Bible study begins with reading. Yet, quite frankly, a lot of people never get to that point. At best, they nibble at the text. They may read books about the Bible or devotional materials loosely based on it, but they don't read the Bible itself. Good Christian books and magazines that supplement your Bible reading are fine, but there is no substitute for reading Scripture.
. . . I whole-heartedly agree, and this is definitely something I'm guilty of. I tend to do Bible study guides that ask questions regarding certain bits of scripture, but realized recently that reading a bit of scripture here and there, without context, can actually be rather confusing.
My heart wants to get better at reading the Bible. My mind wants to get better at it, too. So why then is it so difficult? What is it that's keeping me from being able to sit down and indulge myself in THIS 'good book?' I hope I figure it out, and hurdle that obstacle, so I can finally digest what my Lord has been saying for centuries.
Reading excerpt taken from Grace to You: http://www.gty.org/Resources/Positions/P16
It was actually while trying to read through the Bible in its entirety that I realized I didn't believe it anymore. When I started reading large parts of it back to back so that they were fresh in my memory instead of having specific bits being taken out of context in books or sermons, I realized that it didn't make sense to me. It did not correlate with what I had learned and observed in my life. I wonder if many people don't read it in depth for this very reason, not that this is the reason you in particular haven't been doing it.
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