Historically, Baptists have prided themselves on being "People of the Book." By this we've usually meant to imply that we read the Bible, derive our beliefs from the Bible, and attempt to order our lives accordingly. I applaud the goal. It says something good about how seriously we hope to take the Bible. I am concerned, though, about the quality of our performance.
For example, how many of us actually read the Bible well? Most of us, no doubt, read the Good Book in bits and pieces. We examine a passage during Sunday School, read a few verses during personal devotions, hear selections read during corporate worship and the like. In short, we catch glimpses of the Bible. That's fine, isofar as it goes, but if we are content with such limited exposure, we shall not experience the full impact of scripture. Read as a continuous, if challenging, narrative the Bible spins the greatest story ever told. And each chapter and verse needs to be read in light of all the precedes and follows it.
When we read the entire Bible over and over, we begin to get a feel for the various types of literature (story, poem, parable, sayings, history, folk memory, apocalyptic, etc) found within it. We learn, perhaps, how to read each selection in ways appropriate to its genre. If we read the Bible often and carefully, we soon see that certain parts reveal a great deal about human sin and human limits, while other selections clearly reveal God's nature and his intent for us. We begin to ask, "What does this passage suggest or reveal about God and about us?" Careful reading of the Bible even reveals that scripture sometimes cancels out scripture. For example, most Christians agree that the teachings and example of Jesus negate such Old Testament injunctions as those that call for disobedient children to be stoned. In short, the Bible is not "flat." While all of scripture is inspired of God and useful for instruction, some scriptures supersede others. Deciding when such is the case is part of the ongoing challenge faced by any serious reader of the Bible.
If we want to build our belief structures and order our lives on the basis of the Bible, we must learn to read the Bible well. When so read, the Bible throws challenge after challenge at the assumptions of one's birth culture, the wisdom we may have accumlated over the course of our careers, and our individual views of others and life. Read well and often, the Bible starts to capture our minds, hearts and imaginations so that we never know when a biblically based insight may intrude on what we consider perfectly normal activities, bring us up short, and force us to rethink what we are doing.
Read the Bible. Read it well. That's the best way to start to take the Bible seriously.