(March 24, 2013 at 10:47 pm)jstrodel Wrote: I personally think that studying theology is more interesting than the Bible. When you see how all the pieces of scripture fit together, it makes the study of the scriptures more enjoyable. I have trouble with studying the Bible because of the familiarity and the fact that the nature of reading one book at a time tends to obscure overarching themes and systemic theology, which is the most enjoyable part of studying theology for me.Reminds me of something in Hodge's Systematic Theology. Theology is to the Bible as natural science is to nature. The Bible is raw material, and God largely left it for man to draw truth from it. Skeptics don't realize this.
Atheists pay lip service to science, but most of them don't read a single peer-reviewed journal, because:
1. They're expensive
2. Unless you have a significant background in that particular field, they're typically hard to read and boring
What actually gets read is stuff by Dawkins and the like writing about science. It's more accessible.
Similarly, there are plenty of works about the Bible which are more accessible. I recall reading some of the Warren Wiersbe Be... series way back in the day, and it helped make sense of what I was reading.
Acts 8
30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
