“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” – Romans 15:4
“It’s great that you study the Bible, but you need, like, devotional time, too, ya know?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t know.
I didn’t know those were different things.
“You need to meditate on God’s word. Read it for you, not just for others, or for study. Let God speak to you through His word. That’s where spiritual formation happens.”
mmm hmm, mmm hmmm….okay… *spinning wheel of neurodivergent processing*...What does that mean?
Most neurodivergent people operate on an “interest-based nervous system” . Unlike neurotypicals who can self-activate through habit, discipline, or sheer force of will, neurodivergents, particularly those with autism or ADHD, are activated by interest.
Sure, everyone would love to only do the things they’re interested in, and interest-based motivation sounds like the perfect excuse to do just that. However, it is unfortunately an evidence-based fact that the makeup of the neurodivergent mind makes force-starting tasks difficult to impossible for the majority of us. For example, I am writing this blog instead of doing my homework, because this is what I am most interested in at the moment. This means you get to learn about alternative Scripture engagement philosophies for neurodivergent readers, and I get to do *math* on my vacation this weekend.
yay.
Where we lose neurodivergent readers
Much of the language used in instructing believers on how to engage with Scripture is geared for neurotypical thinking. Terms like “in the word”, “meditating on Scripture”, “let the Spirit speak to you as you read” are abstract concepts absent of practicality, instructions, or logic. The moment obligation speak, guilt tactics or “should” is introduced to the conversation, lookout: Here comes a demand avoidance! Even if we wanted to before, now that it’s a “have-to” it’s also a “not-gonna”.
We also do very little modeling of what engagement with Scripture looks like. There’s no lack of talking about Bible reading, but a lack of actual modeling. So, knowing what to do, where to start, how much to read each day and of what, and who to direct questions to, are important instructions often lacking. Additionally, the experience neurotypicals describe having while reading Scripture is often not shared with their neurodivergent peers. We set our neurodivergent brothers and sisters up for discouragement when they go to Scripture expecting magic, and instead find all the clarity and thrill of an Ikea assembly manual.
Are neurotypical people really out there just raw dogging their Bibles, intuitively knowing how to engage with this ancient, complex text; Somehow, through secret instructions we missed in the subtext, tapping into the living-and-activeness of it until they feel God and it magically de-assholifies them? Maybe. Idk. What I do know is this is the model. This is the only formula given for the magic sauce, but if the sauce ain’t hitting, neurodivergents are left asking if this is even for them or if it’s even real.
Knowing Scripture IS important.
Methods may vary greatly, but when it comes to spiritual principles, what’s true for neurotypicals is true for neurodivergents. In this case, the truth is engagement with Scripture is important. It is how we know who and what God is. His nature, character, and desires for humanity are revealed through the preserved stories of how mankind has understood and interacted with God. Scripture is one of the ways we grow spiritually and in character.
The Bible contains instruction, encouragement, correction, and wisdom. Knowing Scripture also protects us from false teaching, abuse, and manipulation. (For example, hypothetically speaking, if a government official tried using the “Here am I, send me” passage for nationalistic warmongering, you’d know that was blasphemy because you’ve read Isaiah.) See, important.
All the knowledge in the world of the benefits of reading scripture doesn’t help neurodivergent readers if we’re also telling them that their preferred methods (and sometimes the only methods that work for them) are insufficient. So how can we better teach Bible engagement so neurodivergent readers aren’t missing out on this beautiful, mysterious, life-giving work of wonder?
6 One Way, Half a Dozen the Other
Allow me to introduce you to *interest*.
Academic study, research, analysis, and curiosity-fueled, 8-hour Bible character rabbit holes are all ways of being “in the Word”. So is coloring your Bible. So is reading Bible commentary. So is listening to audio Bible and learning about the Bible from credible sources. Devotional reading, with a hot cup of coffee, a prayer, and soft worship music playing in the background will change you if you let it. So will every other method of digesting Scripture.
One way or the other, the content is getting in. Do we fancy ourselves so powerful that the Holy Spirit is prohibited from reminding us of the right passage at the right time because of how we came by that passage? Can one listen to a Bible scholar on a pod cast and have to pause to process the awe of what they learned, or is that only for quiet time? Does only Lectio Davina move one to compassion for the marginalized, or can completing The Parable of the Good Samaritan in a Bible coloring book do the same?
For those leading neurodivergent believers
Luckily, we don’t have to find ways to try to make the Bible interesting. The Bible IS interesting! We have to stop un-interestinging… un-interestifying…un-….. Just stop making it boring! Okay? It’s cool as heck! Interest is inspired by the interest of others, so just talk about what you love about Scripture. Share what you learned and why you think it’s exciting. Talk about what passage convicted you lately and made you repent or ask for help. Share some context fun-facts. Make games. Become a multi-method learner yourself so you can disciple people of all neurotypes.
The Bible is for everyone. Pigeonholing transformative scripture engagement to one method is *sighs deep because I hate how overused this word is* kinda ableist. Neurodivergent believers need to know that the Bible is for them as much as it is for everyone else. If the viral shapes-toy video has taught us anything, it’s that the square block goes in the square hole, but so does the round block, the triangle block, and the star block.
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