Give Attendance to Reading

They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,
Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.
But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,
For in you we live and move and have our being.

This comes from the poem Cretica by the ancient Greek writer Epimenides. But some readers may recognize it from the Apostle Paul’s writings. He quoted Cretica in Titus 1:12: “A certain one of them, a prophet of their own, said—‘Cretans! always liars, evil beasts, lazy bellies!’ (Young’s Literal Translation). Paul also quoted Cretica in Acts 17:28: “for in him we live, and move, and have our being.”

In Acts 17:28, Paul also said: “as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” This was quoting the poet Aratus, who lived near Paul’s hometown of Tarsus. Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:33 that “evil communications corrupt good manners.” This was from the celebrated Athenian playwright Menander.

Paul was a lifelong biblical scholar. But the Bible wasn’t the only thing he read. He was also well versed in secular literature. He didn’t endorse Greek literature’s pagan overtones, but his studies were an asset for his ministry. In Acts 17, Paul was speaking to Greeks who would have found citations of Hebrew scriptures meaningless. Paul’s familiarity with Greek writings made him of greater use to God as the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15).

Paul encouraged his protégé Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:13: “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” Reading books other than the Bible can benefit us today.

Proverbs 3:13 says: “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding” (New King James Version). God wants His people to be educated, to be avid learners. Late theologian Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in his autobiography: “Education comes from study—from books—from lectures—from contacts—from travel—from thinking about what you see and hear and read—and from experience.”

I am currently reading Young Stalin, by Simon Sebag Montefiore. The book details Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s early years, showing how formative childhood events molded him into a cold-hearted despot. Montefiore emphasizes how Stalin’s abusive father implanted character traits that never left. “Undeserved beatings made the boy as hard and heartless as the father himself,” said one childhood friend. It was because of his father, the friend said, “that he learned to hate people.” Stalin’s hometown in the Russian Empire “was one of the last towns to practice the ‘picturesque and savage custom’ of free-for-all town brawls with special rules but no-holds-barred violence,” Montefiore wrote. “Psychological historians attribute much of Stalin’s development to his drunken father, but this streetfighting culture was just as formative.”

This reminded me of Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Stalin’s childhood influences were extreme. But for me preparing to start a family, Stalin’s example helps me internalize the importance my child’s early influences would have and how I need to make them the best they can be.

Being a reader doesn’t have to be expensive. Great books are available free at a local library. Great works from ages past with expired copyrights are free online.

The benefits of reading, however, depend on what one reads. Paul told Timothy to “shun profane and vain babblings” (2 Timothy 2:16), or as Thayer’s Greek Lexicon renders it, “discussion of vain and useless matters.”

What literature should one prioritize?

“I have been greatly influenced by the tremendous impress on my life that resulted from a triple reading of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography,” Mr. Armstrong wrote. “After reading that, I sought to learn by the experiences of other successful men.” Mr. Armstrong listed biographies of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt as examples. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has recommended books about or written by Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander Solzhenitsyn and others.

Quality fiction can also be of value. Some fiction writers Mr. Flurry has recommended include William Shakespeare, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Joseph Conrad.

Of course, there is also much from secular writers not worth reading. You must exercise discernment to find what is truly worthwhile. And in a world that increasingly tends to exalt the base, dark and morbid, it is worth remembering Paul’s admonition in Philippians 4:8: “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

This doesn’t mean ignoring tainted examples. A biography on Napoleon could be excellent in giving examples on leadership and ambition. But Napoleon used his ambition for starting bloody wars and other evil purposes. One should consider this caveat and avoid taking improper teaching seriously.

The Trumpet sponsors a podcast on our website, Just the Best Literature (theTrumpet.com/radio/just-the-best-literature) that can help you get started. Or you can go to your local library or bookstore and start browsing their shelves. Learn from the Apostle Paul and grow in understanding through giving attendance to reading.