This might sound strange to some people, but I was actually afraid to read the Bible. Every time I did, I felt I was losing my faith all over again. Nosing through Genesis or Jeremiah imparted God with a fairy-tale quality that I sometimes couldn’t shake for days. So I finally stopped trying. I had read the Bible so many times that I was able to keep up with most conversations about it without reading up first; I could participate in Bible-study groups without actually rereading it. My faith seemed easier to maintain if I stayed away from the Scriptures—those words were too associated with my
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