Charles wrote the following note to accompany a gift Bible sent to a friend. After reading his message, I thought it was worth sharing with others, so I created this blog, and added a few illustrations and a short bio for Charles at the end. I added a few comments in red, and ask you to please add your comments and opinions.
Dear Friend:
I have heard that you have some questions about religion, heaven, hell, and salvation. I first had those same questions when I was still in school. I had been going to church since I was a baby, and over and over I heard the preacher say that you had to read the Bible. When I joined that Church, I was given a small King James Bible. I began trying to read that Bible. It made no sense to me. I would read the words and reread and read some more, and I just couldn’t understand where they were coming from. All those “Thou shalt nots” and the “Begots.” The words were like Greek to me. I finally gave up on reading that Bible.
I never stopped attending and taking part in church activities, and I picked up a lot from the sermons and Sunday school lessons, but I never read the Bible.
When I was about 48 years old, we were visiting our oldest daughter, and her husband. We were staying in our granddaughters bedroom, and I couldn’t sleep. I took a book from her bookshelf, to read myself to sleep. It was a Children’s Bible. I started reading her Bible and it made sense, and it was fun reading. I realized that I was understanding the Bible and even enjoying it. I began to feel better about not reading that King James Version.
Time passed, and Frances and I retired back to our farm and began new lives. We were attending my hometown Methodist Church, where I had grown up, and been given that King James Bible. My older brother, a retired teacher and football coach, was the pastor. We were active in the church, and one day my brother talked to us about the Methodist Church needing preachers for little rural churches. He said we had the qualifications and that we should consider going into the ministry. I couldn’t tell him, but I felt unqualified because I had never read the whole Bible. How could I be a minister if I had never read my Bible from cover to cover? I was too ashamed to tell my pastor/ brother.
Well, Frances found an audio Bible in modern English, and I began listening. I listened in the car when I drove, and I listened when I walked, and when I worked out at the gym. I listened to the entire Bible.
We listened to the audio version of The Message, (my favorite modern language version of the Bible. Today there are many more options available, with dramatized versions as well as readings by famous actors and actresses. Many are free, and they are available in many formats. Check out these reviews, but know that new options appear daily
After that, Frances and I accepted the call to the local minister’s program in the United Methodist Church. In their training program, I studied and learned more about the scriptures. But I have stayed interested in newer versions of the Bible that help me (and others like me) understand God better. Every few years, another Bible scholar comes out with a new version of the Bible that makes it easier for more people to enjoy and understand the story of God’s love for us. Each one seems to offer some new insight into the “Greatest Story Every Told.”
I think there are lots of people all over the world who have guilty feelings about not reading the Bible. I would like to tell them that it is not READING the Bible that is important; it is UNDERSTANDING the message of the Bible that is essential. No one is ever saved by reading the Bible; they are saved by knowing the God and Savior that the Bible is written about. One way to know God better is to read the Bible; but the essential way to know God is to feel His presence in our lives, to feel His Love, and to accept His Salvation. Reading the Bible helps because the Bible tells us about
God, but the Bible is a means to an End, not a goal in itself. Different people gain understanding in different ways from different experiences. Recordings, Music, Movies, Songs, Poetry, Testimonies, Stories, Sermons are all means of achieving greater understanding. There are different means for different people. We have so many ways of seeking God; and no way is more perfect than another. What works for you is the right way.
In my old age, I’m afraid my Bible reading happens mostly when I read to my great grandson at bedtime. His Bible Storybook teaches the same message as that in King James Version, only it is better illustrated, more fun, and easier to understand. I’m sending you a copy of a recent version of the Bible that I like very much. It gives the essence of the Bible teachings with less redundancy (many books of the Bible tell the same stories in different formats), and reads in “normal” modern English. We have included the audio version, because Frances and I both enjoy listening, and do that more often than we read. If this version doesn’t work for you, I can suggest some others.
In addition to the Bible, I’m sending you a video sermon. This minister preached a revival in our little church. He stayed with us during the revival, and we were blessed by knowing him. We thought you would enjoy hearing his testimony.
In Christian Love and Prayers,
A short Bio of the Author, Charles C. Freeman:
Charles Cleveland Freeman, Col., Retired, US Army Medical Core, holds an A.A. degree from Panola College, and B.S. and M.S. degrees from Northwestern Louisiana State University. He has completed post graduate studies at Memphis State University, UCLA, NYU, Baruch College of CUNY, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. In the course of his career, he has been a teacher and coach; a VAMC Kinesiotherapist; VA Research and Education Director for Prosthetics and Orthotics; Associate Director of VAMCs in Sheridan, WY, Chicago, Ill., and Dallas, TX; as well as Director of VAMCs in San Juan, P.R., Bonham, TX, and Alexandria, LA. In retirement he became a Local Minister of the United Methodist Church, serving in both the Texas and Louisiana Conferences. His complete biography can be found at:
http://communicatinglife2.blogspot.com/search?q=charles
