What if...we got serious about Bible study?

I heard young Ryan Dobson (son of James Dobson) on the radio today speaking to an assembled group of apologists with the polish of someone twice his age. He exudes confidence and has such a compelling testimony. By the time he was done I was cheering. He loves-is enthralled- with God's truth.

Ryan described an encounter with a young idealist on the plane who confessed he didn't believe there was right or wrong; everyone's truth is...truth.

That was like setting honey in front of Winnie the Pooh. Ryan took the man's arguments apart one by one with lightening skill. By the time the plane landed, the man agreed that maybe in his heart somewhere he believed in the actuality of truth. Score one for Ryan Dobson.

Ryan went on to speak about being adopted, and shared his passion for life, grateful his birth mother opted to give him life. And I wondered.

What if? What if others felt that passion about the truth of scripture, and got serious about studying? I passionately wish young people would fall 'in love' with Bible study the way they did with Harry Potter. The Potter stories are wonderful and exciting stuff, but they pale by comparison to the incredible depth of scripture. Harry Potter lives in a fictional land and time with evildoers that are imaginary (however remarkably like some we know). The Bible is God's truth journaled by many different writers in 66 different books over a number of centuries. Its truths are as timeless as God Himself and wiser than anything we humans can imagine. Its span is the width and height of mortal history and its depth is as unmeasured as the expanding universe.

There is more mystery and intrigue in the Bible than all the Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Wars and Twilight Zone put together and multiplied by a gazillion.

Try it. Read a very small passage from, say, one of the gospels, perhaps words spoken by Jesus. The next day read it again, slowly, studying it word for word. Try this for a week and be amazed by the changing, yet timeless character of its teaching.

People like the young man who doesn't think there's right and wrong need so desperately to read the Bible. They need to focus their wonderful, compassionate minds onto the truths that have their basis in this one ignored, maligned document: scripture. I would not want to live in a world without it.