African Christians in general love the Bible. We love to own a Bible. We enjoy listening to preaching based on the Bible. And we love to read tracts and booklets about the Bible. Sometimes we check out the Bible to pray a certain psalm or read a few verses that have been indicated to us in the course of a lesson, homily or discussion. But few of us ever read the Bible on a regular basis as a Christian devotion. Why?
Africans have a dynamic sense of the sacred. When it comes to the Bible this disposition is carried to excesses in such a way that we not only have a reverential fear for the Bible but a demobilizing awe that keeps us from seeing the Bible as a book to be read. I used to know a certain man who owned a Bible. He wrapped it up very neatly in white cloth and saved it together with his other precious belongings in a drawer. The Bible was brought out and unwrapped only when there was a dispute in the village and someone needed to swear an oath to resole the dispute. For this man the Bible had become a sacred object doing the work that used to be done by the idols of traditional religion in the settlement of disputes. The Bible, sure enough, is a sacred object. But it is a sacred object meant above all to be read and listened to.
In this chapter we shall examine some of the reasons our people adduce for not reading the
Bible habitually. Many of these "reasons" are based on wrong premises and suppositions, as we shall
see. Finally we shall see some of the positive reasons why every literate Christian should regularly
read the Bible. It is indeed a habit that brings with it manifold blessings.
2. WHY SOME CHRISTIANS DO NOT READ THE BIBLE
(a) The Bible is Primitive
Some Christians do not read the Bible because they believe that the Bible is a primitive book that has little relevance to the realities of modern life. The world economic and banking system would collapse if we followed literally the Bible injunction not to lay up treasure for ourselves here on earth (Matthew 6:19). Law and order could not be maintained in the society if we followed literally the Bible injunction not to judge others (Matthew 7:1) but to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5: 38-41).
The Bible does not take an incontrovertible stand on racial, sexual or social discrimination. It does not always speak out clear and strong in condemnation of some forms of social injustice. For example, the Bible does not take a clear stand against slavery and genocide in war. As a matter of fact, many Bible reading Christians are known to be very insensitive to issues of social injustice and very slow to act in pursuance of justice and peace. In the past, and up to the present in some quarters, the Bible has been used as a weapon to rob people of their God-given freedom and suppress their efforts at liberation and self-determination.
It is true that the Bible, and religion in general, has been put to many an ignoble use by Christians who are presumably well-meaning but ignorant. Many errors and crimes against humanity and against true religion have been committed in God's name. But it is becoming increasing clear to all humanity that those who use the Bible as a pretext for evil bend the Bible to their wills instead of bending their wills to the Bible. Instead of surrendering themselves as servants of the Word of God they manipulate the Word of God to serve them and their selfish ambitions. This is not a criticism of the Bible as much as of the men and women who thus misuse it. The Bible, like every precious thing, is liable to misuse and a lot of material and spiritual harm could result from abuses. But that only underlines the need for us to acquire the know-how for a proper understanding and application of the Bible in our every-day lives.
True, the Bible is an ancient book dealing in the first instance with the problems of those times. But a deeper analysis of the human situation reveals that most of those ancient problems are still with us, clamouring for a solution. How do we as individuals live happy and meaningful lives? How do we as a society build a community of peace and justice and prosperity for all? These are some of the ancient problems of humankind that are as relevant and urgent today as they were in the days of yore. As the book of Ecclesiastes says,
The fundamental problems of humanity have not changed. And so the Bible which addresses these problems will always be found to be relevant until the end of times. As the Lord himself said,
This is not to deny the fact that the Bible is an ancient book as indeed it is. For, as John J. Dougherty says in his book Searching the Scriptures:
What needs also to be underlined here is that in spite of the fact of the Bible being an ancient book it does have an enduring value. Recognition of the age of the Bible should go hand in hand with recognition of its eternal value. The Bible could be old but it could never be out of date.
(b) The Bible is Foreign
Some educated Africans say that the Bible is a product of a foreign religion and culture meant for believers in a foreign God. The Bible, they argue, was not intended for Africans and using the Bible to seek solutions to African problems would be tantamount to putting a square peg in a round hole. According to this point of view, the Bible is simply irrelevant in Africa. Worse still, it could be downright negative and harmful in its effects on the religions and cultures of African peoples which it seeks to replace with a foreign one.
People who reason in this fashion do not, in general, actually base their arguments on the content of the Bible. Few of them have taken the pains to read the Bible and to know exactly what they are condemning. Often such people have a problem with the Christian religion in the first place and this makes them regard the Bible with prejudice. If they could let go of prejudice and read the Bible they would discover that the God of the Bible is not only the God of the Jews but also the God of Africans. For He is the God of the whole world and is equally available for all men and women of the world irrespective of their culture, nation or race. The experience of Peter, a Jew, in the house of Cornelius, a pagan, is a good demonstration of this point:
In the imperfect revelation of the Old Testament one often comes across passages in which the Israelites are presented as special people in God's eyes. It is true that God chose the Israelites of old as a people bound to him by covenant, but His intention was that the blessings of this covenant should reach out to the whole world and not be limited to the Israelites.
When God called Abraham He promised him two things, namely, "I will bless you" and "By you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves" (Genesis 12:1-3). Right from the beginning of God's dealings with Israel, His interest in all humanity was a major concern. The purpose of the divine election of ancient Israel is twofold, namely, in the interest of the Israelite people and in the interest of the whole world. This is how Isaiah summarizes it:
God had to start somewhere. That He chose Israel as His messenger in the world does not mean that He loved him to the exclusion of His other children. All men and women are God's children. God fathered them when He created them.
The God of the Bible is none other than the same God Creator of heaven and earth worshiped by our ancestors (Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 45:12). Though He is sometimes spoken of as the "creator of Israel" (Isaiah 43:15), He is also believed to be the "creator of the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 40:28). The same God who revealed Himself in a general way to all peoples of the earth in His creation (Psalm 19/18:1-4) also revealed Himself in a special way to the Israelites through their prophets and especially through His Son Jesus Christ (Heb 1:1). The relevance and importance of the Bible to all who seek to know and serve God is that in it we have a record of God our Father's self-revelation to the whole world given through His messenger, Israel.
It is a sad fact that early Christian missionaries to Africa did not always give the impression that there could be harmony between African cultures and Christianity. They often treated our cultural beliefs and practices as if they came from the devil while Christian beliefs and practices came from God. The one was to be uprooted and the other was to be transplanted. This uproot-and-transplant attitude of some of the early missionaries has given the Christian religion and its Bible a bad name among many enlightened Africans.
But we should be careful not to throw away the baby with the bath water. While denouncing the wrong use of the Bible in the hands of over zealous missionaries, we should, at the same time receive the Bible itself with gratitude to God for such a wonderful gift to all His children in every corner of the world.
Christianity with its Bible is God's gift to men and women of every culture in the world who search for "the way, the truth and the life". Its basic teachings are compatible with any culture in the world, resulting in a mutual enrichment of both the culture and Christianity. European Christians did succeed in the past to effect a synthesis between Christianity and their culture. Today, Christian sons and daughters of Africa are working to achieve the same in Africa -- through the process known as inculturation.
Rather than the negative stance of Christianity or African culture knowledgeable Africans should adopt the positive stance of Christianity and African culture. The Bible is Jewish, yes. But the Bible is not only Jewish. It is also European, African, Asian, American, name it.
(c) The Bible is Dangerous
Before the awakening of interest in the Bible among Nigerian Christians that gave rise to the biblical movement in the 1970's many stories were circulating, especially in Roman Catholic circles, that tried to show that it was a dangerous thing for the ordinary Christian to read the Bible. These stories spoke of people who dabbled into the Bible out of curiosity and without any special training and how they ended up becoming blind or insane. It was then believed that only specially trained people, namely the priests and religious, could safely read the Bible.
It is hard to trace the origins of such stories since they did not reflect official church teaching even in those days. Whatever be their origins such stories were undoubtedly exaggerated. Yes, there is a possibility of danger arising out of misunderstanding of the Bible which could seriously harm the individual Christian's life as well as the Christian community. A zealous Christian was known to have mutilated himself through castration because the Bible says
Yes, it is possible to misuse the Bible and spiritually destroy oneself and others. The Bible itself says so:
This is not intended to discourage Christians from reading the Bible. No, it is meant to caution them so they would make the necessary preparations and take the necessary dispositions to read the Bible profitably. Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well, and this includes Bible reading. Of course, as in everything really important and useful, there could be abuses. But the abuse of a thing does not take away its legitimate and profitable use. Should we refrain from driving because there are many bad drivers on the roads? No. Rather we need to make more effort to learn driving well so that we can drive better than those bad drivers that cause accidents on our roads.
We can say the same about Bible reading. The dangers involved are not supposed to frighten us away from the Bible but to motivate us to learn how to read and understand the Bible better. This book is meant to help you do just that. The Bible is like a forest. Those who know their way about it go in and out and find firewood, mushroom and rare vegetables but those uninitiated lose their way in it.
The Bible is good. But some people do not know how to use it and this produces harmful results. Many centuries ago, St Augustine (+A.D. 430) asked the question, "Do you know how heresies [false teachings] are produced?" He answered the question: it is because "the Scriptures, which are good in themselves, were badly interpreted."(2) Knowing this, therefore, what do we do? Run away from the Bible? No. Try to know better so as to avoid the pitfalls in the interpretation of the Bible? Yes.
(d) Private Bible Reading is not Necessary for Salvation
Sometimes when you ask some people whether they read the Bible the answer you get back is, "Is it necessary for salvation?" Actually they have a point. Private Bible reading is not absolutely necessary for salvation. Does the Bible not say that faith comes from hearing the preaching of Christ (Romans 10:17)? Has the church not known innumerable men and women of God who lived the Christian life in a way worthy of emulation but who never read a page of the Bible simple because they were illiterate? There is no doubt about it: private Bible reading is not an absolute requirement for personal faith and salvation.
Yet private Bible reading is very helpful and profitable growth in the Christian life. Some of the reasons for this assertion we shall se below, but for now let us make the simple observation that many of the things we do in life are done not because they are absolutely necessary for survival but because they are very helpful for one to live well. Examples would be eating three times a day, taking a bath everyday, learning to read and write. One would still survive if one ate only once a day, took a bath once in three days and never went to school at all. But it is easy to see that the quality of such a person's life would suffer.
For someone who really wants to live the good life and not only to survive, certain things which are not absolutely necessary for life might in practice become a necessity. Similarly, though private Bible reading is not absolutely necessary for salvation, those who really want to grow and blossom in the Christian life often discover that they do need the Bible reading devotion. It is not an objective necessity but its subjective importance and usefulness cannot be over-emphasized.
The point we are trying to make about private Bible reading being very useful though not absolutely important has been made in fewer words by Dougherty:
(e) The Church Does not Encourage Private Bible Reading
The impression that the Catholic Church does not encourage her members to read the Bible is widespread. One often comes across non-Catholics as well as Catholics who hold that view. But the view is not altogether correct. The Catholic Church, like a good mother, cautions her children about the dangers in using unapproved, non-Catholic editions of the Bible. The old (1917) Code of Canon Law forbids Catholics, except those engaged in theological or biblical studies, to use editions and translations of the Bible published by non-Catholics (canon 1399). But the faithful were certainly encouraged to read Catholic, approved editions of the Bible.
There are many passages in the documents of the Second Vatican Council in which the church exhorts all the faithful to "frequent reading of the divine Scriptures". One of such is the following taken from the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, published on November 18, 1965.
But perhaps the most concrete expression of the church's encouragement of the faithful to read the Bible was given as far back as December 13, 1898 when the church, through the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Leo XIII, conferred the spiritual benefits of indulgences on her children who read the Bible:
One could, of course, point out the fact that in practice the Catholic Church, at least in Africa, appears to be doing less to encourage her members to read the Bible than the protestant churches. The Catholic Church seems to be investing less of her resources in the provision of low-priced and vernacular Bibles for her members than do the other churches. The same could be said about the provision of Bible reading guides and materials. Such a situation is regrettable.
Nevertheless, let it be clear that the Catholic Church, as much as the other Christian churches, recognizes the value of Bible reading and encourages her children to read the Bible as a daily spiritual exercise.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. John J. Dougherty, Searching the Scriptures: A Popular Introduction to the Bible, Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1959, 1963, p. 13.
2. Cf. John J. Dougherty, Searching the Scriptures, p. 10.
3. Ibid. p. 8.
4. Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, n. 25, in Austin Flannery (transl.), Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, Collegeville, MI: The Liturgical Press, 1975.
5. John J. Dougherty, Searching the Scriptures, pp. 8-9.
