Boring Parts in the Bible, Let's Be Honest …

Okay, I can’t be the only Christian who thinks parts of the Bible are boring, can I?  I’m listening through the Old Testament currently.  And, I thought I was going to slip into a coma this morning because I was listening to the beginning of the Book of Numbers.  I understand the whole “the Bible is not boring, Avatar is boring thing,” though for the life of me I can’t stomach listening to John Piper anymore (BTW, isn’t it possible that both the scripture and Avatar could be interesting? Not an either or thing in my opinion.  Avatar was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time).  People are trying to say that the scripture is really interesting.  And I agree, or else I wouldn’t have invested a significant portion of my life studying the Bible both as an individual and in a formal academic setting.  But, I think we have to at least be honest that there are parts of the Bible are BORING.*  A list of my top three are:

  1. The beginning of Numbers
  2. The beginning of Chronicles
  3. The instructions for building the tabernacle in Exodus

What do you think?  What parts of the scripture do you read to put yourself to sleep at night?  Or, am I just being impious?

* By “boring” I do not mean unimportant.  Certainly genealogies are not my cup of tea, but I understand that they would have been of the utmost importance to an Ancient Israelite.

11 Comments

  • Jeremy, as always, you are being impious, but you are not wrong.

    Leviticus, boring, really. Parts of the historical books. Job. Yes, I know, but Job’s job is separate from the reality that Job is boring as a job.

    You are still impious, however.

  • The beginning of Numbers

    12 year old boys tend to think that it’s pretty awesome how big Israel’s army was.

  • Joel: Well, being called impious by you … that’s a new low for me I guess.

    Mike: One of two things could be at work in my case then – 1) I’ve not yet reached the maturity level of a 12 year old … 2) I’ve surpassed that level. The answer will be different dependent upon whether you ask me or my wife what my issue is. 😉

  • I was able to survive reading the boring lists in the Pentateuch, but even strong coffee couldn’t help me against the lists in Chronicles. It is that boring!

  • Meh. Some parts are boring to just read through. I haven’t found any parts that were boring to study. Despite what Joel says, Leviticus is not one of those parts.

  • Q: Yes, I would agree that lists in Chronicles would probably win some kind of award for boringness in my book.

    Aaron: Study of the issues behind the text does help a bit. Btw, just like about Leviticus, Joel is wrong about just about everything he says … Except when he agrees with me ;-). Poor Joel …

  • Contrary to popular opinion, as the number 1 biblioblogger, my opinion is generally considered fact. Or, that was how the previous place holder was understood. 🙂

  • Well I guess that is something I’d like to hang on to for when juggernaut past you…

  • *I juggernaut*

  • hahahaha – You’ve just been ‘joeled.’

  • The beginning of Chronicles–no contest. I don’t have trouble with the rest.