It’s Bible Time! (Part 1: No Time)
Bible reading is extremely time-consuming. It takes a staggering 80 hours to read the whole thing at a moderately slow pace. Think of it, the equivalent of two 40-hour work weeks!
Its longest book, Samuel-Kings, takes 9-1/2 hours to tackle. Can you imagine? 9-1/2 hours on one book?
Only 38 of its nearly 60 books can be read in an hour or less.
John’s soaring gospel of new creation? 2-1/2 hours. Ecclesiastes honest wrestling with life’s paradoxes? 30 long minutes. Amos’ withering critique of a wealthy, self-indulgent society? The same. Paul’s theological masterpiece in the letter to the Christ-followers in Rome? One hour. Galatians’ punchy critique of ethnic or social divisions within the new people of God? 20 minutes. Revelation’s apocalypse of hope and encouragement in the rule of the Messiah? A whopping hour PLUS 10 minutes.
And that’s just a few samples. Try to imagine the rest.
It’s true that its five shortest books take just 5 minutes each, but that’s not counting set-up and take-down time (finding your Bible, getting a comfortable seat, finding your place, turning off the light when you’re done, etc.). It is still a significant investment for busy people.
The 70’s Canadian rock band The Guess Who gave us the song “No Time,” which summarizes the situation nicely for us:
No time left for you
On my way to better things
There’s no time left for you
I got, got, got, got no time.
Or do you?
-Glenn
Its longest book, Samuel-Kings, takes 9-1/2 hours to tackle. Can you imagine? 9-1/2 hours on one book?
Only 38 of its nearly 60 books can be read in an hour or less.
John’s soaring gospel of new creation? 2-1/2 hours. Ecclesiastes honest wrestling with life’s paradoxes? 30 long minutes. Amos’ withering critique of a wealthy, self-indulgent society? The same. Paul’s theological masterpiece in the letter to the Christ-followers in Rome? One hour. Galatians’ punchy critique of ethnic or social divisions within the new people of God? 20 minutes. Revelation’s apocalypse of hope and encouragement in the rule of the Messiah? A whopping hour PLUS 10 minutes.
And that’s just a few samples. Try to imagine the rest.
It’s true that its five shortest books take just 5 minutes each, but that’s not counting set-up and take-down time (finding your Bible, getting a comfortable seat, finding your place, turning off the light when you’re done, etc.). It is still a significant investment for busy people.
The 70’s Canadian rock band The Guess Who gave us the song “No Time,” which summarizes the situation nicely for us:
No time left for you
On my way to better things
There’s no time left for you
I got, got, got, got no time.
Or do you?
-Glenn
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home