The Only Thing Better than Bible Reading

I realize the title of this piece is a bit provocative, but I’m going to argue that carefully listening to the Bible read aloud has certain advantages over silently reading the Bible, and that you should try carefully listening to extended portions of the Bible while following along in a printed copy. Read More

Alternately one can read the Bible aloud to one's self instead of listening to someone else read the Bible and following along in one's own Bible. I adopted the practice of reading the Bible aloud rather than silently more than 30 years ago. When I read aloud, I read at a slower pace and am able to digest more easily what I am reading. It is like the difference between eating a meal slowly and savoring each bite of food and gobbling it down without tasting what one is eating. Reading the Bible aloud allows God's Word to percolate down through the different levels of one's mind like rain percolating down through parched soil. I subsequently learned that the early monks had adopted the same practice. Reading aloud even to themselves they became hearers of God's Word, which is a necessary step to becoming doers of God's Word. It also enabled them to reflect upon what they were reading, to turn it over in their minds and mediate upon it. 

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