Mandatory

by Francis Harris

Created on: November 18, 2010

Spiritual reading is widely encouraged by many religions but it is generally the non-Christian religions, like Islam, that make daily reading a legally binding obligation of the religion. While it may not be mandatory within Christianity it certainly is for many people the most significant way that they will deepen and grow their beliefs.

The nature of spiritual reading differs across the religions.

For the Muslim spiritual reading from the Quran is necessary in daily prayer. Not only must the Quran be read as a book but it must be recited aloud, in the original Arabic! The reciter may come to learn portions of the text by heart and "reading" them becomes an exercise in memory and oral eloquence.

For the Christian Spiritual reading is the practice of reading, reflecting, learning and studying edifying material that teaches the heart and mind. Most often it is the Bible that is read, or some commentary on the Bible. Reading helps the reader to both learn new things and remember old and think more deeply about a matter.

Now some fundamentalist Christian denominations are so extreme in their teaching over "daily reading" that you may mistakenly believe that daily Bible reading is not longer just helpful but is in fact core to salvation! And it is woe to those sinners, pre-literate children and mentally challenged who cannot read!

There is good precedent for such daily study in the Bible. In the Pslams there are poetic reminders that those who turn away from evil will naturally seek out God and daily read to find more of God. The first psalm states that study will take place day and night "Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the LORD, and they study it day and night" (Pslam 1:2).

Also in the Old Testament God's message to the people was to ensure that the law was not neglected. Study both day and night was the means to overcome error: "Be sure that the book of the Law is always read in your worship. Study it day and night, and make sure that you obey everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful" (Joshua 1:8).

Religious study via daily - and even nightly - reading is clearly very important in the Bible.It is the route by which we shall know and understand what has been revealed about God, what God requires of human beings, how we should live, how we should treat fellow human beings, how we should worship God and generally live a spiritually successful life.

Yet study of the scriptures alone does not produce eternal life. Jesus pointed this out to the religious authorities of His day. In John's gospel we read "You study the Scriptures, because you think that in them you will find eternal life. And these very Scriptures speak about me!" (John 5:39).

Study alone would not help the religious authorities of the Old Testament find the Salvation they sought. In fact Jesus saw that they were totally missing the "meaning" of those scriptures. Reading was not their route to spiritual salvation but actually a distraction! Making it mandatory would be senseless.

Elsewhere in John's Gospel the Christian learns that Jesus - as the living Word of God - was a far more potent daily experience to encounter! The Gospel starts "In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Encountering this "Word" is the spiritual priority for the Christian.

Christians today do not have the luxury of Jesus walking around preaching and teaching and the Bible is the main source of knowing about God. And it still remains an important source of encountering Jesus - the Word of God - and so believing and so finding eternal life and Christian salvation.

On one hand daily spiritual reading is not mandatory outside religions such as Islam, but on the other hand spiritual reading (especially of the Bible) is the route today for many people to meet Jesus and so find eternal life that Christianity teaches is possible. Some (like children and the blind or deaf) will have the message communicated in other means, but, they too will need to encounter Jesus in their version of "daily reading".

So reading is not mandatory in itself in Christianity, but encountering Jesus (and believing) is. The extent to which reading is necessary depends on the extent to which other people and other means have already helped you encounter Jesus. For most Christians,and would-be Christians, it is increasingly mandatory to read the Bible, to find the living Word bringing eternal life!

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