The Bible is by far the most widely and prolifically published book in all of history, making it the most accessible book in the Western world. It’s also arguably one of the most controversial books ever published—like people being burned at the stake or shot in the neck for proclaiming its message, controversial.
That’s why I’m often surprised at how many people have never read this glorious tome of religious literature from cover to cover. And, I’m not just talking about the people who don’t believe it’s true. I’m talking about professing Christians too.
Wherever you currently stand on the issue of the Bible’s divine inspiration and inerrancy, I posit that it is well worth your time and effort to read it through cover to cover at least once. With that, let me offer you ten reasons to read the Bible even if you’re not religious.
You have probably never read it cover to cover.
Given this obvious statement, perhaps you've never wanted to read it before. Or, maybe it’s one of those books you've taken for granted and never got around to reading. It might be something like the first time my wife visited the Grand Canyon—twenty years after she moved from living next door to it. She literally spent much of her childhood living next door to one of the natural wonders of the world, but never discovered its beauty and majesty until she was an adult, and we had kids of our own. Maybe you realize the best time to have read the Bible was twenty years ago; but the next best time is today.
Everything you read shapes you.
From the cereal box on the table at breakfast to the vulgar scrawling on the bathroom stall at the gas station, everything you read influences your thinking about things. People often say they can’t remember or don’t understand what they've read. This may be true consciously, but studies have shown the mind absorbs a lot more than we realize. Since you’re not going to read nothing, you might as well be intentional and nourish your mind on some inspirational and challenging content.
It is filled with some of the most renowned and inspiring stories of the literary world.
We really have no idea how inspiring the stories of the Bible really are until we read them. The Bible is filled with romance, kings, soldiers, conquests, beauty, war, goodness, evil villains, comedy, poetry, tragedy, hope, love, despair, murder, treachery, miracles, and even otherworldly beings. Stories like "Moses Parting the Red Sea," "Jonah and the Whale," "David and Goliath," and "Jesus Feeding the Five Thousand" are all classics of the Western literary world. Why deprive yourself of such beauty and inspiration when it’s so accessible?
No other book in all of history has had more impact on Western culture than the Bible.
Many of our quotations, philosophies, and ethics have been derived from the Bible. Yet most of us in the modern era are completely ignorant of just how profound that derivation is. Consider the expression, “by the skin of my teeth.” It comes from Job 19:20. How about the expression, “turn the other cheek”? That comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:39). Or, consider that the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the constitution), and how that was originally derived (borrowing from The English Bill of Rights of 1689) from the biblical principle of individual soul liberty.
These few are some anemic examples that barely scratch the surface, but you get the idea. The Bible heavily influenced painters like Michelangelo and Rembrandt, poets and playwrights like John Donne and William Shakespeare, musicians like Bach and Beethoven, and political activists like William Wilberforce and Martin Luther King, Jr. Now, we are starting to score the surface, but just a little. It would take and entire library to collect all the examples.
It is filled with practical truths that will make you a better person.
The Bible is filled with principles for avoiding poverty, gaining and maintaining wealth, enriching and sustaining your marriage, raising your children, avoiding troubles caused by vice, pursuing virtue, gaining and employing wisdom, exacting justice, finding redemption, and just being a better citizen. What’s interesting is how the Bible always seems to speak to the reader’s circumstance in a profound but subtle way. Try it and see.
It offers a high moral standard that, although unachievable, becomes the basis for redemption.
One of the interesting, and most controversial, aspects of the Bible is its high moral standard. And what’s so significant is not that it offers such a standard—most religious writings do—but the Bible offers a standard that is both unattainable and intolerable to modern sentiments. Yet, reading the Bible and contemplating its moral standards offers a unique perspective into our own moral compass and how we deal with our failures. In other words, it really is the fullest and ultimate revelation of the human experience ever offered in any genre of literature.
It had a profound effect on our nation’s founders.
Arguments abound as to the actual religious beliefs of many of our nation’s founding fathers—even more so in the current debates about various Christian nationalisms. But one thing is certain, regardless of one’s personal view on that matter. They all revered and were strongly influenced by the Bible’s message in one way or another. Most were devout confessional Christians while a few were deists or agnostics, but all of their tracts and letters are filled with allusions and references to Scripture and the Providence that gave them success—including Thomas Jefferson who was influenced by the puritan Samuel Rutherford though the works of John Locke. The Bible deserves a good read on this foundation alone.
It had a profound effect on the world’s greatest writers.
I still remember hearing my secular college English professor say something to the effect that literature is not literature unless it, in some way or another, references or interacts with the Bible. I’m not sure if that was his own opinion or if he was quoting someone else, but I remember how it struck me as profoundly true. Nearly every renowned writer, from Shakespeare to Stephen King, interacts with, reacts to, or conceptualizes biblical themes, characters, or principles in their writing in some fashion or another. It’s inevitable.
It is the world’s most recognized sacred text.
This is too obvious to need to expound. While there are other well-known and revered religious texts—the Quran (Koran) and Bhagavad Gita come to mind—it goes without saying the Bible has been central to almost every Western religion, and even a few modern eastern religions (e.g. Tzu Chi). At the very least, being acquainted with this major sacred text—even if you are not a Christian—seems to be a wise enterprise for a better understanding of the West and the world in my mind.
It will make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
In St. Paul’s letter to Timothy recorded in the New Testament, Paul told his pastoral protégé that his being acquainted with the sacred writings was the instrument that made him “wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” In another place, Paul told the church at Rome that faith was produced from hearing the words of the Bible (2 Timothy 3:25-17 cf. Romans 10:17). Who knows what may happen in your life if you gave this Sacred Text a chance.
Of course there are many other reasons besides these to read the Bible. And many of you may even disagree with my reasons. That's okay. I’m open to hearing your thoughts on reading this amazing collection of ancient sacred literature. Feel free to share them in the comments.