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ON NOT READING THE BIBLE
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, August 20, 2026 – I was offered the opportunity a few years back to learn Biblical (ancient) Hebrew so that I could read the Old Testament in the original script. I considered the opportunity, discussed it with God, and then respectfully declined. The same opportunity arose again recently, and again I respectfully declined. I’m not against learning Biblical Hebrew or against reading a text in its original language. Both of those things have their merits. I just don’t need to learn Biblical Hebrew in order to read the Bible. In fact, I don’t need to read the Bible at all, and I’ve learned from God that it’s best not to read it.
Let me explain.
The Bible is not a book in the sense that other books are, well, mere books. Unlike mere books, the Bible is a living instrument that God uses to teach us about himself, his Kingdom, and whatever it is we need to learn at any given moment. You can read the Bible, if you want to, in much the same way as you can read a mere book, but your reward in reading the Bible this way is that you’ll get from it as much as you would a mere book. That is to say, you won’t get nothing out of it, but you also won’t get much.
The Bible isn’t meant to be read by us: It’s meant to be read to us by God through his Holy Spirit. If we try to read the Bible under our own initiative and by our own understanding—if we pore over it like the temple elders pored over their scrolls, searching in vain for evidence that the Messiah should or should not come from Nazareth—we’ll learn about people who lived in different places at times, about what these people did (or didn’t do), and about how they died. In learning these things, we’ll form a rough idea of the characters named throughout the Bible, but that’s about it. In other words, we’ll get from the Bible the same depth of information we’d get from any other book, any other mere book.
But if we let God read the Bible to us through his Holy Spirit (the same Holy Spirit that lives in each one of us), something entirely different happens. We see beyond the words on the page, be they ancient or modern Hebrew, Greek, English, etc. In fact, we don’t even need words when God reads us the Bible. The day I was reborn, God spoke to me not in words but in ideas and images. The same thing happens when God reads us the Bible, which is why the language on the page in front of us doesn’t matter. God will help us understand what we need to understand and to see what we need to see supernaturally. Even the version of the Bible (King James vs English Standard vs New Revised Standard, etc.) is ultimately irrelevant: If changes were made to the original text that God didn’t approve, he’ll skip right over them, and we won’t even know they’re there.
We don’t need to approach the Bible as experts in ancient languages: We just need to ask God to read it to us, and he will. And when we open his book (we still need to open it!) to the chapters and verses he wants us to focus on, he’ll open our understanding in ways that can never happen if we read the Bible on our own. He’ll teach us not through the words on the page but through his Word and by the power of his Holy Spirit.
So don’t bother reading the Bible; let God read it to you.
IS THE BIBLE HOLY?
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, August 17, 2026 – Is the Bible holy? Every Bible cover asserts it. Most Christians unquestioningly agree. But what precisely (if anything) is “holy” about the Bible?
As I’ve mentioned previously in this blog, I came to belief relatively late in life. I wasn’t “raised in the faith”; I was unexpectedly and instantaneously reborn on a lonely stretch of beach in South Australia. During that miraculous process, my belief was delivered to me on a silver platter before I even knew I believed. In other words, I knew what I believed before I knew I believed it. I was taught of God by God. I still am.
Prior to my rebirth, the Bible was one of those things I could not stand being around. I found the Old Testament boring and the New Testament gobbledygook. The New Testament particularly irked me, as the letters of the words all ran together to form a language that was incomprehensible to me. Even if I’d wanted to read the words of Jesus in my unbeliever days, I wouldn’t have been able to. They were like reading a foreign language I had no knowledge of. Still, within an hour of my rebirth, there I was, sitting at my kitchen table reading (devouring!) the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I haven’t stopped reading it since.
Over the years, the Bible has become my constant companion. Or better said, Bibles have become my constant companions. When one wears out—when the cover falls off and/or the pages fall out—I get another one. And because I can’t bring myself to throw out my “used” Bibles, I’m surrounded by Bibles in varying stages of disintegration. I have one on my pillow, one next to my bed, one on my desk, one on my kitchen table, a few on my fireplace mantle, and one in the oversized canvas bag I haul around with me wherever I go. Far from being the symbol of loathing it once was to me, the Bible has become a cornerstone of my life.
But is it holy?
I discussed in an earlier article the essence of holiness and what makes a person holy. Holiness is one of God’s characteristics that God can confer on whoever he wills through his aptly named Holy Spirit. In other words, where the Holy Spirit is, there is holiness; where the Holy Spirit is not, there is no holiness. Holiness is given by God through his Spirit and controlled by God through his Spirit. Therefore, a thing or person in and of themselves cannot be holy without the will of God and the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.
A Bible is a book. I am under no delusion that the Holy Spirit hovers over the well-worn pages of my dog-eared Bibles. However, because a measure of God’s Holy Spirit is within me (which he gave to me at my rebirth), I know with God-inspired certainty that within the Bible’s pages are certain thoughts and words that were inspired by God through his Holy Spirit. Not the entire book—not every word that’s written in it—but certain thoughts and words.
But is that enough to make the Bible itself holy?
From my perspective, the “Holy Bible” emblazoned on the cover of every Bible refers not to the entire book but to those words and thoughts within it that are holy, that come from God. The holy words and thoughts are sandwiched in between words and thoughts that are not necessarily holy (not having been inspired by God) but are still supportive and reflective of the holiness. Think of it like a diamond ring that is not made exclusively of diamonds but still contains diamonds as its central feature, the rest of the ring being made of gold or silver or some other metal that supports and showcases the diamonds and enables the ring to be worn. We don’t call it a “diamond and gold ring” or a “diamond and silver ring”, just simply a diamond ring. In the same way, we don’t call it the “Holy and Holy-adjacent Bible” but simply the Holy Bible, understanding that the holiness is set within and shines among the supportive (though not in themselves holy) words.
So yes, my fellow bornagain believers, the Bible is holy. Not every word in it but enough to justify the exalted title. I do not deify the Bible or worship it as a holy relic to be held aloft and paraded in processions (as some denominations do), but I do love and unquestioningly believe in those parts that come directly from God. When I hug and kiss my poor tattered Bibles, it’s the holiness of God’s thoughts and words that I’m embracing, a holiness that has its source in God and is as close as I’ll get to hugging and kissing God—my Heavenly Father!— until I get Home.
ARE YOU BORN AGAIN?
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, March 13, 2021 – ARE YOU BORN AGAIN? This may seem a strange question to ask readers of a blog that is intended for born-again believers, but ask it I must. You don’t have to answer me. I’m not looking for an outward answer. You need to answer within yourselves.
Jesus said that we need to be born again. He said that if we’re not born again, we can’t see the Kingdom and can’t enter into it. And if we can’t see the Kingdom and can’t enter into it, we won’t make it home.
That’s why the question of whether or not you’re born again is so important and needs to be asked, even on a blog that’s written for born-again believers.
And if you’ve answered with “No” or “I think I am” or “I’m not sure”, you need to drop everything you’re doing and focus entirely on getting reborn.
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Spiritual rebirth is not something that you can arrange like a play date. You can’t order spiritual rebirth online. You can’t buy it – not with all the money in the world – and you can’t learn it from all the world’s wisdom. Even your minister or priest can’t make you born again, no matter how hard they try. Spiritual rebirth, as John tells us, comes from the will of God only, not from the will of man.
So how can you get born again?
Good question.
And the answer is: Ask God.
Since God is in charge of spiritual rebirth, it only makes sense to ask him how to get reborn.
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Spiritual rebirth happens at a time and place of God’s choosing. It won’t happen simply because you want it or because you recite something or do an altar call. I’ve had arguments with people about this. I’ve also had arguments with people who claim that spiritual rebirth is a long drawn-out process that happens over time rather than an instantaneous miracle. Gestation happens over time, yes, but birth happens suddenly and with a great cry and push. It’s the same with spiritual rebirth. The long process of spiritual gestation is not rebirth: the great final cry and push that brings a new being into life is rebirth.
Ask a mother who still has a child in her womb whether her baby’s been born. She’ll look at you all kinds of strange. The same holds true for spiritual rebirth. The born-again soul is something entirely different from the soul that is still gestating.
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Many people who claim to be born again are actually in a state of spiritual gestation. This is not a bad thing, but it’s not rebirth, so it’s not enough. Jesus said you must be born again. If you stop at the gestation stage, it will be no different than if you’d lived a life of unrepentant sin and died unrepentant. You’ll be like the people Jesus mentions in scripture who knock at the Master’s door, trying desperately to get in and saying: “We’ve eaten and drunk at your table, and you’ve taught in our streets”, to which the Master responds: “I never knew you.”
Imagine the horror of hearing Jesus say to you on Judgement Day “I never knew you”, knowing that because he never knew you, you weren’t going to Heaven.
I can’t think of anything worse.
And at that point, it will be too late to get to know to Jesus.
If your aim is Heaven, you need to be born again while you’re still on Earth. There is no other way to get where you want to go. Jesus says those who try to climb up some other way rather than entering through the door will not make it home. Jesus is the door, and God’s Way is how you enter.
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If you’re not born-again, you need to let God know that you want to be born again. You need to let him know that you want a relationship with him as your Dad and with Jesus as your Lord, teacher, brother, and best friend. You can only have these relationships if you’re born again, and if you don’t have them, you won’t make it home. It’s that simple.
So I ask you one more time: ARE YOU BORN AGAIN?
Don’t tell me the answer. Tell yourself. And if your response isn’t a resounding “YES, THANK GOD!”, tell God in prayer that you want to be reborn. Then make being born again your one and only priority until you are.
FORSAKING ALL
ROCKINGHAM, Nova Scotia, August 19, 2019 – I have spent the past couple of days reading online blog postings and listening to audio recordings of what Jesus meant when he called his disciples to forsake all. This is a major sticking point for many people, and their interpretation of that particular scripture can be very telling. (more…)
CHRISTIANS AND HALLOWE’EN
NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario, October 31, 2018 – When I was a kid in the 1970s, I did the trick-or-treating thing every Hallowe’en, along with all the other kids in my neighborhood. For many of us, it was the highlight of the fall season and second only to Christmas on the annual excitement scale. Other than for our masks, our costumes were mostly hand-made by us and pretty low-tech (two hangers taped together at the hooks were angel wings; an upside-down ice-cream container with a rayon scarf trailing from it was Maid Marion’s headpiece; a big cardboard box with holes cut out for the arms was a TV set, etc.), but we didn’t care how ridiculous we looked because, for most of us, Hallowe’en was all about the free chips, candy and chocolate bars. The costumes were just a means to that end.
We saw our neighborhood homes as dispensers of the free treats we so craved (and considered our birthright on that one amazing night), and for that reason all the houses we intended to hit were considered friendly turf. We didn’t anticipate having any problems when we stomped up the steps with our pillowcases bulging with loot; we didn’t expect to be challenged when we shouted “TRICK OR TREAT!”; we just expected to be given free grub, and we’d be on our way.
But there was this one house in our subdivision that gave me the creeps. Every Hallowe’en, I would go there only because the older kids I was trick-or-treating with would go there, but it bothered me. It was the only house I wanted to get away from as quickly as I could. I don’t even remember whether they gave good treats or not; I just remember that I thought the place and the people in it were creepy.
Here’s why: (more…)
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 