Christian Readers discussion

I'm going to reply to Lorrie's comment that isn't here anymore for some reason. She wondered about the trend of study guides for Christian books and asked:"Do we study the Bible as much? Do you think it's a good thing? "

I really think this is worth discussing. Most of the so-called Bible studies that a lot of churches, including mine, have these days don't study the Bible at all. Instead they study a Christian book that may be Bible related, and those study guides may or may not be in everyone's book. I wonder if this is a way to get more laymen into small groups when they are afraid to trust a layman to lead a study of actual bible books or passages. Or maybe people just aren't volunteering to lead studies without this kind of crutch.

But the cynic in me, which developed after nine years working in a Christian bookstore, wonders if the whole idea is to sell more books because everyone in these groups is supposed to have one. Almost everyone who goes to church has a Bible already and would not have to buy anything.

I confess to a background in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at UCLA. Back in the early sixties, we used the Bible for our Bible studies and students led them. We had several of these small groups in the dorm. We had great discussions, and many unbelievers were attending. We wanted to get them reading the Bible itself, not what someone thought about it. That's still my idea of a Bible study.

I definitely agree... the Bible itself should be our primary source. Other study books are great for suggesting specific directions to take in our studies, and for providing background information (such as the cultural context), and so on. However, they should never be confused with the Word itself.

In my church, we always use the Bible at bible studies. It's usually one of the core leaders who actually leads the studies, but we sometimes try to get everybody involved in studying a small portion too.