No more boring bible stu.., p.1
No More Boring Bible Study, page 1
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Page numbers taken from the following print edition: ISBN 9780310369370
No More Boring Bible Study offers a faithful and fresh perspective on studying God’s Word. Faith’s guidance is like that of a caring sister: informed, relatable, and affirming. This book will develop a new hunger for studying the Bible and equip you with the tools you need to satisfy it.
—Kaelin and Kyrah Edwards, authors, This Kind of Love
No More Boring Bible Study is a book that every Christian should read, consume, and apply. Faith breaks down the exact strategies you need to go from surface-level Bible reading to deeper Bible study. After reading this book, you’ll have a clear roadmap for how to study the Scriptures, hear from God yourself, and, most important, experience change. Get one copy for yourself and give another to a friend.
—Allen Parr, ThM, Christian YouTuber, The BEAT; founder, Let’s Equip, Inc.; author, Misled
Faith Womack loves God and his Word, and she’ll help you do the same. No More Boring Bible Study offers an accessible overview of both why and how we read the Bible. You’ll gain the tools you need for a lifetime of rich and fruitful time in God’s Word.
—Courtney Doctor, director of women’s initiatives, The Gospel Coalition; Bible teacher; author, From Garden to Glory, In View of God’s Mercies, and others
If you want to go from a Bible Newb to a Bible Nerd, this book can help. Faith Womack’s passion for studying the Bible is contagious, and No More Boring Bible Study will help anyone who struggles with the Bible become a more engaged student of Scripture.
—Tim Wildsmith, author, Bible Translations for Everyone and Daily Scripture Guidebook
If you have wanted to understand your Bible better but felt intimidated by it, assuming that it’s only for the professionals, this book is for you. Faith loves God, she loves Scripture, and she is passionate about helping others discover the wonder of the Bible. This book is welcoming, wise, and winsome.
—Kelly M. Kapic, professor of theological studies, Covenant College; author, You’re Only Human
Faith’s joy for God’s Word is contagious. With heartfelt stories, rich biblical truth, and a touch of her bubbly personality, this book makes Bible study feel like a coffee date with a wise and fun friend: deep, delightful, and anything but boring.
—Ashley Armijo, Coffee and Bible Time
Faith Womack has an abundance of personality, and it shines through on every page of No More Boring Bible Study. Her wit and wisdom, put in down-to-earth, pithy sayings, fill the book. I found myself highlighting sentence after sentence.
This slender volume has surprising depth and breadth. Faith has the ability to communicate a great amount of rich material that even a preteen can understand. She has distilled major academic works on studying the Bible in plain (but not boring) English. And Faith delights her readers with mini Bible studies throughout. Her love for God’s Word is infectious. She lets the reader into her world, complete with her frustrations and flaws, humor and humility, to see vivid illustrations of the chapter’s lessons.
If you want to get serious about studying the Bible and want an approach that is anything but boring, this is the book for you.
—Daniel B. Wallace, senior research professor emeritus, New Testament studies, Dallas Theological Seminary; CEO and executive director, Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts
Copyright
ZONDERVAN BOOKS
No More Boring Bible Study
Copyright © 2025 by Faith J. Womack
Published by Zondervan, 3950 Sparks Drive SE, Suite 101, Grand Rapids, MI 49546, USA. Zondervan is a registered trademark of The Zondervan Corporation, L.L.C., a wholly owned subsidiary of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.
Requests for information should be addressed to customercare@harpercollins.com.
Zondervan titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email SpecialMarkets@Zondervan.com.
ISBN 978-0-310-36940-0 (audio)
Epub Edition October 2025 9780310369394
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Womack, Faith, 1994- author
Title: No more boring Bible study : why taking scripture seriously is easier and more exciting than you think / Faith Womack.
Description: Grand Rapids, Michigan : Zondervan Books, [2025]
Identifiers: LCCN 2025025117 (print) | LCCN 2025025118 (ebook) | ISBN 9780310369370 trade paperback | ISBN 9780310369394 ebook
Subjects: LCSH: Bible—Study and teaching
Classification: LCC BS600.3 .W66 2025 (print) | LCC BS600.3 (ebook) | DDC 220.071—dc23/eng/20250813
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025025117
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025025118
* * *
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.® • Scripture quotations marked CSB® are taken from the Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved. • Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Cover design: Lindy Kasler
Cover illustrations: Lindy Kasler / Shutterstock
Interior design: Kait Lamphere
For Joseph, the quiet strength in my chaos
Thank you for your steady, selfless love,
which I could never deserve. I love you
more than words could ever write.
And for Winchester and Sutton
You are the most beautiful boys the earth has
ever held. One day, you’ll carry the gospel to the
far reaches of the world. Momma is so proud.
And to my uncle, Patrick Keane
You ran the race with quiet faithfulness. Thank you
for showing me what it looks like to finish well.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Note to Readers
Copyright
Preface
1. If We Truly Believe It’s True
2. Is It True?
3. Your New Reading Glasses
4. The Storyline of the Bible
5. The Big Picture
6. Studenthood
7. Not Just a History Textbook
8. Not Just a Rule Book
9. Not Just a Letter
10. Not Just a Clue Book
11. Not Just a Movie
12. Not Just a Poem
13. Not Just a Wise Old Saying
14. Problems in Modern Interpretation and Application
15. Digging Deeper into the Word
16. This Is Only the Beginning
Acknowledgments
Preface
Wow, it was brave of you to pick up this book. Some people believe the Bible is a dead, old, boring book. But some of us believe there is more to God’s Word, if we can just get into it.
The truth is we would never actually tell anyone we sometimes secretly believe the Bible is a bit boring. But we feel it in the depths of our soul. We’ve all been there—longing to do anything else but sit down and read Lamentations. Studying the Bible is not what we spend all day at the office dreaming about doing when we get home. It’s just not as engaging as social media, and after a wild day at work we’d sometimes rather watch a reality show than read about a random king from 2 Chronicles.
So how do we avoi d ignoring the Bible altogether? None of us want to be that Christian with the dusty Bible on their nightstand. There are lots of reasons we avoid Scripture, of course, but sometimes we neglect it because we simply don’t understand its message, application, and power.
This book is written for the believers who want to actually understand their Bibles. And for anyone who is sick of feeling a little guilty about not liking to read the Bible. If that’s you, then this book will likely transform your Bible studies forever, and I’m humbled to be a part of that transformation.
But first things first—I need to come clean with you. I have fallen in love with the Bible. I sit on the couch and try to watch a movie, and all I can think about is studying that one interesting verse in Philemon. Yes, it is possible for this kind of transformation to happen! I’ve found hundreds of thousands of other Christians online just like me; we identify ourselves as “Bible Nerds.” And I’ve had the privilege of watching some of these people go from newbie Scripture readers to mature Bible Nerds.
Maybe you’re not so sure about embracing a ridiculous label such as Bible Nerd, but you’re going through intense trials in life and desperately want to know what God wants of you and how you can understand his Word and apply it to your life. Or maybe you’ve come to realize you’ve never truly read the Bible and you don’t know where to start. Whatever your story is, I’m ready to come alongside you, and I’m filled with exhilarating joy because I know this journey will change the way you view the Bible forever. The message in this book is my anthem. I believe all Christians everywhere should know and understand Scripture. Within the pages of this book you will find wisdom from countless scholars who’ve gone before me, my own words and thoughts, and things I’ve learned in my own schooling and personal studies. In this age of information, as access to the Word of God has increased, the question now is how to read the Bible faithfully and enjoy studying it.
I believe you won’t ever enjoy reading the Bible until you can understand it. You also won’t understand it until you realize how it was intended to be read. In this book we will talk about what it means to read the Word of God as well as fall in love with it along the way. Because taking Scripture seriously—and being faithful to it—is easier and more exciting than you’d think!
But beware—you won’t be the same Christian coming out of this book as you were going in. But that’s just it. You’re already here, reading. You’re already learning and changing, and God has led—dare I say it?—called you to this venture.
Chapter 1
If We Truly Believe It’s True
Tom Thumb isn’t a noteworthy grocery store. The regional chain is sprinkled across Texas and carries much of the same stuff you’ll find in your own grocery stores. Nearly everything about Tom Thumb is the same as in any other traditional grocery store I’ve been to. You could plaster “Kroger” or “Piggly Wiggly” across the front of the store and most people wouldn’t know the difference because it’s just that ordinary.
But when I hear “Tom Thumb,” my chest gets heavy and my breath gets short. My eyes may get watery, and I will most likely change the subject or try to crack some kind of joke. The name alone makes me uncomfortable. That’s because Tom Thumb is no ordinary grocery store to me. It carries some of my most painful memories. Grief is weird like that; it makes you hold on to the oddest things at the most random times, apparently for no particular reason. I don’t know how to write this next part without it sounding cliché, but Tom Thumb is the place where I learned my parents were getting a divorce.
Yes, this whole book really does start in a Tom Thumb parking lot. Sixteen-year-old me unbuckled her seat belt, ready to exit the car, get out of the hot Texas sun, and start shopping in the air-conditioned grocery store. But my mom sighed, sat back in her seat, and laid out one of the hardest realities I didn’t want to hear. She told me more than I wanted to know about her relationship with my dad, sharing things I already knew but wanted to ignore. After years of struggling, she explained, she was leaving my father.
My parents eventually went through a divorce that took three years to finalize. When my mom left my dad, I was so confused and hurt that I didn’t know what to do—or what God would have me do. All my immature brain could comprehend was Divorce is bad, and my mother is causing it. So I chose to stay with my dad. After all, she was leaving him!
That left me under the care of my father, who informed me that God wanted him not to work. God also wanted him to “let” my mom leave him. God wanted him to stay in a house he couldn’t afford after he lost his job. His reasoning? “Because Proverbs says this . . .” or “Because Proverbs says that . . .” As with any divorce, there were many underlying issues, one of which was serious scriptural abuse.
I was an immature Christian, so my dad’s commitment to what he believed, and his strong sense of calling, seemed impressive and inspiring to me. He appealed to my heart’s cry to feel like I mattered to God. After all, every young person’s desire is to feel important. Dad told me things like “God is using you, in this house, for his plan.” Sadly, what I didn’t know was that my earthly father was using me as a pawn. Even more, he was mishandling the Word of God. I was being fed a dangerous combination of random scriptures taken out of context, as well as unbiblical, works-based, health-and-wealth theology, and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
For years I lived controlled by a man who seemed to be close to God. He seemed to know the Bible and he seemed to understand a lot of sermons.
He’s just going through a tough season, I’d reassure myself when people questioned what he was telling me.
My father had lost his job and his wife, but he appeared to be focused on what God wanted from him—surely, he wasn’t the bad guy. All the while he was doing things like “borrowing” my Christmas money for “business ventures.” He quit paying our electricity bill and talked often about how the bank could kick us out of our home at any time, which left me in a constant state of fear and panic. The truth was that my father did not care for me, his wife, or God’s Word. We were all pieces to manipulate in his twisted reality.
Meanwhile, as a high school student trying to grow in her faith under the guidance of her father—a self-appointed “spiritual mentor”—I didn’t understand why God wasn’t answering my prayers. I kept praying that my dad would get a job. I had all my friends at school praying for this too. What I couldn’t see, however, was Dad’s spiritual abuse and misuse of Scripture. Though I would like to believe it was all pure ignorance, his misuse of the Scriptures and constant refrain of “God told me” led him into countless bankruptcy filings. He ostracized himself from the church, disregarded anyone who tried to hold him accountable, and dismissed everyone who disagreed with his lifestyle. This meant he had no relationship with his ex-wife or his children.
Here’s an example of the power of biblical interpretation. My father used Proverbs 11:41 to justify why he’d stopped paying his mortgage and then abused the Texas foreclosure system so he could stay in his house for years. He used another verse to justify why he was called by God not to work and instead draw unemployment benefits. Later on, when I went no contact with him, he used Exodus 20:122 against me, saying I was cursed to die young. I still remember where I was standing when I opened the letter from him that contained those words. My eyes glazed over as I read his handwriting on the page: “You’re cursed.” Those words didn’t sit lightly with me. But it took a grand total of about three minutes to look up the reference for myself and see that my father was turning a blessing in Scripture into a curse. He was twisting God’s Word for his benefit.
But the Lord used this heartbreak, confusion, and loss to light within me a fire to teach others how to read the Bible faithfully.
Hopefully, this story feels extreme to you. I pray you have not experienced anything like it in your life. Yet I know all too well that my family is not the only one affected by wrong interpretations of the Bible. I read stories every day about Christians leaving the church because of hurt and abuse. I hear countless horror stories of false teachers taking others’ money and promising God’s answer to prayer, leaving behind stadiums and megachurches full of exploited Christians.
