This is a follow up article to Only Bible Study Can Help You. “Bad Bible Study” popped into my head when I heard about a movie I don’t intend to watch: “Bad Grandpa.”
The greatest gift God bestowed on me through UBF was to love Bible study (Ps 119:97; 1:2) as the way to truly knowing God (Jn 17:3), being filled with the Spirit (Jn 6:63; Gal 5:22-23), and experiencing his trinitarian presence, love and immeasurable grace (Ps 34:8; Jer 31:3; 1 Ti 1:15). So I am as pro-Bible study as one can possibly ever be ever since I had a mystical conversion and became a Christian in 1980 while studying the Bible with a UBF missionary. I am a firm believer that grasping Scripture aright is the way to transcendence and to solving and resolving any problem in all of life. I have personally found this to be true. I’m sure that countless others have as well.
However, is there Bible study that is just bad? Interestingly, as I have been studying and preaching through the book of Isaiah over the past year, God and Isaiah repeatedly indicts his people for their “bad” Bible study and their “bad” Bible teachers. So what is bad Bible study?
Bad Bible study can come from obeying God’s word! Right at the outset of Isaiah, God rebukes his people for obeying what he commands in the Law (torah, instructions) (Isa 1:11-15). Yes, God rebuked them for obeying God’s word. Why? The NIV says, “I cannot bear your worthless assemblies” (Isa 1:13, NIV). The ESV says, “I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly” (Isa 1:13, ESV). Though the people faithfully and religiously gathered for public worship in obedience to God’s word, God was appalled by their hidden iniquity, especially injustice, playing politics and oppressing the weak and powerless (Isa 1:17, 23; Mt 23:23).
Bad Bible study comes from obeying the Bible teacher’s human rules. “Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught” (Isa 29:13). How does this happen? For instance, I believe that sexual purity before (and after) marriage is a key to a happy life. So should a human rule be enforced in church by controlling and restricting dating of adult single Christians in the church? Thus, I posed the question: Marriage By Faith (Should No Dating be a Church Policy)? I also think it’s good to get up early in the morning to pray as Jesus did (Mk 1:35)…before drinking coffee, which is hard! But if early morning prayer meeting is imposed by the Bible teacher–as well intentioned as he/she might be–it becomes a “human rule taught by man.” I believe that faithfully attending church on Sunday should be part of a Christian’s staple and walk of life. But again, if this is imposed on others, it becomes a “taught human rule.”
So what is bad Bible study? For the record, I am pro-obedience (Jn 14:15, 21, 23; Ac 5:32). But I’ve seen how some Christian leaders and Bible teachers abuse their authority by enforcing and insisting obedience on their subordinates (“sheep”). This, I strongly believe, violates each person’s individual autonomy and freedom of choice. Therefore, I would regard any form of coercion, intimidation, guilt-tripping and “enforcing human/church rules taught by human Bible teachers” as “bad Bible study.”
Why? Because Jesus–the good, gentle, gracious shepherd–stands at the door and knocks gently (Rev 3:20). Jesus does not guilt-trip, intimidate, coerce or barge down the door! Jesus is also gentle and humble in heart (Mt 11:29a). He unburdens the weary and gives them rest (Mt 11:28). His yoke is easy and his burden is light (Mt 11:30). Thus, in Jesus, we find rest for our souls (Mt 11:29b).
Have you experienced “good” or “bad” Bible study?
Just a note here:
“The greatest gift God bestowed on me through UBF was to love Bible study (Ps 119:97; 1:2) as the way to truly knowing God (Jn 17:3), being filled with the Spirit (Jn 6:63; Gal 5:22-23), and experiencing his trinitarian presence, love and immeasurable grace (Ps 34:8; Jer 31:3; 1 Ti 1:15).”
This is pretty good. But remember, it’s not the Bible study that leads to 1) knowing God 2) being filled with the Spirit, 3)experiencing the trinitarian presence, or love or grace.
It’s the Word itself. It’s in the Bible as a word (rhema) printed on a page, but it’s God’s word (logos) that has the life and power to make God known and do his work.
I also encountered the Word through Bible study. I had been having visions of my life as being trapped in a cave under the ocean, then swimming up looking for air and not making it, seeing a light above the waters, straining for breath, yearning and feeling like I was dying.
My first Bible study I read Genesis 1:2, “Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” I felt God nudge my heart, like it was speaking to me. Of course, my Bible teacher was all on for at least 30 minutes about how important 1:1 was for him, and 1:1 was important for me to learn, too. But it was 1:2 that really let me see that God gave us his Word to connect with us.
It was the Holy Spirit that showed me a vision of a light shining at a dark intersection that helped me see the right from wrong way (Genesis 1:3).
It wasn’t the “ipoowee” I kept hearing and later decoded to mean “if we.”
Yes, Mr.C, you’re absolutely right: It is the word of God (2 Ti 3:16; 2 Pet 1:20-21) that led me to the Word who is God in the beginning and who became flesh (Jn 1:1-3, 14)!
Interestingly, Mr.C, Gen 1:2 was my first epiphany/theophany moment when I began Genesis Bible study in 1980. Gen 1:2 opened my eyes to know for the first time about the sheer emptiness and futility of my life apart from God.
I remember being in the vaunted “Group Bible Study Training with Mother Barry” at the North American Staff Conference.
The way people in ubf looked at me when I told them I was going, you’d think my hair was made of gold!
Anyhow, we talked a lot about different ideas for leading a Bible study. As the session went on, a number of the more faithful and dependable missionary Bible teachers kept adding more and more rules about do this do that. At the end, I literally had to shout, “In the end, it’s the Holy Spirit who leads the person to the Word of God. I couldn’t understand half of what my shepherd was saying but the Holy Spirit moved something in me!” My only regret is that i wasn’t shrewd enough to separate the two things enough, until a lot later.
I just read this today Ben. Really good thoughts here. I appreciate the clarity about obedience.