Why Don't Christians Read the Bible?

This is an important question. Before tackling it, let’s deal with two confounding factors.

1. Nominal Christians

The first factor to consider is nominal Christians, or those who identify as Christian but do not participate in religious practices like church attendance, prayer, or reading the Bible. Pew Research has extensively studied this phenomenon in the USA, where there is a strong correlation between nominal Christians, who do not pray or believe in God, and those who do not read the Bible. Such individuals often seek to be associated with Christian culture without the need for actual engagement. They might find it easier to be “inside” without the inconvenience of true participation.

2. Global Context of Bible Access

Second, worldwide Christianity is growing, with evangelical Christianity showing the fastest growth. Much of this growth occurs in regions where Bibles are either illegal to own or distribute, or are out of financial reach for the majority of the population, or simply not available in the local language. A significant proportion of new Christians, especially from economically deprived communities, are economically disadvantaged and may be initially illiterate. However, the desire to read the Bible remains a primary driver of adult literacy in such regions.

3. Committed Christians Who Don't Read the Bible

This leaves us with committed Christians who are literate and have access to the Bible but do not read it. The proportion of committed Christians who never read the Bible is very low, with 33% of Christians fitting this description in Pew data, which corresponds to nominal Christians.

According to Pew’s US data, most Christians do read the Bible at least sometimes. However, when we ask how many Christians have read the entire Bible, the numbers shift. Global estimates suggest that only 30% of Christians worldwide will read the entire Bible, with about half of these being nominal Christians. This means that 20% of church-attending Christians don’t read the entire Bible. While some of them might be unable to due to reasons of availability, cost, literacy, or the lack of a Bible in their language, there are still many committed Christians who choose not to read it.

Why Not Read the Entire Bible?

I propose three primary reasons and one solution.

1. Length and Boring Sections

The Bible is a very long book, and some parts are less immediately exciting than others. I know a number of atheists who started reading the Bible and gave up in Leviticus. On Quora, they often describe this as ‘read the whole Bible’ or even ‘reading the Bible made me an atheist,’ but in my experience, after a couple of questions, they acknowledge that they only got that far. And while this is true for atheists, I know Christians who also got stuck in Leviticus, though most went on to other forms of Bible reading. These Christians won't complete the Bible if they don't overcome this challenge.

2. It’s on the Extended To-Do List

Some committed Christians have read the Bible but only intend to do so later. This list could very easily stay there indefinitely, resulting in the Bible never being read in its entirety.

3. Cultural Background and Encouragement

Some committed Christians are in churches that urge them to follow the Church's teaching rather than the Bible itself. Others are in churches that are struggling with modernity and don't recommend it. Some are from backgrounds where piety leads them to avoid reading the entire Bible. Lastly, many are influenced by popular secular tropes, such as:

“You can’t take the Bible literally.” Nobody is saying you should, and this isn’t a reason not to read it. “The Bible is full of contradictions.” This is often said by people who haven’t read it all the way through or don’t know what the definition of a logical contradiction is. “Only people of type X, Y, or Z read the entire Bible all the way through.” This is a surprisingly potent but nonsensical argument.

Solution

For Christians, I recommend the following steps:

Read the Gospels a few times through, followed by the entire New Testament three times. Achieve the goal of reading the entire Bible in a year by reading three chapters per day. Start with two chapters of the Old Testament and one chapter of the New each day, and then read five on Sundays, split into three Psalms, one chapter of Isaiah, and one chapter of Proverbs-Ecclesiastes-Song of Songs. If you're not a Christian, begin with Mark's Gospel and read it all in one sitting. Then go on to the other Gospels and Acts, followed by the rest of the New Testament. Ask yourself if you are prepared to change your life as a result of what you’ve read. If the answer is ‘no,’ then stop there. If the answer is ‘yes,’ continue with the New Testament and onto the Old as outlined above.

I am currently completing my 42nd time reading the Bible all the way through, and despite much conversation with people who were sure they could show me some contradictions, I still haven't found any.

Happy reading.