“We revere the Bible but we don’t read it.” – George Gallup
During a Facebook conversation, one of my friends said, “Too many Christians — or people claiming the title — are largely Biblically illiterate, unloving, lacking tact, and even boorish.”
Biblically illiterate. Whoa. Why are we known to the world as unloving, lacking tack or boorish in our beliefs? Because we are largely biblically illiterate. We don’t read the book. We don’t know the teachings of the Master. We may wear the name, but we haven’t really become a disciple or a follower of Jesus the Christ.
Did you know?
- 92% of American own a Bible.
- 75% believe it is the word of God.
- 64% of Americans do not read the Bible because they are too busy.
- 80% Think it is too hard to understand.
From Gallup to USA Today, National Studies show:
- 50% Don’t know the 1st book of the Bible.
- 1/3 of Americans know who preached the Sermon on the Mount. Some credit Billy Graham.
- More Americans can name the 4 Beatles over recounting one single commandment.
- 50% of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married.
- Most Americans can not chronologically order Adam, Moses, David and Jesus.
Christians, those are dismal statistics. Maybe you fall into those stats somewhere. That’s OK. It’s Ok to start there, but it’s not OK to stay there.
Our ignorance is leading us to social decay, immorality, the destruction of family and ultimately separation from a Holy God.
“God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.” Acts 17:30
God now expects us to repent. Do we know of what? Do we even know what sin is anymore? We are supposed to turn to him. But how?
Read his letter to you.
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11
Tomorrow I’m going to talk about “Can I Trust the Bible?” Til then you can check out “Overcoming Barriers to Bible Study.”
