Does it really matter that a large percentage of the community have little or no idea of what’s in the Bible? Is knowing the Bible at all important for those who don’t claim to be Christian? Many would say that if people don’t have an interest in religion or Christianity then they have no need for what’s written between the covers of the good book.
What about within the Christian church? Is it important for those who claim to follow Jesus to know who this guy is that they’re following? Is it important for them to have a reasonable knowledge of the Bible? You would think that it would be essential for Christians to know at least the basics of their belief but sadly, it seems that’s not always the case.
Did you know that in a US survey only 4 out of 10 people knew that Jesus preached the sermon on the mount? Many people believed that it was Billy Graham.
Also from the survey, 63% of Americans can’t name the four Gospels of the New Testament. 82% believe that “God helps those who help themselves” is a direct quote from the Bible. 81% of born-again Christians hold the same belief.
This article from Assist News Services claims that the church has been dumbed down by preachers who want to preach what their congregations want to hear, rather than what the Bible has to say. The Assist News Services article is rather long but worth the read.
The article quotes Dr Mark Strom, National Principal of the Bible College of New Zealand.
He sees part of the problem as the influence of a largely narcissistic culture that translates to a similarly self-centred attitude to Bible-reading.
“For the most part, an individualistic approach to life is mirrored in the Church,” says Dr. Strom. “So when people read the Bible, they read it in a ‘flat way’. History is unknown and unvalued.
“If they can’t find immediate personal, meaning, Drama and excitement, then they’re bored. Reading the Bible becomes all about ‘me’.”
It also means fewer Christians are reading the Bible regularly, leading to ignorance about its message and meaning and an inability to help others read the Bible for themselves.
Biblical illiteracy has serious implications for Christians, he warns. “We become sitting ducks for any idea that presents itself as ‘spiritual’. The centre of the Bible is Jesus, not us. Without this understanding we have no distinctive basis for discernment.
What do you think? Has the church been dumbing down the faith? Is there a need for greater understanding of the Bible and its themes?
The article concludes with the following paragraphs.
“Fundamentally, it’s to make sense of the whole story. To get to the place of deep familiarity and love for the story that unites scripture.
“The ultimate purpose of engaging with biblical texts is four-fold, he says. It’s to be faithful – to Christ and the scriptures; to be critical – able to discern best and worst within the world and the Church; to be prophetic – having ability to speak wisdom into the world; and to engage with the world outside the Church.”
“I’ve read widely,” says Dr. Strom, “but nothing has shaped me as much as the Bible. There’s a wisdom there that’s absolutely unmatched.”
Posted by Rodney Olsen
Technorati Tags: Bible – Church – Christianity
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You know, I made a comment last year about people’s interpretation of The Bible and the will of God and so on. This seems to be the logical extension of that. That said, given that pretty much every other form of media on the planet is dumbing itself down to what people want to hear, this one doesn’t surprise me a great deal.
Chris L said “…given that pretty much every other form of media on the planet is dumbing itself down to what people want to hear…”
And that was my fist thought too.
I worry for our future generations where urban myths will take precedence over facts because people don’t read or try to find things out for themselves.
Great post Rodney. I found this bit of Strom’s thoughts interesting.
He sees part of the problem as the influence of a largely narcissistic culture that translates to a similarly self-centred attitude to Bible-reading.
“For the most part, an individualistic approach to life is mirrored in the Church,” says Dr. Strom. “So when people read the Bible, they read it in a ‘flat way’. History is unknown and unvalued.
“If they can’t find immediate personal, meaning, Drama and excitement, then they’re bored. Reading the Bible becomes all about ‘me’.”
In our Western, Middle Class, White, Consumer-focussed world we’re conditioned to think about “me” first. yet the Bible was written to people from a totally different point of view.
The other problem is that people want to hear “good teaching”, yet they don’t know how to feed themselves or act on the teaching.
As for the answer- I’m not sure. But it’s a huge question that needs addressing in the church today.
Rodney,
Thanks for sharing. It has given me some thoughts. Most of all, it reminds me of the faith of a little child. I have linked my post today to yours.
Recently, I read a quote by Yo-yo Ma. He said,
12 and 21 is creating your emotional bank account. You’ll be withdrawing from that account for the rest of your life, so make sure you put in stuff that really counts.
My preacher in his sermon last week mentioned that Billy Graham once said that we are not responsible of past generation, we do not bear full responsibility of future generation, but we do have a generation in hand now and we are accountable for the generation in hand.
So, be a blessing to the generation in hand. Should we not?
Yan
P/S After a trip, I am trying to subscribe back to your email updates, but seem not successful!
A very wise and insightful (even maybe inciteful =) post.
A story:
At the studios where we used to produce our stuff out of there was a born-again Christian. He was one of the work for the dolers and a very nice guy, except he had the awful tendency to ‘correct’ people with regard to religious doctrine.
TP and myself are both atheists and we found this annoying. Not only because it was downright rude, but also because some of the stuff he was saying was clearly not based on the bible. We had several chats with him about religion, all quite reasonable and informative for all, and then it came out that he hadn’t actually read the bible. He was just spewing out what his reverend was telling him. So we encouraged him to read the bible and find out exactly what his ‘lord’ was saying but he refused.
Then one day, several months later he came to me and told me that he had bought an audio book copy of the bible and that he planned to ‘read’ it. I congratulated him and wished him well. Within two weeks he announced that he had dropped out of his church.
I don’t know what happened to him then because we lost contact – his ‘custodial’ sentence with us was at an end. I must say that I felt somewhat guilty at being the instigator of, what must be, a very traumatic time in his life. I just hope that he found peace and comfort within, as you say, ‘the good book’ now that he’s had a chance to read it.
I don’t have any particular religious faith but I do agree with the sentiment: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” I think EVERYONE should read the major texts of the world’s major religions and if you subscribe to a specific school of thought, you owe it to yourself to be as well-educated and inquiring as you can be about what you believe (this applies to more than just rleigion). How can you come to a decision otherwise?
I belong to one of those churches where some might make that accusation…we, as Small Group / lay leaders…whatever you want to call us.. are called to become self feeders..so enamored of the word ourselves that as people are drawn to a journey…we have the map and are ready to help them learn to navigate themselves…
I love your last quote by Dr. Strom…
I believe you can’t give away what you don’t have and I love what Rob Bell said…”Have you ever seen someone pull a photo out of their wallet and argue about the supremacy of this particular loved one? Of course not. They show you the picture and give you the opportunity to see what they see.”
Got kind of off track there but I do love the bible and any opportunity to talk about it….so THANKS…
wouldn’t it be nice if we had local surveys on this stuff, it gets tiresome being linked to the US in so many things
Australia is actually much more of a postmodern secular culture than the US
that said, regardless of their country of origina, there are many people who call themselves Christians who only know their “beliefs” as head knowledge
it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference to their life choices or behaviour
I could not agree more. I was raised in a Lutheran church and even at a young age was asking questions about things that just didn’t make sense. I began a quest about 5 years ago for the TRUTH. Not some watered down version that is for the purpose to raise congregation attendance (thereby raising offerings).