If the Bible is the Word of God...Why is it So Old...Ancient...and Boring?..

Who reads the Bible? It is quite well-known that Christians and Catholics are greatly encouraged to read the Bible, in fact "every day is a good day to read the Bible"! "As long as it is called today!", as some cliche Bible-reading campaign slogans might read. The Bible is said to be God's word, the Word of God, God's word for humanity. Some people may believe it, while others don't. This short essay will list down reasons for people who believe in the Bible as God's Word, but find it hard to even pick up the Bible to read through even a page. Or for those whose Bible lay forgotten underneath the closet, or buried somewhere deep in the attic, collecting dust. lmao. Read on~

To give a short background of the Word of God- it is not actually what one would imagine immediately if they think how God will speak. It is not made up fully of thousands-worth of instructions and laws that we have to obey or follow, in order to live, and perhaps be spared from hell and go to heaven. Interestingly it contains accounts written by other human beings on topics including narration of earth's creation, human's severed ties with God, the beginning of the chosen nation Israel conceived from Abraham's seed/sperm and their epic journey out of slavery, their mistakes and conducts, accounts of their ol' kings rulers, some sex poems by King Solomon, some wise words by King Solomon, random stories by random prophets, foreshadowing of Jesus' birth, the birth of saviour Jesus Christ, His life and teachings, and the people around Him, some controversies and miraculous happenings, people getting offended, Jesus betrayed and died, Jesus rose again from the grave, His followers becoming empowered to tell others about the reality of Jesus, some getting beaten and put into prison as a result, while others got killed and died, the letters that the "worst sinner" but most influential Apostle Paul wrote to churches with various different problems and issues, some account of a dream/vision Apostle John received about Armageddon- evil with its allegiances being imprisoned and banished and God reigning on earth with humans in a kingdom that has alot of gold- gold street, gold roads, gold trees and no need for sun because God is so bright there is no need for a sun. Pretty full-on stuffs, with many unhappy violent bits, but concluded with fairy-tale-like happy ending that we desire since young.

Let's be honest, for most people the first associations that came to mind when we hear the word Bible is: old...boring... outdated? Why? Why is it associated with those adjectives? Well, because the Bible is really really old. It is an old book! It is amazing how such an old, ancient book can last up to this century. The 21st century! Meaning that the earth is at least 2000 years old, and this book is still being published and printed. And how did such a book that's written even before iPad, or paper, even invented end up at this age and time?? Now it comes in many versions- those for women, men, kids, singles, couples, various languages and translations (King James, New Living, so on)... It's become personalised in different forms for various groups of individuals. But it is such an old old book! The Bible is indeed very old book. If God had spoken from the beginning of humanity (in the verse "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"), we can expect that those words spoken would be old words. Very very old words. Maybe because God Himself is old, older than time itself.. okay let's not go there. So hence here let's come to terms with the fact that the Bible is indeed a very old book, because God had spoken from a very old ancient time.

Now that we've established that the Bible is indeed very old book. There is then another association with old- which is outdated: irrelevant to current age and time. It's such an old book, there wasn't even internet and facebook in those times, how could it have stuff that is relevant to me?! The people in those times still walk barefooted and ride camels or horses to travel, we've got cars, trains, airplanes and outerspace satellites now, and we can watch youtube videos for entertainment while the people in those time would have time to tell stories and fairy tales to pass the time because they had no other source of entertainment. We are so definitely living very different lifestyles from those people from olden times, from which the Bible was written. We have different cultures and forms of communication as well. Twitter wasn't invented then too! How about if the Bible is inclusive of all the different forms of lifestyles, culture and technology, and is aimed to speak to the human soul. Our souls. Our spirit. Our minds. Our hearts, feelings and emotions. Things that we find important. Things that nourish and sustain us. Things that give us pleasure, sorrow or joy, tears, regret or determination. All those things of the human soul. Don't tell me our souls differ from the people in the old times. There are universal things that we each in the depths of our hearts yearn for, and need- love, acceptance, belonging, kindness, purpose, husband, wife, wealth... Seems that Bible is more concerned to speak to the human souls, up to the point that it can become personalised to each individual human soul. Who can relate with the occurrence of when you are reading the Bible and suddenly a verse jumps up and just speaks into your current situation, feeling, thought or problem? And you're like...owow..this is amazing, how can it be so true? That is the power of the Bible. It can be be vivacious and alive despite its old existence. Sometimes it can be as young and cheeky as a 5 year-old child. Sometimes it can be as stern as the discipline master in your school. Sometimes it's the refreshing water that quench your thirst for knowledge and fill your curiosity. Ans sometimes it's the hug or kiss that you need in troubled times. The Bible actually contains stuffs, stories, narration, accounts, poems, lyrics, records that are relevant to all humans despite their time and age. Stuffs that we experience on a daily basis- rejection, jealousy, sadness, depression, failure, injustice, hurt, heartbreak, lying, being lied to, being tired, being betrayed, slandered, gossiped...all those things that we experience on a daily basis, the people at those times experience it too. Just in different settings. We are surrounded by our gizmos, while they may be surrounded by their animals, because they farm. lolzz. Anyway. It seems that things we are experiencing may not be new after all. Same old sin, same old story.

And coming to what makes the Bible attractive- its association with BORINGNESS. Bible. Boring. Duh. It's like the two are interlinked and interchangeable. I'm just kiddin'! No offense to those Bible-lovers! But to some, or many, the Bible is... kinda boring? Or very boring? Halfway in between? lol. Can I tell you that it is exactly in this cloak of "boredom" that the Bible hides its true colours and pearls, its diamonds and gemstones. We have to actively, willingly, self-motivatedly, actively unravel and get past this curtain of "boredom", in order to discover and receive the pearls of wisdom that it wants to bestow with you, the food for the soul that it longs to feed and nourish you with, the cleansing and purifying water that it longs to wash your stain and dirt with and the warmth to give you solace and comfort. The Bible can have all those wonderful impact, but first, you have got to desire it. You have to get past its shabby, boring, unattractive clothing that it adorned itself with, and desire to know, desire to hear, desire to find out, desire to listen to and receive the Word of God. The Bible wants to be desired. And it reflects how the Creator Himself is. God wants to be sought after, desired, worshipped, loved, cherished, because that was how our relationship with Him was initially. In relationship with God. (as in like boyfriend and girlfriend?? or mum with dad?? wow quite hard to imagine for some I understand, but you'll get there!) That is exactly what makes the Bible so hard to read: you've got to desire to read it, and every time you read it afterwards, you'll get something. I gurantee. If not you can comment and let me know. Try it. Like just randomly open a page in the Bible, or go to online Bible website like biblegateway.com and just randomly pick a verse or chapter to read. You'll find something. I've tried that and it just works. Coz I'm one of those lazy people who just want a quick word of God too, ha!

And another thing- why is it so thick?? Well the book is supposed to last us a lifetime to read, hence it's thick. Some parts are even so difficult to understand that we need to spend time to understand it, ponder over it, meditate and ruminate over it, discuss it with other people, debate it with other people, or strangers, disagree and have a fight over it and become enemies..haha!.. or repeat it over and over again like the monks do to remember it. Just kiddin'! Ever wondered what your churchy friends do in bible study groups? It's exactly because the Bible contains so much difficult stuffs it needs to be studied week in week out, just like one study many years to become a doctor in order just to treat one specie- the humans. Some people even devoted their lifetime to researching the Bible or the difficult-to-understand parts of the Bible, to understand it and receive from it. Seems like our local pastors and priests have to spend alot of time to read and understand it as well so they have something to preach, or, to share with us the congregation every week! Sometimes I'd like to have a thinner less intimidatingly thick version of the Bible, kinda like a pocket book, with not too many pages, perhaps with illustrations, easy-to-read magazine style... hey I think we can illustrate the Bible, right? Make it more interesting and reader-friendly? It's not changing the content isn't it? It's illustrating and format-layout-ing? lmao. And perhaps that's why Kindle is invented- it's so thin!

Well... In conclusion, it's still very very hard to read the Bible everyday, as it clothed itself with boring clothes. But perhaps in your difficult and dark times, there would be more reason and motivation to read the Bible, perhaps out of curiousity, perhaps out of desperation. As long as it is sought and desired, the Bible will unrobe its boring clothes, and show itself to you... (oh that sounds, funny, lmao)

Reviews

[M.E.Lyle]

This is a very refreshing perspective. At first I wasn't sure where you were going with this. What you say is true. The Bible is really tuff to follow especially when you get to all the begetings and begottens.
Great stuff and keep up the good work.