Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel: Recovering from (Shockingly Common) Ways We Get the Bible Wrong in Our Everyday Lives Paperback – September 6, 2022

Once again, Ben Connally has given us a resource that will prove to be so valuable in making disciples of Jesus. In this most recent work, Ben is drawing us to consider how it is entirely possible to read the entire Bible while missing the entire point of the Bible. Ben then offers a new optic, with several helpful examples (lenses) of how to read Scripture, looking to see how Jesus is the point, the hero and the solution. I remain a big fan of Ben's writing, and am already using Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel to equip student leaders serving in our church's university ministry.

Ben does a great job in his book by honing in on the reality of the Gospel being present on every page of Scripture. If you are looking for a tasteful and thought-provoking read I cannot recommend this book more. It will be a great tool for your discipleship as well as a good book to keep on your bookshelf to reference back to.

I loved this book. It opened my eyes and gave me a new perspective on things that, as a lifelong Christian and church-goer, I thought I knew and understood. I highly recommend this to anyone who is at any point in their journey as a Christian.In Part 1, Ben Connelly explains that many Christians read the Bible through the wrong “lens.” So many rely on what the pastor of their church teaches them about the Bible in their sermons. While attending church regularly and learning from your pastor are both great pursuits, many churches focus on just a few topics and scripture passages, so unless church members spend personal time reading and learning from the Bible, their knowledge (and thus their spiritual growth and relationship with God) is limited. He also talks about a common approach to learning and applying the Bible – the devotion. An approach that is frequently recommended is to read one or two verses and then think about how they apply to our specific life. We should absolutely apply scriptures to our lives, but the goal should be to look outside of ourselves and toward God. Our goal should be to become closer to Him, to know Him better, to open ourselves more fully to Him. Every word of the Bible should point us to The Word – Jesus. This statement from the book communicates this idea well:“But if we read or teach the Bible without every passage overtly pointing us to Jesus, we are not reading the Bible in a ‘Christian’ way.”In the rest of "Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel," Connelly examines several passages that are familiar to most Christians. He explains how they can be, and have been, viewed through one of the following lenses: theological, moral, historical, devotional, rule, and quick fix. He illustrates how each of these creates different results and is limited in its ability to point us to Jesus. He then shows how he believes we should read that same passage. He shows how that same passage can point us to Jesus, which is our goal as Christians. Connelly’s demonstration of how to read the Bible in a way that points us to Jesus includes the advice to consider what we read in light of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and reign. We should ask ourselves, he says, what every passage we read shows us about these aspects of Jesus’ life. Doing so put a whole new light on scripture I’ve read over and over.I thoroughly enjoyed "Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel" and will likely read it again. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about how to read the Bible in a truly Christian way.

I highly recommend Reading the Bible and Missing the Gospel by Ben Connelly. Ben is a gift to the kingdom, and his writing will challenge and encourage you. His practical theology combined with outside-the-box thinking has led him to write a book that is very much within the covers of the Bible. This book helps remind us to ask and answer the questions of how the Gospel is Good News today, not just a historical fact. He wants us to look for Jesus as the hero of the story and the redeemer of brokenness, not just pick the bits and pieces of the story that we want to mold and shape into something new. We must let the Scriptures mold our story and our questions. If not, we risk allowing culture to define our story and us. I truly appreciate not only his challenge to view the Bible and our place in it with fresh eyes but his giving practical insight into the symptom, diagnoses, and remedies that apply. He tackles things like forgiveness, being blessed, judging others, and even end times. Instead of coming from an arrogant or scolding posture, he walks alongside the reader and helps them see how the reign of Jesus matters. I highly recommend you spend time with this book.

I say it's sad because the fact that the title is accurate should make us sad. But the author does the work of a shepherd/teacher guiding the reader along the way. He exposes some common misreads and misapplications of God's Word while offering hope (and inviting a little humbling laughter).Thankful for how this work brings cohesion and clarity to the Bible, which can be a bit intimidating. With helpful analogies, honesty from the author, helpful questions for reflection, and a lot of grace this book offers readers an approachable opportunity to challenge framework and paradigms that keep us from walking freely in the gospel, living in the story of God. It's a needed type of deconstruction every Christian ought to do, but it's done with wisdom and grace, rooted in truth.Thank you Ben Connelly for this gift to the Church.

I was really looking forward to reading this book and it definitely didn't disappoint! I appreciated Ben's emphasis that Jesus is the point of the Bible! I know that's not a new idea, but typically, we can read the Bible for little tidbits of information or encouragement and completely miss Jesus. Each chapter addresses specific ways that we miss the Good News of Jesus in our reading and is a fantastic tool to help reorient us to the Word revealed by the written word.

Ever read the bible and felt like you were only seeing half the picture? Ever read a story or a passage and things just seemed...blurry? Do you long to read the bible and see clearly? Then this book is for you! Ben masterfully equips us with clarity of the GOOD NEWS and a different kind of life with Jesus. Filled with sound theology, simple explanations, and practical application, those who read will have their eye sight sharpened and lives changed.

A great book on how our culture has mis-shaped the gospel