Does the Bible Still Matter?

Interesting opinion article from Fox News regarding the use and importance of the Bible. 

I'd add a couple of other tidbits as to why people don't often read their Bibles more:

1. They try, but they try to read it as a novel instead of a collection of books.  Things go o.k. for the book of Genesis and most of Exodus, but once folks start into Leviticus, the game is over.  Even I get bogged down and tired of reading all the codes and laws in that area.  Whenever I am approached by someone who wants to read the Bible, I point them first in the direction of the stories:

Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 &2 Kings, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts.  Get a good feel for the events in these books, and then start trying to wade through some of the other writings: the Epistles, the Prophets, the Psalms, and Proverbs.  Finish up with the legal stuff and visionary stuff: Revelation, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Ecclesiastes.  Reading the Bible in this manner is a lot easier and makes things a little more understandable in my estimation.

2. Folks want to read the Bible, but have a hard time understanding a lot of what is there.  Maybe not because the text is difficult to explain (although there are quite a few head scratchers and concepts which require some deep thought), but because everywhere you turn there's an expert authority who claims to know what the text does and doesn't say.  --And before anyone points it out, yes, I know I claim to be such an expert authority.  I get irony.--  A person may read something very plainly in the text, and then when he/she goes and talks to a pastor or professor, one of the first things the pastor/prof says is, "Let me explain to you what that text really means..."  More often than not, this leads to frustration on the part of the person trying to read the Bible.  If this part doesn't say what I think it says, what other parts aren't exactly straight forward?  What if I need the whole thing explained to me?   Why read it if I need all this explanation?  And so on. 

Yours truly is of the opinion that one does not need a biblical scholar or pastor to interpret everything.  I belong to a strain of Christianity which believes the Holy Spirit leads a person to interpret the text plainly in the language of the person reading said text.  (Martin Luther--the 14th Century monk, not the U.S. reformer, coined that thought.)  Yours truly knows that many biblical scholars have built in assumptions governing how they read and interpret the Bible, and these assumptions are "educated guesses."  Even in the grand scheme of things, educated guesses are guesses none-the-less and may or may not be accurate. 

3. Folks want to read the Bible, but when they actually start digging in, they find it's hard work.  There are some places within scripture that are difficult to wade through.  The Bible has it's own language and idioms and terminology.  It may be printed in English, but sometimes it still seems like Greek.  Frankly, some folks are lazy and don't want to spend the time to work through such things.  I understand.  I'm the same way with Shakespeare.  Yet, for me, the Bible is important enough to wade through in such a fashion. 

The above thoughts are merely that: my thoughts.  They may or may not be factual.  It's really an educated guess, but a guess none-the-less.