How not to read the Bible

How may readers … do harm to themselves?

If … they read the Scriptures without sincere prayer and the purpose to obey God, but only to get knowledge, to make a show, and to exercise their curiosity upon them. … If they do not observe what is useful for their edification, but only what they can use for their glory and against others.…If they despise what the Scriptures simply stated and what is easy to comprehend. If, on the contrary, they take up only difficult passages, about which there is much dispute, in order to discover in them something unusual and to make a show before others. If they use what they have learned with pride and for their own glory. If they think they alone are wise, obstinately refuse better instruction, love to quarrel, and receive nothing from others with modesty.