Is Bible marking the sign of a good Christian?

In this section we propose to publish a variety of different views in order to provoke thought and discussion. at is emphasised that unorthodox points of doctrine will not be printed.) Normally a VIEW¬POINT will not be editorially answered; in the case of the following article it was, however, decided to add a more orthodox point of view - this will appear in the next issue.

Verses underlined, tramlines, subject symbols down the margins (maybe in different colours) marginal notes – the lot. Is a heavily marked Bible really the sign of a diligent Christian?

We say NO. We suggest that the number of marks in a brother or sister’s Bible has very little relevance either to his understanding of the Scriptures, or to his life as a Christian.

This statement may seem rather a sweeping one. Without their marked Bibles, many brethren and sisters would feel lost, unsupported, deprived of their store of knowledge. A brother once lost a Bible which contained the markings of over 25 years, and not only he, but all who heard of the loss, treated it as major disaster. Yet the two really important things, the Word itself, and the brother’s own experienced mind, remained intact.

Let’s look at the question squarely. How important in the ultimate are Bible markings? Will ascribbled Bible help one to stand in the day of judgment? Will it help one to live one’s life now as a practising Christian? Surely, the main purpose of Scripture is that since Scripture is the expression of the mind of God, those who read and understand its message may pattern their thinking on His ways, and try to act as He would have them act.

In this context, Bible markings may not only be irrelevant to a Christian’s true vocation; they may be positively harmful to it. The underlined verse may prejudice the mind to think out of context, be­cause it emphasises one point perhaps at the expense of the broad mean­ing of the whole passage. The personal comment or interpretation in the margin may take the mind off the actual message of the Word, to a human opinion concerning it. And, perhaps, worst of all, the mind may become closed to new understanding of a passage simply because, year after year when that passage is read, the mind is tramlined down old ways of thought, prejudiced into accepting ideas first thought up many years ago. In this way Bible marking can fossilise the mind into accepting past human ideas about the Word, without thinking anew about the words of God each time they are read.

There are even worse mistakes made by some assiduous markers. Sometimes not only their own limited ideas are pressed on the page; often other peoples ideas are imprinted undigested, to take their place beside the eternal message. We hear of youngsters actually being directed on how to mark their Bible. And so that terribly essen­tial exercise, that necessity of exercising one’s own mind in the thinking of God, is bypassed and replaced by mindless parrot copyings. Man’s tradition begins to make the Word of God of no effect in people’s lives. For the Word cannot affect one’s life unless it is read, understood and meditated upon; and the facile acceptance of someone else’s views may blind the mind to the depth of wisdom in the Word itself, wisdom which generally only imprints itself on a mind which has been thoroughly and personally exercised in it.

So we suggest that it is the MIND which should be marked, indelibly marked with the ideas written in the living Word. Anything which is not so deeply impressed on the mind as to be continually remembered is of no use in cultivating the mind of Christ. It is no good having a clever idea written in the Bible, if this idea is not going to affect one’s life in Christ. Bible marking may help one to appear more knowledgeable before others, and may even help a brother to be a better speaker; but this small profit is worthless if a human tradition is allowed to stand in the way of the development of an understanding heart.

Mark your heart, Christian, not your Bible.