Where do you live and go to church?
Dr. Gray: My wife Marilynne and I live in North Saanich, BC, Canada (about 18 miles north of Victoria, BC). We worship at Saanichton Bible Fellowship because our pastors provide great Bible-based teaching and several worship teams inspire everyone’s praise to God. For example, we just concluded a six week series on the Great Hymns and Praise Songs: we sang them and learned about the “story behind the song” (e.g., John Newton’s Amazing Grace, Horatio Spafford’s It is Well with My Soul, Melody and Keith Green’s There is a Redeemer which sprang from the hippie era).
Why is reading the Bible important to you?
Dr. Gray: After some 20 years practicing religious legalism as a devout Roman Catholic, I left the teaching and rules of the church. I went in the opposite direction for some 10 years pursuing the humanistic license to do my own thing, until God got my attention because my life was not working. I knew I needed a strong intellectual faith to support a saving faith in Jesus Christ, so I read the Bible and books that authenticated its accuracy in transcribing and preserving the original texts–better than any other writings from antiquity–and doing this with unmatched consistency over 1600 years in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek). Only God could have ensured that his Word was recorded and passed on in this consistent manner to reveal who he is and what he did during this period to document his story.
After becoming born again, I read the Bible to meditate on the Word of God to know the source better and gain his wisdom to guide my life.
When did you first start reading the Bible and what was the first book of the Bible you ever read?
Dr. Gray: While being reared as a Roman Catholic, I never read the Bible and seldom prayed to Jesus (most often to the Virgin Mary). During the period of becoming born again (over a year), I started with Genesis (“In the beginning God….”) and read through the entire Bible. I describe the importance of reading the Bible throughout my book–Why Become a Christian? A Spiritual Memoir–and focus on “why” in Chapter two.
Name a Bible character you resonate with and why.
Dr. Gray: My life journey is similar to that of the Prodigal Son, leaving God for the “far country” of humanistic license with a self-centered “give me” attitude. Until I came to my senses and repented and returned with a “make me” attitude. Like the Prodigal Son, I also experienced the Father welcoming me home–with unconditional grace, love, and acceptance “just as I am”–because Jesus’s death and resurrection paid for my many sins.
What are you reading in the Bible at the moment?
Dr. Gray: In our senior men’s group, we’re studying Ecclesiastes. On my website, I’ve written a blogpost that traces Solomon’s descent from Theism to Deism to Naturalism to Nihilism–where he realizes how vain, futile, and meaningless his life has become. In my next post, I trace my own similar descent with this significant difference: I returned to Theism (became born again), whereas Solomon did not.
Where do you read the Bible?
Dr. Gray: Don’t laugh—mostly in the bathroom. This is how I got through a heavy series of books in English Lit as a first year student at the University of Virginia and have continued to use this “down time” in a positive way since then.
How do you read the Bible: print edition? digitally online? digitally on tablet? digitally on phone? audio?
Dr. Gray: Print. NASB Study Bible (1978). Don’t know what I’d do if I lost my first Bible because it has so many of my notes in the margins over nearly 40 years.
What’s one thing from the Bible that’s stuck in your brain at the moment?
Dr. Gray: The consistency of the Bible’s message over the 1600 years it was written, confirms that it’s the Holy Spirit inspired Word of God. The Bible is his story about redeeming mankind because God wants a reconciled relationship with his most valued creation, so that we recognize how much he loves us. Our God is the only god that loves mankind so much that he became one of us and lived with us (Emmanuel) to reveal himself and redeem us through his Son, and continues to guide us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. No omniscient author, but God, could have told this story exactly as He did–because it’s his story about mankind.
Name one part of the Bible you keep coming back to again and again and why.
Dr. Gray: I keep returning to Genesis, where everything started (creation out of nothing or ex nihilo; male and female created in “our image” or imago dei).
I also return to Romans 8:28–”We know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose”–because this Scripture summarizes God’s omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence in the lives of believers. In my book I cite it often to describe how my story is really his story about me and all history.
Describe one of your Bible reading failures and what you learned.
Dr. Gray: I once prescribed a Bible reading schedule I failed to keep, and felt guilty about this–until I remembered my 20 years practicing religious legalism and feeling either self-righteous or guilty, depending on my success or failure obeying the teachings and rules of the Catholic Church. Jesus came to set this captive free from such guilt (or self-righteousness). So, I read the Bible now with a positive attitude, not because I feel I must, but because I want to—when I can each day.
What advice would you give someone struggling to read the Bible each day?
Dr. Gray: Buy a children’s picture Bible and read chapters in it to get a quick “overview” of the story, characters, key passages, etc. This will inspire you to read the “details” in a standard Bible using a translation you like to read. I learned this strategy in high school: first, I read the classic comic book to get an “overview” and then read the 300-400 word book. Because I’m a “visual learner” I remember best what I see–such as the “pictures” in The Picture Bible (David C. Cook, 1978).
What are your thoughts regarding Bible Gateway and/or the Bible Gateway App in relation to reading and engaging the Bible?
Dr. Gray: I could not have written Why Become a Christian?: A Spiritual Memoir without using Bible Gateway to quickly find a specific Scripture by doing a key word search. In our Bible study group, we often compare the words from different Bible translations, by using Bible Gateway.
Anything else you’d like to say?
Dr. Gray: Thank you Bible Gateway for providing a quick, efficient gateway to find key words and themes in the Word of God.