Bible Documentaries Are Not A Good Substitute For Reading The Bible

By Pastor Bruce K. Oyen

Email: bk_oyen@hotmail.com

 

     On a recent TV news program, the point was made that there is always widespread interest in any new documentary about the Bible because people have an ongoing interest in its contents. They might not believe what is in the Bible, but they are always curious about it. Therefore, they watch the documentaries.

     What came to mind abut this public fascination with the Bible is that so few seem to realize they can discover its contents for themselves by simply reading it. We don't need a new documentary every few years. We just need to read the Bible, and we need to read for what it is: the Word of God.

    This does not mean that documentaries about the Bible are a bad thing. Most of us learn from visual presentation of any subject. Bible documentaries can be good or bad, or good and bad all in one. It all depends on whether or not the documentary is true to the Bible itself. They must be done in such a way as to not misrepresent or distort the Bible's contents by what is left out or added.

     So, back to my main point: We don't need a new documentary every few years. We just need to read the Bible, and we need to read it as the Word of God. But we must read and re-read it to master its contents. The Bible is not a big book, unless it is in giant print and has a lot of explanatory footnotes. However, it still needs numerous readings for us to get really familiar with its contents.

     We can read through it once a year by reading four chapters a day. New-comers to the Bible might do well to start by reading the New Testament portion of it. The table of contents will tell you what page that starts on. Once the New Testament has been read through, go to the beginning and read its first book, called "Genesis." The New Testament makes frequent reference to Genesis. Then continue on from there.

     It is important to not get bogged down by all the details in the Bible. Just do what is called survey reading the first time through it. Have the goal to read it through in a year, and it will get done. You might enjoy it so much that you will read it all in six months or less.

     What follows is brief information about some respected Bible translations.

• The King James Version (old English).
• The New King James Version (modern English).
• The New American Standard Bible (updated in 1995, modern English).
• The English Standard Version (modern English).
• The Holman Christian Standard Bible (modern English).
• The New International Version( 1984 edition, modern English).

    What follows are brief warnings about two "Bibles":

• The New World Translation (This produced by the so-called Jehovah's Witnesses. It is in modern English, but reliable Bible scholars reject it because it deliberately distorts the Bible in many places to support the false teaching of the Jehovah's Witnesses.)
• The Message (modern English, and better than The New World Translation. But it distorts too much of the Bible to make it appealing to modern readers. Earlier in 2013 I made a posting about this paraphrase of the Bible. If you want to read it, look for this title: "The Message Is Not The Bible.")

    In conclusion, remember that documentaries are not a good substitute for reading the Bible.