The Bible for Dummies

 

     The advent of computers saw the rise in books that were published to help explain what was going on with them.  Forty years ago, the section for computer books in the local book store was indeed very small and in many cases, non existent.  Then, as more and more technical books were being written, it became necessary to have a section for them.  Most of the books were difficult to understand for the average computer user.  The term "user friendly" became known as it described whether a computer or even a program was easy enough to be used by the average person.  One book came out to help explain just how the computer worked.  It was called "DOS for Dummies."  DOS stands for Disk Operating System and was one of the more basic programs for the working of most computers.  The book was laid out in such a way as to explain something for even the person who was computer illiterate.  It wasn't long before the idea caught on for other areas of life.  Soon, there were books for auto repair or cooking or gardening, all written for those who were not experts in the field.  I wondered how long it would be before there was a book, "The Bible for Dummies."  Sure enough, there it is, "The Bible - God's Word for the Biblically-inept."  The book, from the outside, looks just like all of the other "dummies" books with the yellow and black theme.  The Book states, "(the author) ...breaks the Bible down into bite-sized pieces making it easy to understand and incorporate into your life."  Second Timothy 2:15 says, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

     The Bible itself states what is necessary for the understanding of the Scripture.  For the believer, the one thing that is helpful is for the person to begin studying the Scriptures.  We are to be diligent in our time in God's Word.  Then, we will find that the Holy Spirit will be able to illuminate God's Word to us.  It is interesting to note that the term "dummy" doesn't occur in the Scripture.  There are no dummies in God's eyes.  People may be Biblically inept due to the fact that they have a very small diet of Scripture in their lives.  For some, it may only exist in what the preacher says on Sunday morning or Sunday evening and if they are fortunate, on Wednesday evening.  That is probably far short of 3 hours a week in corporate study.  Obviously, one needs more time than that to study God's Word.  We spend more time in a week, watching the news on TV than that.  So, Paul was right when he admonished young Timothy to "Study the Scriptures."  How are you doing?  Are you spending time in Bible study or do you just listen to what others have to say?  Praise God today that He gave us His Word for us to learn about Him.