Why Can't I Just Learn About God On My Own?

Ah, yes, the ever popular question. A lot of people I run into refuse to step into a church because 'they prefer to worship on their own' or 'they read the Bible on their own.' Something like that. So what's wrong with that? You may ask.


Well, before I begin, I am not in any way trying to insult anyone's intelligence, but trying to learn something on your own just doesn't work. I'll explain. I took a couple of online classes to get my bachelor's degree. The idea for these classes was that I would read the books, watch their DVD's, and after doing this, take their tests. Yeah, I didn't do it quite that way. I printed out the test ahead of time (not against school policy), typed all the questions into Google (not against school policy), got the answers from Google, then put the correct answers into the test when I actually took it. I didn't score less than 75% on any test, and got as high as a 95%. I wasn't technically cheating, so what's the problem?


First off, I didn't learn anything. Second, and more importantly, I want you to pay attention to the scores on my tests. They ranged from 75% to 95%. There were three reasons for this:


1) Google didn't have the answer,
2) Google had the answer, but whoever wrote the answer gave the wrong answer on accident,
3) Google had the answer, but whoever wrote the answer gave the wrong answer on purpose.


Now, let's apply this to reading and studying the Bible on your own. First off, it is a good thing to read and study the Bible at home. In fact, I recommend it. However, there are bound to be questions that come up when you read, some things may not make sense to you. So what do you do in this situation? Go to Google. What's the problem with going to Google for the answers? They might not have it (which would lead you astray), someone might give the wrong answer accidentally (which would lead you astray), or someone might intentionally be targeting people like you and give you the wrong answer to purposefully lead you astray.


So how does this get fixed? Again, let me stress that reading and studying the Bible on your own is a good idea. However, when questions arise, there is a support structure in place that helps with questions. First off, in my case, the priest of my church is only a phone call away. In some of the larger churches, this may not be the case, but in a good church someone knowledgeable about Scripture is usually easy to reach. 

Online college classes are structured in such a way to facilitate more learning than what I did. They usually have a discussing forum, where you are required to answer a question posted by the teacher, and respond to comments of one or more fellow students. Also, if you have problems, you can e-mail the teacher. I leave you with this: is even this amount of support available when you try to learn the Bible on your own? In addition, a church is a place to go to find help from people other than the pastors, but other people just like you.

As usual, rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Amen.