Scripture & Literature......wha.....?

I made the comment in class about my experience reading the book of Joel as a homework assignment. I said that at first I just skimmed over the reading, not really grasping anything. But then I realized that the book I was reading was the word of God. After my realization, I took the time to really dive into the book of Joel. Since making that statement public, actually hearing myself say those words aloud, I realized that I might be missing out on literature, but not just literature, literature as scripture.

In my mind, literature and scripture was always something separate, never the same. When I actually started reading my bible, my understanding was that it was to be respected, studied upon, the living truth, the word of God. As far as literature goes, I associated it with boring, just another assignment, and a bunch of words that define lame. The books I were interested were the one with action, mystery, and adventure! The page turners and as far as I can remember, literature wasn’t.

My fascination for true literature started in high school, because of theatre. Theatre showed me the passion and the art within literature. Even so, whenever there is a certain assignment that deal with reading, I don’t give it the respect it deserves. Unless that reading assignment has to do with theatre or is a play of some sort, then it has my full attention. Just the simply fact that I never really saw scripture as literature makes me wonder how much have I been missing. It makes me look at scripture reading different. It doesn’t always I have to be to yourself, in a quiet room. There various ways to read scripture and literature and I plan to explore them all. I was to grasp every concept of every verse, see scripture in a new context, and soak it all in. I believe that my journey, as far as literature is concerned, is only beginning.