1. To enhance your understanding of history and early ways of life. After all, the Old Testament is one of the oldest written records around.
2. To understand pervasive cultural and literary references to the Bible in western civilization. You'll miss the nuances in much of English literature if you haven't read what the authors assume you have.
3. To enhance your ability to communicate with Jews and Christians. As an educated person in a pluralistic society, you need to know where some of their values (and some of yours) come from.
4. To provide context for modern and current events. Rational self-interest doesn't explain everything that goes on in the Middle East.
5. To provide perspective on religious and ethical questions. They've been on people's minds for a long time.
6. To know what others believe and/or have found meaningful. Why have so many good and smart people taken these teachings seriously?
7. To decide for yourself if you believe what the Bible says, and whether you find literal or metaphorical wisdom therein.
Can you think of additional reasons?
If you google the question, you'll turn up a lot of fundamentalist Christian sites that assert that the Bible is the literal Word of God. They promise you salvation - an afterlife - if you read and believe the Bible, or at least the New Testament. Nothing comes up that echoes my list. Maybe UUs should rectify that and take a stand for literacy and for skeptical exegesis. Let's not let our younger generation be bound by ignorance.
I started at about Junior High School age voluntarily to read the Bible at a pace of about a chapter a night. It took a long time to finish, but it was quite interesting and led to a lot of enlightening discussions with parents and Sunday School teachers, and to the benefits touted above.
What do you think? Should we encourage this kind of study? Do you have a better idea?
