In Doug Fields’ latest book, Refuel, he made a statement that really pushed some buttons with me. Not necessarily in a bad way, but in a seriously thought provoking way. Here’s the quote:
By the way, you don’t always need to read the Bible in order to connect with God. Yet I find that people often feel guilty for not reading during their every connection with Him. Bible reading is definitely a great habit to devlop, but remember, the printing press wasn’t invented until the year 1440. That menas that many of our brothers and sisters before us didn’t even have a copy of God’s Word. They couldn’t have read it every day if they’d wanted to. But their lack of reading didn’t make them lousy Christians.
Is that trippy for you? It is for me. Here’s why: to me it seems like such a natural thing that Bible reading should be a part of every meaningful connection with God. And yet, because of my time living abroad in third world countries, I know from experience that there are even pastors out there that don’t own a Bible. I have met many devout Christians that can’t afford one, or have simply not had access. It’s like I forget that my reality of having a dozen different translations, online access, and book shelves full of Biblical study resources, is not actually the norm for most of our planet’s population.
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