How would you like a book that addresses one of the biggest, yet often overlooked problems of our day? It is the problem of a famine of the Bible– not only in our world, but within Christianity itself. Adding to the damage is our lack of ideas on how to address the problem. How will I address the problem in my life? How will pastors address it in our churches? Packing a real wallop, this volume by Kenneth Berding and published by the Weaver Book Company shares real answers. The answers are deftly given, and as the subtitle says (“committing ourselves to one book“), are what we should have already realized.
Mr. Berding confines his case that we have this famine to one succinct chapter. That suffices as I doubt any reader would fail to see the obvious nature of the Bible’s standing among God’s people. He even discusses some possible reasons, like distractions and so on, that gives insight to where we are today. Chapter two to the end are insightful, practical advise on what must be done.
His approach is one of confronting the things that keep the Bible at a such distance that it does not have the dramatic effect it otherwise would on our lives. Things like seeing the Bible as truly sufficient, or that it can be actually understood, or our being superficial in reading it, or worse, that we already know all the important stuff–these are makings of biblical illiteracy. He call our biases “special interests” and the preferred type of sermons today “therapeutism”. One of our biggest blunders, as he well explains, is our imagined right to an opinion of whether what we read is acceptable to us or not. He leads us persuasively away from these things.
Were we to confront the things that Mr. Berding calls out we would without fail have a revival in our personal lives regarding the Bible. I recommend this book for you and me. As a pastor, I recommend it to those I pastor too. It is a gem that I pray finds a wide audience!
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 .
The Reagan Review 
Besides distractions and believing the Bible to be difficult to understand (partly because many Independent Baptist churches push KJV-only, and it’s like a foreign language to some), I think another reason people don’t feel it necessary to read and study is because many see it as a Book of commandments and ancient history, instead of a Book containing a wealth of wisdom and knowledge that is very relevant. Ooo… and revelant has almost become a dirty word, because of modern movements or sermons that seem less theological, doctrinal and evangelistic. Heaven forbid! Not only that, but because of divisions in beliefs, people are left either wondering who is right and believing that if the scholars can’t agree, then certainly, it’s too complicated. My children and I were discussing Calvinism and Arminianism, concluding that people who even know what those two distinctions mean, feel like they have to fall into one camp or another. Even within the two camps, there are differences! How can a person be a 3-point Calvinist? You’re either a Calvinist or you’re not. I said, “If anyone pushes for an answer, either tell them you are not of Calvin or Arminius but of Christ, or tell them you are a Calminian and watch their expression.” [chuckle] But I digress. Didn’t Jesus teach using parables and object lessons that were relatively easy to understand and relevant to His listeners?
Btw, I understand the textual argument for the KJV, and I think it is the best translation, especially when accompanied with Webster’s 1828 dictionary, but its old English does discourage some people from reading it.
To see the Bible as only a book of commandments is to miss its main theme by far and that is so sad! Sometimes we impose our theological preferences on the text to. In a way, this book discusses that too.
I agree.
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