GQ's Article About the Bible Is Partly Right

GQ Magazine recently claimed the “Bible is overrated.” In an article entitled, “21 Books You Don’t Have to Read,” GQ lists some of the classics they think you can pass over. One of those mentioned is the Bible, the all-time bestseller.

Facts and Trends magazine reported Lifeway Research “found only 45 percent of those who regularly attend church read the Bible more than once a week. And a little more than 40 percent of the people attending read their Bible occasionally, maybe once or twice a month. Almost 1 in 5 church goers say they never read the Bible.”

So, I partially agree with Jesse Ball at GQ who wrote, “The Holy Bible is rated very highly by all the people who supposedly live by it but who in actuality have not read it. Those who have read it know there are some good parts, but overall it is certainly not the finest thing that man has ever produced.”

The pretense of those who say they live by biblical principles but have not read the Bible alarms me. What standard guides their life?

The Lifeway research changed my writing several years ago. When I use scripture in my manuscripts, I usually quote the verse rather than list the reference. I count several novel writers as my friends. Whether it be a preacher sermonizing, a note passed, or a character reading the Word, they include the scripture.

Any author will tell you, Paul wrote exhaustingly long sentences and some epistle writers were uneducated fisherman. Although the grammar is not perfect, the message is clear.

Yes, the GQ Magazine article, which encouraged their readers not to read the Bible, should disturb believers. However, the fact that so many regular church attenders do not read their Bible should set our hair on fire.