The Bible is a dusty old fashioned book loaded with rules, contradictions, half truths, manipulative stories and legends.

“The Bible is a dusty old-fashioned book loaded with rules, contradictions, half truths, manipulative stories and legend. It is at best irrelevant and at worst a dangerous book which has divided people, broken families and caused militants to rise up and kill the innocent. It is a crutch for week people, a hiding place for the weird and a platform for religious nuts to shout and force their opinions into others. Should such a book even be kept in the house let alone read?”

That may be your opinion but I dare you to read it. I dare you to lay aside your preconceived ideas and prejudice to give it a go. If you have been ‘Bible Bashed’ before or people have tried to manipulate or intimidate you with its words then on behalf of all right thinking believers I apologise. The Bible is described as a sword and there have been many, including myself, who have in their enthusiasm and lack of skill flashed it’s blade like a toddler with a light-sabre. 

Why read it?

The Bible is a book like no other; it has not only shaped our country but the world. It has moulded politics, culture, human rights, equality laws and democracy the world over.  Three Bibles are distributed free of charge every second and it remains the world’s No1 best seller.  It has inspired kings, leaders, artists, poets, sports stars the world over as well as billions of others as they go about their daily lives.

This book has something to say to everyone. It teaches us about honesty, hard work, leadership, integrity, charity, compassion, humility, self-sacrifice, putting others first and above all love. It brings hope to the hopeless, comforts those who mourn and shows us than in our brokenness God has made away for wholeness.

I desperately want to make this book ‘trendy again.’ There was time when carrying your Bible under your arm was just as cool as walking today with a set of ‘Monster Beats’  over your ears while plugged into your Ipad. 

Here is just one of many stories that offers great lessons for everyone.  

It’s the 20^th year of Artaxerxes, King of Persia about 450BC and the walls of Jerusalem have been a broken messy rubble for 120 years. They were torn down by the Chaldeans and then allowed to sit unrepaired for now more than a century. Now a city wall in ruins was a bad thing in those days. Not only did it leave the city open for attack, but it prompted ridicule from neighbouring powers. Literally tens of thousands of Jerusalem’s people had seen the broken walls and done nothing. What the people needed was someone to rally them, plan a course of action and take them through the building process. They needed a leader and they got one in a cup-bearer to the King called Nehemiah.

His story is one of the most remarkable stories of leadership ever recorded. He made plans, envisioned the people and worked with them to rebuild the walls. In the end, what lay a mess for 120 years was repaired inside just 52 days.

Are you a leader? There is much you can learn from this guy and you can find his full story inside the Bible in a book that bears his name: Nehemiah

Whey not find that old book and give the story a read... alternatively you can download it here 

Here are some leadership lessons from Nehemiah that we would do well to follow:

• He identified the problem that no-one else could see
• He approached and shared the challenge with key influencers 
• He measured up the task
• He cast the vision before the people
• He encouraged them with stories of past success
• He received ‘buy-in’ from the people
• He organised them
• He worked with them and not just from a desk

The walls were built because Nehemiah had a burden, showed ability to work in a team and led them with clear direction.

A dust irrelevant book? I dare you... blow the dust of the Bible and read it!