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Hearing the Bible in its own voice

As I mentioned previously, one of my rewsponsibilities at MEPC is leadng a training group on how to read the Bible foryourself. Here's the introduction to my first seminar. I'd appreciate some thoughts & feedback.
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The Bible comes to us as a book, which is itself a collection of books. Each book has its own author, style, and historical situation. It uses a variety of literary techniques to communicate its message in its own unique way. So each book of the Bible – sometimes different parts of one book – has its own unique ‘voice’. So, on the one hand, correctly understanding the Bible is actually quite easy. All we need to do is listen to it, in its own voice.
On the other hand, it takes effort to hear the Bible in its own voice. This is because:
  1. Some passages of the Bible are quite complicated. We need to read them slowly and carefully.
  2. The Bible’s a big book – there’s a lot to get through.
  3. We may not be used to the style of a particular book, or part of a book.
  4. The Bible was written in a time and place very different to ours. It can feel alien, unfamiliar, distant from us.

None of these are problems with the Bible; they’re all problems with us. The Bible’s big & sometimes complicated because God is big, and there’s things about him that are hard to understand. There’s a lot to know about God! Some of its styles are difficult because the humans who God inspired to write it were intelligent and creative. Many modern books are big, complicated and use unfamiliar styles of writing – but we still read them, and recognise them as high literature. And the Bible feels historical because it is historical! The Bible was written by real people in a real place. If we’re only interested in the latest thing, if we only understand our own time, then we’ve been sucked in by the narcissism of our age.
If we work at it, we can rightly hear the Bible in its own voice. In my first training seminar, I teach a general method for Bible reading. It’s a technique that’s based on the Bible’s bible-ness: the Bible is a book, which is a collection of books, each with their author, style, and historical situation. My prayer is that this helps us all to hear the Bible, in its own voice – and by so doing, that we would come face-to-face with Jesus, and trust, love and serve him more.

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