Why Study the Bible?



                So you might be a Christian who has just accepted Christ, a Christian of many years, or a person of different faith. A universal question that I think could be asked by all is, why study the Bible? For a Christian, one might wonder why they should study God’s word now that they have accepted Christ, that’s all they need right? A non-Christian may be quick to point out the errors in the Bible, either illogical statements or the question of translation errors from the multiple thousands years of translations into multiple languages.
                To answer the Christians, what about your personal walk with God and the Great Commission? The Bible is the living word of God, and by ignoring the Bible in your walk, it’s like ignoring a large aspect of a friend. The Bible is, among the knowledge base for Christianity, one of the ways that God can and will speak to you. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) is the passage where Jesus commands his disciples to go forth and make disciples of men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This sometimes requires being able to explain parts of scripture to seekers. To be prepared for these questions one should probably be familiar with the scriptures. If you are familiar with the scriptures and read them often, you will not only be closer to God, but able to give a defense for the faith that is in you (1Peter 3:15).
                To the non-Christians, I will address the translation errors or miscopies first. Bible scholars and private collectors have the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is a set of 972 scrolls discovered between 1946 and 1956. The scrolls are the oldest surviving manuscripts of books included in the Old and New Testaments as well as extra-biblical scrolls detailing religious thought and the non-canonical books of the Bible. Using these scrolls, one can verify that the version of the Bible that we have today is largely unaltered. I say largely because there have been some meanings from the Hebrew that cannot be expressed in English, or the English is sometimes misleading. It is just one of the translation issues that occur between languages and part of the reason I would encourage any Christian and seeker to study some Hebrew to help with Bible study. To the illogical statements, this might be part of the translation error, or maybe you as a reader are appalled by what you just read in the Bible (extermination of the Canaanites, exclusivity of Jesus’ statements, etc.). For this, as well as the translation objections, I would highly encourage you to look up commentaries on the passages that you are reading.
                There is a quick overview over why all people should be studying the Bible if they wish to discover/get closer to God. I would hope that I have provided some information to invite further study if you so choose. God bless you and have a good rest of your day.

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