Why People Love "The Bible"

"The Bible" on History Channel has become quite the phenomenon...42 percent of US adults have watched at least one episode.

While we shouldn't be surprised that the world's best selling book drew audience interest, I've been somewhat amused as pundits who have very little religious activity in their lives attempt to explain its success.

I love studying the Bible and reading books in which authors share how particular passages and stories have impacted them.

 
This love for the Good Book was instilled in me by my grade school and high school teachers, as well as those wonderful Sunday School teachers that used the felt figures on the felt boards held up by a wooden tripod.  My parents blessed my life by sending me to Lutheran schools.

Biblical teachers begin using the stories of the Bible to teach simple lessons at an early age.  Forget, for a moment, the "moral of the story":  what wonderful stories!  Daniel in the lion's den.  David and Goliath.  Three men in the fiery furnace ("Veggie Tales" fans know them as "Rack, Shack, and Benny").

A friend of mine describes the new mini-series as "The Greatest Hits Of The Bible," and she's right.  As we grow older, the lessons taught by the Bible become more complex...and that leads to division on just how to interpret each passage, event, and story.

And the media is filled with divisive talk over what The Bible means...everyone has their own "right" answer and is passionate about proclaiming that those that don't agree don't possess "the truth."  This kind of talk divides churches and is prevalent these days in our political and cultural discussion.

All this negative threatens to steal the joy we initially experienced when reading The Bible.  I think the success of the series is due to the fact that it takes us back...back to the wonder of the animals being loaded two-by-two onto the ark...the walls of Jericho tumbling as the trumpets blast...Jesus catching fish with a skeptical Peter.

 
For two hours on Sunday nights, the theological, political, and cultural debate ceases and the wonder of The Bible recaptures our attention.