–– Seth Meyers

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Who can be a Christian without reading? Some could hear the Word and respond in faith, but without a broad base of careful readers, no church will endure in a culture. If a group were converted simply by listening, could they grow and reproduce on a national scale without first becoming very Bible-centered? 

Paul told Timothy that pastors must give care to reading the Word both in public and private (1 Tim. 4:13 and 15). Individual believers must search the Scriptures to weigh a teacher’s words against the original standard (Acts 17:11). Because man does not live by bread alone, but by the words of God (Matt. 4:4), he must grow as a Christian until he is habitually literate.