“The reason studying chess is so hard for so many is simple: We make it hard.” —Andrew Soltis
Andrews Soltis said in Studying Chess Made Easy, “The reason studying chess is so hard for so many is simple: We make it hard.”
This is true in so many areas of life. We make too many things harder than it should be.
This is especially true with Bible Study. Can Bible Study be hard, yes. People spend their entire lives getting into the weeds of every syllable of the Hebrew and Greek texts. But can it be easy, absolutely! The important thing to remember is that if you are going to get more knowledgeable in the Bible, just sit down and start reading and move forward.
It doesn’t have to be as hard as we make it. Sometimes I blame leaders and especially the Big Names. Yes, leaders have a lot of knowledge of the Bible. Some inadvertently demonstrate such skill in their expertise that it makes basic Bible knowledge discouraging. This is not to be against them, but a reminder to other leaders (including myself) that the majority of Americans are Biblically Illiterate. To speak of things above people’s heads makes it difficult for the average person to grasp.
I was talking to Monica about the “try-hards” in Call of Duty—those who like to show their impressiveness by being incredibly aggressive with a high level of skill in the game.” These “Try-hards” ruin it for everyone because their aggressiveness is discouraging to everyone but to that one person killing 9 other players to his one death–themselves.
It is the same with Bible Study. We may try to justify how you must know scripture, but in the end, you may be discouraging the very people you think you are ministering to.
So, like chess—we make Bible Study far harder than it should be.
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