To this day I have a Bible in my glove compartment that I can place in a pocket to take with me wherever I am going. In my business career it was not unusual for my coworkers to see me with a Bible in my office – it came with the package of who I am in Jesus Christ.

When we gather with believers, we ought no more to think of leaving our Bibles at home than we would our wedding rings.

Pastors, are we encouraging our people to bring their Bibles to church? Church leaders, are you being an example to others by bringing your Bible?

When we carry our Bibles to church we are making a statement, a statement that the Book is the Word of God, that the Word of God is our source of life in Christ, that we are not ashamed of the Gospel (Mark 8:38), and that we belong to the Communion of Saints – including those saints who have suffered, and are suffering, for the transmission of the Bible and its message of Jesus Christ.

“More to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” (Psalm 19:10).