It seems many people think so. Maybe you’ve tried reading the Bible only to get frustrated in your attempt to understand it. This can be especially true if you are reading from the “King James Version” of the Bible; all the “thou shalt’s” and the “thou shalt not’s” and the rest of those old forms of English prove to be difficult to comprehend. Simply getting a good modern speech translation of the Bible can really help in understanding God’s word. For instance, the New King James Version, the New American Standard Version, or the New International Version are among the choices available to you.
Jesus assures us that “…you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The truth is knowable! The Bible isn’t too hard to understand. Yet even with a good modern speech translation of the Bible there still remain several factors that prevent a true understanding of God’s word:
· Overemphasis on materialism – In Matthew 13 Jesus compared a mind cluttered by the cares of materialism to a garden full of weeds and thorns (Matthew 13:22). God’s word starts to grow, but it is soon choked out by all the weeds of materialism. This process describes precisely what happens to many: they start to study God’s word, but life just sort of gets in the way and soon all those good intentions are lost in the hustle and bustle of daily life.
· WIllfull ignorance – Many people don’t go to the Doctor because they are afraid of what he or she might say to them: “You need to loose weight” or “you need to get more exercise” are among the things that many people just don’t want to hear, so their trips to the Doctor are few and far between. The same is often true when it comes to the Bible. In 2 Peter 2:5 Peter describes these kinds of people as those who “willfully forget” God’s word. Almost as if they kind of know a little bit about what God’s word says and maybe it scares them, so they quickly put it out of mind. And they certainly do not pursue further investigation!
· Unwillingness to Obey – Jesus commented on this problem when he said: “If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” (John 7:17) A crucial factor in actually understanding what the Bible says is a genuine willingness to actually do it once we understand it! Far too many people study the Bible with the idea of figuring out reasons for why they don’t really have to do what it tells them to do. No wonder they think it’s hard to understand!
· Prejudice – Many people approach the Bible with their minds already made up. Although this sometimes describes an open hostility toward the word of God, such is not the only way people display a prejudice against the Bible. People often study the Bible with the idea of trying to get it to fit their present beliefs and values. Jesus was rather stern in his rebuke of those who treated God’s word this way when he said:
“For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” (Matthew 13:15)
Here at the Red Bluff church of Christ we don’t claim to know everything there is to know about the Bible. But we do try to keep the above points in mind as we study Gods word. We are convinced that truth is knowable. We try our best to actually do what the Bible tells us to do. If such is appealing to you, then by all means join with us in our mutual study of the greatest book known to man: the Bible!