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!he
Almost Nobody
Knovvs
The world's number
one
best seller is, para–
doxically, the world's least understood book.
Why? Should it be understood? lf so, how can
As
A YOUTH,
1 rarely went to
~
churcb. Occasionally , a
school chum would ask me
to visit his cburch, and wben I did
so, the teacher would tell us stories
about David aod a giant named Go–
liatb, Jonah and a whale, Daniel
and bis being thrown into a pit of
lions, and Noah, who lived through
a tremendous ftood .
At the time, of course, 1 regarded
tbese stories as interesting, as most
young children would, but they had
no relevance to me, personally. 1
couldn't identify witb any of the
Bíblica] characters. Tbeir age, time,
and surroundings were too remate,
too estranged from conditions of life
in the space age of the 20th century.
Our modero industrial civilization
seemed so much more real.
So, as 1 grew older, 1 lost wbat–
ever interest 1 had in the Bible. The
question of reading the Bible never
crossed my mind. l t simply didn't
concem me. 1 felt I was too busy
with other things - work, sports,
34
one come
to understand it?
byWilliam F. Dankenbring
classes, entertainment, or reading
the latest novel. But the Bible didn't
appeal tome.
Why Read the Bible
"Why should 1 read the Bible?" 1
wondered. A few times I picked one up
atan uncle's borne, leafed tbrough it,
and put it down unread.
lt
seemed
too big, too heavy, too ancient.
Today, I know that 1 was over–
looking a fantastic treasury of
knowledge, wisdom, and human ex–
perieoce. Now 1 realize that my ne–
glect of the Bible was a detrimeot to
my own growth and understanding.
I have learned that the Bible is not
merely a collection of rnisty fables,
legends, or quaint romances. 1 have
learned that it is a book about
people
-
people like you and me -
people who lived, made mistakes,
and died.
When 1 finally took the Bible off
the shelf and began to study it as an
adult, 1 discovered that it was,
in
reality, an action-packed saga of the
human race. It didn't blue-pencil
people's lives, mistakes, or prob–
lems, but told the unvarnished
truth.
1 was intrigued. Here was a book
that was real!y challenging! True-to–
life episodes, violence, sadism, rape,
adultery- plenty of raw human na–
ture was revealed in its pages. The
dark side of human experience was
there, but also !ove, joy, happiness,
and peace. I found that the Bible
contained examples of men and
women like myself in many re–
spects, who faced life's difficulties
aod either mastered them or were
mastered by them!
As 1 continued to study, I found
that it contained wisdom enough to
salve the world's problems,
if
that
wisdom were utilized. Unfortu–
nately, I discovered to my chagrin
that the nations of the world had
failed to look into that book for an–
swers. World leaders, 1 found, had
usually neglected that source of
knowledge!
PLAIN TRUTH March 1973