biblical illiteracy Archives

This is the last post in my short series of posts on Biblical illiteracy. Here are the other posts:

As we have seen, there are lots of reports that people are becoming more biblically illiterate.

But I am not convinced that the statistics are true, that we really are becoming more biblically illiterate. It all depends, really, on how a person defines “biblically illiterate,” and I am not convinced that the traditional definitions and tests we use to determine biblical literacy are all that correct. I sort of think that the real problem with biblical illiteracy is how we define and test for biblical illiteracy. For example, I am not sure that knowing Bible facts is the same thing as biblical literacy. From one perspective, it could be argued that people are more biblically literate today than ever before!

I know, of course, that such a statement might be controversial, and so let’s just leave that idea alone for now and agree with the common consensus. Let us concede their claim that people are becoming more and more biblically illiterate. For the sake of argument, let us just assume that this is the case.

I do not see it as a bad thing. I see this as a good thing.

Why?

Because we are finally giving up the illusion that Bible knowledge is the key to living the Christian life.

Frankly, I would love it if more Christians put down their Bibles.

People already know enough. The real issue is that they don’t do enough. They don’t put into practice what they already know.

When pastors and professors bemoan the lack of biblical literacy in the church today, they are telling people that the most important part of the Christian life is knowing more. But it isn’t. The most important part of following Jesus is actually following Jesus into loving and serving others.

Look, the call for biblical literacy is not actually about biblical literacy. These pastors and professors believe that biblical literacy will lead to biblical living. They see people not living very biblically, and not really having a biblical worldview, and so they think that if they can raise the level of biblical literacy, this will raise the level of biblical living as well. But it is not working. There is some question as to whether it ever really did work.

If I had to choose between a Bible expert who could recite large chunks of Scripture from the Greek and Hebrew yet who did not show love toward his neighbor, and someone who barely knew anything about Scripture but who did show love to his neighbor, I will choose the second person every day of the week.

Ideally, it would be nice if everyone was a Bible expert AND they practiced the Bible, but nothing in this life is ideal And in my experience, it seems that Christians often prefer to put off loving other people because they fear they don’t know how, or won’t be able to answer a question properly, or won’t know how to deal with certain objections or issues that often come up. And so, in a good and godly quest to prepare for the act of loving and serving others, they just attend one seminar after another, one training session after another, one class after another, and many of them never get around to actually loving the other person.

What often happens in churches and groups that place a heavy emphasis on biblical literacy is that the goal in the Christian life seems to be little more than the accumulation of Bible facts and theological trivia.

So I am thankful that studies and reports are showing that people are more and more biblically illiterate, because I think it finally raises the question of whether that should have ever been the goal in the first place, and whether or not biblical literacy ever really even “worked” in helping people live biblically.

The goal is biblical living; not biblical literacy.

If we strive for biblical living, we also get biblical literacy. But if we strive for biblical literacy, we end up with neither biblical living nor biblical literacy. We need to stop chasing biblical literacy and start pursuing biblical living.

A lack of biblical literacy is not the problem; a lack of biblical living is. And to live according to the Bible, we might need to stop studying the Bible. Living out the Bible begins by getting our noses out of the Bible.

This can be seen in three points:

When we strive to become biblically literate, there is never any end to it. When the goal is biblical literacy, there is never an end to the studies, seminars, and conferences. You never know enough. It becomes an addiction of sorts.
Biblical literacy doesn’t automatically lead to biblical living. Most people who call for biblical literacy don’t actually want biblical literacy – they want people who follow and obey the Bible. This is a good thing. But the problem is that the same studies which report that people are more biblically illiterate than ever before usually also report that even those who know a lot about the Bible are not actually living that much more biblically than people who are ignorant of the Bible. So if biblical literacy isn’t “working” among those who have it, why are they trying to export it?
Biblical living very often leads to biblical learning. The call for biblical literacy is putting the cart before the horse. We’ve got the order backwards. People often think that you have to learn the Bible before you can live it, but I think that what we are beginning to see is that you actually have to live it before you can learn it. Yes, I know, this seems impossible. How can someone live something they have not learned? Well, they do need to learn a little bit, and the truth is that everyone pretty much already knows that little bit. So they don’t need to learn more until they have learned to live what they already know. Then, as issues comes up, as questions arise, these call them back to Scripture and Bible study and Christian for answers and ideas.

I call this “on the way” teaching. Or it could be called “Just in time” learning, or “On Demand” learning. This is the best way to learn something. You don’t need to learn something until you need it, and you don’t know what you need to learn until it comes up.

Here is how this works: You go out and you love or serve somebody. You put into practice the little bit you do know. And when an issue or question comes up that you cannot address, you say, “That is a great question. I don’t know. Let’s discuss it more together. What do you think? Let’s read this book. Let’s invite some others into this question and see what they say.”

In this way, you don’t come across as a know-it-all, you praise and honor the other person for their great question, and then you model for this other person the importance of ongoing study and learning and most of all, the importance of a community of relationships.

On the Way Learning was Modeled by Jesus

On the way learning is a beautiful way of learning that is modeled, of course, by Jesus. Jesus didn’t spend three years teaching His disciples in a classroom before sending them out. No, He told them a little bit, and then sent them out, and then when they came back, they debriefed and told Him what they saw and heard, and He taught them a bit more, and then sent them out again.

People don’t need more Bible learning. They just need to go out and live what they already know. Then, if they need more learning, well, they know what they need to learn and so it will mean that much more to them.

And how much does a person need to learn before they go out? I believe that pretty much everything a person needs to know to begin living biblically can be taught to them in 20 minutes. Maybe less. If I was really pressed for time, it could probably be taught in one minute or so. (See below)

The bottom line is that people know enough already. They don’t need to know more. They can go out and start loving and serving right now. When they do this, they will WANT to learn more when they see the usefulness and importance of what they already know.

So send them out! Encourage them to go out. Liberate them. Praise them for what they do. God is not saying to the church “Let my people learn,” but rather, “Let my people go!”

1 Minute Biblical living

If I had one minute to tell you everything you need to know to begin living biblically, I would say something like this:

If there is one thing Jesus reveals over and over, it is that you are loved. More than you can ever possibly know. This means there is nothing you can do to mess up. Nothing. So relax. Enjoy life. Enjoy people.

And as you come to the realization of how loved you are, try to show that same love to other people. You don’t need to correct their sin. You don’t need to invite them to church. You don’t need to tell them to do anything. Just love them. Love others as you have been loved and as you would want them to love you.

The rest follows from love. Everybody can love, and once you have learned to love, the rest just follows naturally.

Go ahead, read that out loud and time yourself. It’s about 1 minute, right? And living out what is said in those few sentences will take the rest of your life. And guess what? Even if you can’t list the four Gospels, the 10 Commandments, or the 66 books of the Bible, but you live out what is said above, you will be living biblically, even if you are technically “biblically illiterate.” Who can complain about that?

I believe it is not a problem that people know less about the Bible than they used to know. All I really care about is that people try to live out whatever it is they do know. How about you? What do you believe about this topic? Weigh in below!

15 Reasons Biblical Illiteracy is NOT a Problem in the Church

By Jeremy Myers

37 Comments

I was recently interviewed by Thom Schultz, the CEO of Group Publishing, for his “Holy Soup” podcast. We talked about whether or not biblical illiteracy is a problem in the church. Lots of people think it is, and bemoan the fact that most Christians don’t know their Bible very well. Some are calling this an epidemic or a crisis. But as I discussed with Thom Schultz, I don’t think it is that big of a problem. Listen to the podcast to learn why.

I am also doing a series of blog posts on the topic so that I can explain in more depth what I said in the podcast interview.

Here are the posts so far:

By the way, I am also writing about this in a book which I hope to publish in the next month or two. The book is actually about pastoral leadership, but since preaching is a function of pastors, I write about how pastors can transform their preaching to do a better job at making disciples. Make sure you have subscribed to my email newsletter to get news about this book when it comes out.

And just in case it needs to be said, I am all in favor of Bible study. I study Scripture for several hours almost every day. I study Scripture for pure enjoyment, but I also study it for my books, for my teaching and preaching, and for this blog. All I am saying below is that not everybody needs to study the Bible as much as I do. Most do not. Further still, most Christians already know enough about the Bible.

The problem is not a lack of biblical literacy; the problem is a lack of biblical living and loving, and to be honest, you don’t need to know much about the Bible in order to live and love like Jesus.

Anyway, here are the 15 reasons I believe that biblical illiteracy is not a problem in the church:

1. There is no end to the quest for biblical literacy.

If biblical literacy is the goal, how can we know when we have achieved it? How much Bible knowledge does a person need to have?

The answer is always “More than they have now.” It’s like riches: “How much money do you need?” Only one dollar more. The quest for biblical literacy is a quest with no end, and the problem with the Bible is that it has enough ideas to occupy our minds for eternity, which means that if we keep from stepping out to love and serve others until we feel like we know enough, we will never feel like we know enough.

So I would rather have people take what little they do know, and start living it. Then, as questions come up and issues arise, they can return to Scripture for more.

2. Pastoral sermons hinder biblical literacy.

Believe it or not, sermons are part of the problem. Pastors often talk about Greek and Hebrew in their sermons, mention the professional theology training they have received, and put seminary degree placards up on their office walls. This gives the impression to lots of people that if they don’t know Greek and Hebrew, and don’t have the time or money to attend seminary or read all the theology books, then they cannot actually know Scripture. So they don’t even try.

What we have given to the people with one hand, we took away with the other. People hear our sermons sprinkled with Greek, Hebrew, and quotations from theology books, and they realize they don’t have the time or training to do all this study, and when they try with the limited time and resources they do have, more often than not, they get scoffed at or ridiculed by someone with more training and knowledge for having a view that shows their ignorance. So people throw up their hands and say “Why bother?”

3. You can get the Bible to say anything you want.

This is one reason people have given upon learning the Bible. They study, study, study, learn, learn, learn, and then they discover that someone who studied 10,000 hours more than them came to an exact opposite conclusion. It’s disheartening. So some people throw in the towel on Bible study. When there is a such a wide array of opinions and beliefs on what a particular passage means, and there is very little chance for the average student of Scripture to gain clarity or certainty on which view is right, most people think “Why even try?”

4. There is a lack of love among the so-called “Biblically literate.”

The people in our society today who know the Bible best seem to be the same ones who live it least. There seems to be little correlation between Bible literacy and Jesus-like love. In fact, it sometimes seems that there is an inverse relationship between the two, so that as Bible knowledge goes up, the presence of love goes down.

Biblical literacy should no longer be defined as “how much you know about the Bible,” but should be defined instead by “How much you love like Jesus, who reveals to us that God is love.” People typically don’t need Bible knowledge to know how to love others. Quite the contrary, an emphasis on Bible knowledge often leads to a lack of love.

5. There is a difference between information and understanding.

When it comes to information, what is needed is not so much biblical literacy, as it is biblical understanding.

As I mentioned in the previous post on this topic, I would rather have someone understand one Bible verse than be able to quote 100 without understanding. Lots of people can quote Bible verses and get perfect scores on Bible trivia quizzes, but have very little understanding of most of the Bible verses they quote.

Bible explanation is always better than a Bible quotation.

And by the way, understanding a passage does not simply require you to know what YOU think it means, but also requires you to know what OTHERS think it means. Pick almost any verse in the Bible, and there will probably be half a dozen views on what that verse means. Some passages, like Hebrews 6:4-6, have about 2o (or more) possible views. I do not believe a person has understood a text until they have understood many of the views about that text. After all, how can someone believe their understanding of a text is correct if they do not know what other people say about text?

Most people who just quote Bible verses at you think that those Bible verses have a “straightforward and plain meaning.” Typically, the “straightforward meaning” of the text which seems so clear to them, seems to be the exact opposite of the “straightforward and plain meaning” of the text to others. Once a person begins to understand this, they see that “the plain meaning of the text” is a myth. So having lots of Bible information is not the same as having good Bible understanding.

6. Biblical literacy is championed by those who have related spiritual gifts.

One reason we hear about biblical illiteracy so much is because the people who champion it are the ones who have the spiritual gifts of teaching, preaching, and knowledge.

The greatest danger of all spiritual gifts is that some people think their gift is a gift everyone should have. God has laid upon the hearts and minds of pastors and teachers to study the Scripture and teach it to others. And they should fulfill their God-given task and do this. I am a pastor-teacher, which is why I study, preach, teach, and write. But we who have this spiritual giftedness must not fall into the trap of thinking that because such things are important to us, all other Christians must do the same things.

Just because we have these gifts, and God wants us to use these gifts, this does not mean that everyone has this same gifts or desires.

If you hire a pastor who has the spiritual gifts of mercy, or service, his sermons will probably not be full of Bible knowledge and theology facts, nor will he place a heavy emphasis on biblical literacy. Instead, he will place an emphasis on acts of love in the community, and getting out to our friends and neighbors to serve them. He will likely teach about the epidemic of the lack of love and service in our communities rather than the lack of biblical literacy.

Everybody tends to emphasize their own spiritual gifts, and everybody tends to think that everybody else should have the same interests and ministry priorities that they themselves have. But this is just not how spiritual gifts are supposed to work. God gives gifts to each one of us so that each of us can do what God wants us to do for the edification and encouragement of the Body. But if I tell you to stop practicing your gift and start practicing mine because if you don’t, you are not a good Christian, you will only end up frustrated. God wants me to study and teach Scripture. He may not want you to do the same thing.

My wife and I are a perfect example. I am the scholar, she is the server. For years, she felt guilty because she didn’t study more, and I felt guilty because I didn’t serve more. But we have now come to realize that I study and she serves, and we both need each other. I teach her what I learn, and she invites me along when she serves. When we go out to love and serve others, I tend to not know what I’m doing, so I follow her lead and do okay. Serving others is out of my comfort zone, and it’s awkward, but it is perfectly natural and normal for her, and so she helps me learn to love and serve others. This is how spiritual gifts are to work.

7. Biblical literacy is championed by pastors and teachers.

This point is nearly identical to the previous one, but with a focus on those whose salaries depend on people studying and learning Scripture.

Have you ever noticed that those who talk most about the lack of biblical literacy in the church today are those who get paid to raise the level of biblical literacy in the church today? That should raise some red flags.

The need for biblical literacy is championed by those who have the time and training to study it, and by those whose income requires people being dependent upon them for learning the Bible. Notice that those who decry the lack of biblical literacy in the church often say that the solution to this problem is to come listen to their sermons, buy their books, and attend their schools.

Look, along with teaching and writing about Scripture and theology, I also design websites and publish books for other authors, and I get paid a little bit of money to do so. What if I came out tomorrow and started telling people that everybody needs to have their own website and write their own books, and I can help you accomplish this? And if you don’t have your own website or your won book, well, you are not a very good Christian.

If I got enough people to believe that, I would then have more people coming to me to help them design and run their websites and write and publish their books. My income would vastly increase. It is to my financial benefit to get more people to believe that they need a website and must publish a book.

I think sometimes this is what happens when certain pastors and teachers say that Christians must increase the level of their biblical literacy. I wonder if subconsciously, they are simply trying to protect their salaries.

Note that it is not wrong for pastors and teachers to get paid. I get paid for some of what I teach and write, and I greatly appreciate the people who purchase what I produce. So does my family. But I hope that you never feel like I am pressuring you to buy what I publish or teach, or make you feel guilty or like you are less of a Christian if you do not. I believe that what I teach is of great help to people, which is why I make a large chunk of it available for free through this website and my podcast, and so I hope that when you buy one of my books or teaching courses, it is not because you were pressured, but because you simply wanted to learn more.

8. Bible knowledge works very much like an addiction.

The people who do best at Bible knowledge are generally those who have addiction-prone personalities, and the behaviors and practices they engage in to study and learn Scripture exhibit many signs of addiction. They need their daily and weekly fix of biblical insights and Bible studies.

Are there worse thing to be addicted to? Sure. But addictions are never healthy for the relationship of the people in the addiction, and this is true of Bible addicts as well. Bible addicts often have trouble with the relationships in their life, which means that while they may be learning a lot, they are not learning to live it out.

Also, in light of the previous point, this sort of makes pastors and preachers the dealers in this transaction, which is why you will very often find the most Bible addicts in a church where the pastor and preacher places an heavy and constant emphasis on attending church, listening to sermons, daily Bible reading, and going to Bible studies. But very little that is truly relational tends to go on in these churches. If you are in a church like this and don’t believe me, try not attending the church for three months, and see what happens. If people call you and tell you that you have been missed (and that’s a big IF), tell them that you are just taking a break from church. See what they say. Then see how long it takes for the calls to stop.

Many people who are addicted to Bible knowledge are not very good at meaningful relationships, just like most other addicts. And like addicts, they often try to pressure others into becoming addicts also. They tell you that you need your daily Bible fix, and the good stuff is being offered over at the church on Main street. If you turn them down and just say “No,” they will typically not have time for you any longer.

If you think you may have a Bible addiction, try going “cold turkey” for a while. You will have withdrawal symptoms of guilt and fear about what God is going to do to you now that you are not having your “Quiet Time.” You will get pressure from your “dealer” (aka, Pastor) about how your life is going to fall apart now that you don’t listen to his sermons.

I work with a lot of former drug addicts in my job, and I am always amazed at how quickly they turn from drugs to the Bible, which is still a much better trade, but then quickly becomes almost as destructive on their life, their job, and their relationships as drugs were before.

9. Knowing the Bible is not at all the same things as knowing God.

When God wanted to reveal Himself fully; He didn’t give us a book; He gave us a person. He gave us Jesus.

Yes, we learn about Jesus through the Bible, but I have found that most Christians know more than enough about Jesus in order to live like Jesus in their lives.

Let us no longer be people of a book; instead let us be followers of Jesus.

And if Jesus invites us to put our Bibles down so you can better follow Him, who are we to disagree?

10. We don’t need more biblical literacy; we need more biblical love.

We don’t need more knowing; we need more doing. Personally, I don’t see the lack of biblical literacy as a bad thing; I see it as a clear sign that the Spirit is moving the churches. I see God leading people always from the pews and the Bible studies, and out into the real world where we can love, and serve, and laugh, and cry with the people who are out here.

Should we know the Bible? Yes. But it should never be our goal to know the Bible. The solution to biblical illiteracy is not to bemoan the fact of biblical illiteracy and then seek to make people more biblically literate. We don’t need people to know more about the Bible; we need to love more in accordance with the Bible.

How can they do this if they don’t know the Bible? Truthfully, you don’t need to know much about the Bible to learn to live with love toward others. Some of the most loving and caring people I know don’t know much about the Bible.

11. Many of the Biblically “Literate” are Biblically Illiterate

This sort of gets back to the question of what biblical illiteracy actually is, but when I listen to the pastors and professors who are decrying the lack of biblical literacy in the church, I am often amazed to hear what comes out of their very own mouths, and it makes me wonder how biblically literate they themselves are.

One example: Is God on the side of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? With either choice, you can find seminary-trained pastors and Bibles scholars who support one candidate or the other and use the Bible to do so, while accusing the other side of being biblically illiterate. I saw a post on Facebook the other day from a popular Northeastern Pastor who basically said, “How can any evangelical Christian support the racist, bigoted Donald Trump? Don’t you know what the Bible says?” And then he went on to quote some Bible verses which he thought should sway people to vote for Hillary.

Not ten minutes later, I saw a Facebook post come through from a popular Southern Pastor who said almost the exact same thing, but this time about Hillary Clinton. I don’t think he was responding to the first post by the other pastor, but the similarities were shocking. “How can any Christian who truly follows Jesus ever support Hillary Clinton?” he asked. “Don’t you know what the Bible says?” And then he went on to quote some Bible verses which he thought would influence people to vote for Trump.

Both of these pastors, I think, would agree that people are more biblically illiterate than ever before. One pastor, of course, would say that Christians who support Trump are illiterate while the other would say that Christians who support Hillary are illiterate.

Of course, my view is that both are illiterate. My view is that anybody who tries to use the Bible to pick a political candidate doesn’t really know the first thing about the Bible.

I listen to pastors condemn the lack of biblical literacy in the church today and then turn around and say the most outlandish things about God or Jesus, and even crazier things about people of other religions, political persuasion, or sexual orientation. Many people hear this and think, “If studying the Bible leads to those conclusions, I don’t want to study the Bible.” This is tragic, because in my view, studying the Bible leads to the exact opposite views about God, Jesus, and other people.

(This is the overall purpose of everything I write and teach, by the way, to rescue Scripture, theology, and the church from these twisted ways of thinking, and to show people that God looks just like Jesus, and Scripture, when properly understood, leads us to love.)

12. The phrase “biblically illiterate” is just a nice way of calling someone a heretic.

Christians often resort to name-calling tactics when they don’t want to have a substantive argument about the views of someone who disagrees. In the past, we called people heretics. We don’t do that much anymore. Well, some do. But most people realize that it is not quite as accepted as it once was to simply accuse someone of being a heretic. So they call them “biblically illiterate” instead.

When someone teaches something that is contrary to your view, rather than take the time to understand their perspective and then deal with it logically and Scripturally, and maybe even correct your own view in the process, it is much easier to just call them “biblically illiterate” and move on.

I get this all the time in my own writing. I occasionally write some challenging things on my blog, and it often seems that when I do, one of the first ten comments is from someone who says, “If you would just read the Bible, you would know how wrong you are. You are clearly ignorant of the Bible.” And then they quote a verse or ten which they believe disproves the point of my post. I sometimes comment back saying, “I have read the Bible and am quite aware of those verses you quoted. I just understand them a bit differently than you do.”

So the accusation of being “biblically illiterate” is often nothing more than a way to ignore or write off those people with whom you disagree so that you don’t have to consider their arguments or seek to understand their position.

The issue of homosexuality is a great example. It is not uncommon to hear the pastors who decry the lack of biblical literacy in the church today to also preach against LGBTQ people. Somewhere along the way they will likely make mention of the many Christians who do not condemn LGBTQ people, and rather than consider and respond to the arguments and beliefs of these other Christians, these pastors will just dismiss them with a wave of the hand and scornful comment about such views being “biblically illiterate.”

You see? The term is often little more than a way to dismiss the ideas and arguments of others so that you don’t have to consider their ideas and have a conversation with them.

13. The Biblical Literacy Tests Don’t really Test Biblical Literacy

Have you ever taken one of these Biblical literacy tests? I have taken quite a few. They often include questions like “How many people were on Noah’s ark? How many plagues were there? How many disciples did Jesus have? Matthew 5-7 is known as what? What is the longest Psalm in the Bible?”

Those questions are somewhat of a caricature of the real biblical literacy tests, but they’re not too far off.

But look at those. Such questions don’t really test biblical literacy at all. What they test is biblical trivia. And is that really what it means to be a disciple or follower of Jesus? That we can score 9 out of 10 on a Bible trivia test?

I think what we should be asking people about is not biblical literacy or biblical trivia, but biblical love, or better yet, love literacy. The true sign of a disciple is that we will be known by our love for one another. What good is knowledge of all things if we have not love?

I have some friends who would probably be classified as biblically illiterate by certain Christians today. They would likely get a 1 out of 10 on that Bible trivia test, and if you asked them anything about sound theology or central Christian teachings, they probably wouldn’t even get one point right. But they are some of the most loving people I have ever met in my life. They are more like Jesus than I ever hope to be. It ticks me off that someone might look at them one day and say that because they would not score well on a Bible Literacy exam, they are not really followers of Jesus. To me, those who say such things simply reveal that they themselves don’t know the first thing about Jesus.

I have another friend who is literally illiterate. He is in his late 70’s and he never learned to read. Furthermore, because his wife has a certain illness, he has not attended church since his mother took him when he was 6. He hasn’t been to church in 70 years. And because his wife is so sensitive to noise, he cannot listen to Christian radio.

So here is a guy who cannot read his Bible, cannot attend church, and cannot listen to sermons or preaching on the radio. I have had many conversations with him, and about the only thing he knows about the Bible is what he remembers from Sunday school when his mother took him as a child. He remembers the basic story about Jesus. That’s it.

But again, he is one of the most kind-hearted, loving people I have ever met.

Is he biblically illiterate? Of course! No matter which definition you use, he knows next to nothing about the Bible.

But he loves.

And when I talk to him, I see Jesus. He has hardly any money, but he cuts and delivers firewood to a friend of his who has less. He hands out pears from his pear tree to people who are hungry. He has faithfully stayed in a difficult marriage for more than 50 years. Talk about a picture of Jesus!

He doesn’t need to read the Bible. He doesn’t need to gain Bible facts and Bible knowledge. He can’t recite the 66 books of the Bible, nor can he list the 10 Commandments, or name the 12 Apostles.

He knows what he learned about Jesus in kindergarten, and that has been more than enough for him in the 70 years since.

14. I am more concerned with people developing a biblical worldview than biblical literacy.

I almost didn’t put this item in the list because I am about as uneasy with the concept of a “biblical worldview” as I am with the concept of “biblical literacy.”

Pretty much everything I have said above about biblical literacy can also be said about gaining a biblical worldview. No one can actually define it, and among those who try, they tend to use the concept of a biblical worldview to ignore or condemn those with whom they disagree. “Oh, well, you just believe that because you don’t have a biblical worldview. But I do.”

One big question I’ve been mulling over for the past five years or so is this “Is there such a thing as a SINGLE biblical world view, and even if so, is it a worldview that everyone should adopt? Is it the RIGHT worldview?” I am not sure the answer is “Yes” to either question.

Take the values of Honor and Shame. I did my Master’s Thesis on this topic. It is the dominant cultural value that permeates all of Scripture. The ancient world of the Israelites, and the world of the Greco-Roman culture, was guided and controlled by the values of honor and shame. It’s a value system based on community rather than the individual, and holds that the honor of the community is more important than the life, health, or well-being of any one person or family in the community. Modern western culture is guided by the opposite. We have radical individualism, and our goals are not honor, but materialistic wealth and individual happiness.

We might be tempted to say that the values of honor and shame are better, but are they? In today’s world, the Middle East is mostly governed by the values of honor and shame. Is there anyone in the Western world who thinks that Middle Eastern values are better? Not many. And yet, the values of the Middle Eastern world more closely resemble the values of the Bible, and therefore, the worldview of the Bible.

Look, worldviews are important. I think that understanding worldviews is more important than understanding Bible trivia and facts. That is why this item is on this list. But I want to be careful to say that just because we seek to understand our own worldview and the worldview of the people in biblical times, this does not mean that we are supposed to adopt the worldview of the people in biblical times. Their worldview was not necessarily better than ours.

15. Even Jesus and Paul argued against Biblical literacy

It’s sort of ironic that I am going to use Scripture to defend the idea that biblical illiteracy is not a problem…

The most biblically literate people in Israel were the Pharisees and Sadducees. Yet notice that Jesus tells them over and over in the Gospels that even though they are Bible experts, they know nothing about God, loving others, obeying the law, or the true meaning of the Scriptures themselves. He says, “You search the Scriptures daily, because in them you think you have eternal life, but these Scriptures speak of me” (John 5:39). If our reading, studying, and teaching of Scripture is not leading us to look, act, and love more like Jesus, then we are not properly understanding or reading the Scriptures and should probably just put them away for a while until we learn to love others more like Jesus.

Paul says that “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor 8:1) and later that even if we have all knowledge, and understand all mysteries, and can speak in other languages, but have not love, all that knowledge is nothing (1 Cor 13:1-3). Maybe we could add quoting Bible verses, knowing Bible facts, and scoring 100% on a Bible trivia test. These things are nothing without love.

It is not that Bible knowledge and facts are wrong. Paul is saying that when it comes to knowledge and love, start with love every time.

As a side note: it must be pointed out that Paul doesn’t just want “acts of love” but actual love. He says that even giving away your money and feeding the poor is pointless if not done with love (1 Cor 13:3).

Do you have anything to add about Biblical Illiteracy?

Yikes! I just looked at the word count, and this post is the length of a small book. It’s over 5000 words long! So I will end right here, and pass the pen over to you.

What do you have to say about biblical illiteracy? Is it a problem in the church today? Is it something we should work to correct? What are the dangers, errors, or problems involved? Weigh in below!

Is Biblical Illiteracy a Problem in the Church?

By Jeremy Myers

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This past week I was interviewed by Thom Schultz, the CEO of Group Publishing, for his “Holy Soup” podcast. Thom interviewed me about whether or not biblical illiteracy is that big of a deal in the church today.

My answer was “No. Biblical illiteracy is not that big of a deal in the church today.”

The interview was only 30 minutes, and so I didn’t have time to say everything I wanted to say about this topic, so over the next few weeks I am going to write a series of posts which explains more. I wrote about biblical illiteracy back in 2013, but I want to say more about it now, and will do so in these posts.

Ironically, this series of posts may seem to undercut everything I do here at RedeemingGod.com. After all, one of the stated goals of this blog and my Podcast is to help you better know and understand the Bible. However, by the end of these posts you will hopefully understand why I believe what I believe about biblical illiteracy and why I still think I should be writing and teaching about Scripture and theology on this website and through my podcast.

So in this first article, I simply want to review why this is an issue in the church today and what some Christian leaders and publications are saying about the so-called problem of biblical illiteracy.

My Primary Problem with the Quest for Biblical Literacy

One of the primary issues I have with the so-called problem of biblical illiteracy is that biblical illiteracy is all in the eye of the beholder. That is, depending on who you ask, biblical literacy has different definitions. That is, even if someone earned a score of 100% on a Bible Trivia quiz, does this mean they are biblically literate? What if someone memorized the entire Bible? Does that make them biblically literate?

Even if you said “Yes” to these questions, does knowing Bible facts, Bible trivia, and thousands of Bible verses actually help you live, love, and look more like Jesus? The answer is clearly “No.”

While it might be true that studies have shown that people don’t know much about the Bible, studies have also shown that even those who are Bible experts don’t often look or act all that much different from people who are ignorant about the Bible. Sometimes the Bible experts behave less like Jesus than those who know next-to-nothing about the Bible.

So for me, the whole quest for increasing people’s biblical literacy level is wrongheaded from the get-go. If there is no direct correlation between gaining Bible knowledge and facts and actually living like a follower of Jesus, then what’s the big deal about becoming biblically literate?

Anyway, I will write about all this a lot more in future articles. In this article, I simply want to show you what some people are saying about biblical illiteracy in the church today and respond briefly to their concerns.

Is Biblical Illiteracy an Epidemic?

A recent article written by Ed Stetzer in Christianity Today argued that we are facing an epidemic of biblical illiteracy in our churches today.

After laying out his case and citing some statistics, Ed Stetzer said that the following eight activities indicate that someone was more likely to be biblically literate.

Confessing sins and wrongdoings to God and asking for forgiveness
Following Jesus Christ for years
Being willing to obey God, no matter the cost
Praying for the spiritual status of unbelievers
Reading a book about increasing spiritual growth
Being discipled or mentored one-on-one by a more spiritually mature Christian
Memorizing Bible verses
Attending a small group focused on Bible study

I don’t know how Ed Stetzer came up with this list, but I disagree with each one of the points. I do not think that such activities are all that important for the Christian life. Yes, if someone does these things, they might gain more Bible knowledge, but who cares?

Again, what matters most? Knowing Bible trivia, or living and loving like Jesus? Since doing these eight activities will not necessarily lead to people loving their neighbors and interacting with the world with lives of grace (but is just as likely to lead to the exact opposite!), what’s the point?

To see what I mean, consider these eight items again from a different perspective.

Confessing sins. Why oh why do some Christians always start with the issue of sin? Why are so infatuated with sin? When we begin with sin, this leads us to start focusing not only on our own failures, but also on the failures and “sins” of others, which leads us to develop attitudes of judgmentalism, condemnation, and accusation. Such attitudes more closely resemble Satan than Jesus. Maybe rather than focus people on sin, we can point people to God’s love, grace (neither of which are mentioned in this list!!!), and unconditional forgiveness. Yes, the first item on the list does talk about asking God for forgiveness, but this too simply reveals a lack of understanding about God’s forgiveness. God has already forgiven all people for all their sins no matter what. If we Christians really want to bring up sin, maybe we should bring it up that way instead. Instead of saying, “Confess and repent of your sin!” we could say, “Hey! Sin is not that big of a deal to God. He’s already forgiven you for everything! That just shows you what kind of God He is!” I think this would be much better. Talking about sin and confessing sin is not that good of an indicator that someone knows the Bible (or the heart of God, for that matter).
Following Jesus Christ for years. What does it mean to follow Jesus? Who gets to decide who is following Jesus? If sitting in a pew and attending Bible studies is what it means to follow Jesus, why is it that so many people who “follow Jesus” in this way don’t act much like Jesus after years of “following” Him? Again, this supposed indicator of biblical literacy is too vague to be of any help.
Being willing to obey God, no matter the cost. Again, by whose definition? What is “obeying God”? The people who blow up abortion clinics think they are obeying God. Christians who hate Donald Trump think they are obeying God. Christians who hate Hillary Clinton think they are obeying God. Christians who hate Muslims or LGBT people or gun owners or police or CEOs of oil companies or Osama or Obama all think they are obeying God. Lots of these Christians fill our pulpits and have initials after their names and would consider themselves Bible experts. But I sometimes wonder how much they really know about “obeying God.”
Praying for the spiritual status of unbelievers. I find this item the saddest of all. Praying for unbelievers? Just praying? What about loving? What about befriending? What about serving? I am writing a book right now (tentatively titled Cruciform Pastoral Leadership … I hope to publish it this fall … make sure you are on my mailing list to be notified when it comes out) which contains a chapter called “Let Prayer Meetings Cease.” In this chapter, I bemoan the fact that we Christians often use prayer meetings as a substitute for actual love and service to others. Rather than go help our neighbor with his drug problem or dead son, we would rather bring it up at a prayer meeting and put it on the prayer chain. We often pray, “God! How come you aren’t doing anything about this situation?” and I believe He says right back, “How come you aren’t? I’m trying, but you won’t go!” Anyway, I don’t think that praying for unbelievers is a good indication of biblical literacy at all.
Reading a book about increasing spiritual growth. This item is only true if they are reading one of my books … THAT’S A JOKE! Again, the problem here is what how to define the idea. What book? By which author? There is so much garbage in the Christian publishing world today, I firmly believe that reading some of these books will actually mess up your understanding of Scripture more than help it. So there is no connection whatsoever between reading books (even if they are my books) and spiritual growth, spiritual maturity, or biblical literacy. Related to this, why the emphasis on books? I love to read. I read a lot. But I don’t think for a second that because I read a lot, I am closer to God than those who hardly read at all. I will tell you a story later in this series of posts about a man I know who is literally illiterate. He doesn’t know how to read. He has never read a single sentence in his life. But I believe he is closer to the heart of God than I ever hope to be. So reading books means nothing about state of someone’s heart or spiritual grown.
Being disciple by someone who is more spiritually mature. I am all in favor of discipleship. But again, what is discipleship? The way it is most often defined in Christian circles today is sitting in a room with books on our laps while someone tells us things. But that is not biblical discipleship, and so will not lead to biblical literacy, and will definitely not lead to biblical living. Furthermore, who is the more spiritually mature Christian, and what are they telling you to do? Just because you are in a discipleship relationship, this does not mean that you are actually becoming more like Jesus.
Memorizing Bible verses. I have memorized a lot of Bible verses in my life time. I have even memorized entire books of the Bible. But I now consider all of that memorization a complete waste of time. I have met atheists who have more of the Bible memorized than I do. Bible memorization might help you win a memorization contest, but it’s not that good for much else. Why do I say all this? Because anyone can memorize and quote Bible verses. Satan quotes Scripture at Jesus, after all. Satan can probably quote the entire Bible. So for me, what is most important is not Bible memorization, but Bible understanding, and more important still is Bible application. Understanding and living 1 Bible verse is better than memorizing 100.
Attending a small group Bible study. My answer to this is the same point I have been making over and over. I just don’t think it is that important for people to be constantly studying the Bible. We have too many Bible studies and not enough Bible living. Instead, we should get off our butts and go put into practice whatever it is we already know. And when we have exhausted that (in about 90 years), we can feel free to come back to the Bible for more. In my neighborhood, there are two families that have regular Bible studies in their homes. Every week, 7-10 cars show up like clockwork at these houses, and the people carry in their Bibles, and then 90 minutes later, carry them back out and drive off. In our neighborhood, the people who host these Bible studies have the reputation for being rude, spiteful, and complainers. They do not help, love, or serve anyone along the street unless you agree to attend their church. Yet they have regular Bible studies every week. Tell me, would you consider them to be “biblically literate”?

I think you see the point. Who cares about biblical illiteracy in the church today, since (1) it is nearly impossible to define and (2) those who supposedly have it don’t act any more (sometimes less) like Jesus than those who don’t.

Let’s look at one more article.

Is Biblical Illiteracy a Crisis?

Biola University published an article saying that biblical illiteracy was a crisis. They said it was because we spend too much time on TV, movies, social media, and video games.

Yes, we humans waste a lot of time. No argument from me there.

But I am not sure that Bible study is a good substitute. I often think that maybe Bible study is the biggest waste of time, because we think it is what God wants us to do, when really, He wants us to get out there and love others. And guess what? Loving others requires us to learn something about the life and culture of the people we want to love. So in one sense, watching TV and spending time on social media might be a good use of our time, because such activities allows us to engage with our neighbors and co-workers in activities and discussions that are meaningful to them.

By spending time with others where they are at, we can learn to love and minister and serve those in our families, neighborhoods, and workplaces.

I work at a secular workplace. For the past eight years, I have noticed that the most ineffective Christians are those who know nothing about TV, movies, social media, and video games. But wow do they know their Bibles! And everybody knows that they know their Bibles, because they are always carrying it around and quoting from it and talking about what they learned in church last Sunday. Which is why nobody wants to talk to them, befriend them, or hang out with them.

But I hang out on social media. I watch movies and TV shows. I play games. Why? Well, for one, because such things are fun (*gasp*), but also because I love the people I work with and I love talking about these things with them, and even joining them in these sorts of activities.

TV, movies, social media, and video games is where much of the world resides, and if we want to build relationships with people in this world so that we can show the gospel to them through our lives, we not only needs some understanding of the gospel, but also some understanding of secular culture and leisure time activities.

Speaking of which, I have such confidence in the power of God and the work of the Holy Spirit as a wind that moves wherever He wills, I am certain that the Holy Spirit is teaching people about Himself through TV, movies, music, social media, and video games. We just have to have eyes to see it. The person with spiritual eyes will see more of the gospel in Harry Potter than the person without spiritual eyes will see of the gospel in the Bible.

So Biblical Illiteracy is not that big of a deal

I will have much more to say about this topic in future posts, but I think you get the point I will be making.

On every day of the week, I will take someone who loves like Jesus even if they don’t know His words over someone who can quote all the words of Jesus but don’t do what He says.

And guess what? Despite what we might hear from some pulpits and read in some books, it is quite possible to do what Jesus says without knowing what Jesus says. I see it all the time. Have you?

What do you think about the issue of Biblical illiteracy in the church today? Is it a crisis? Is it an epidemic? Or are there other and better things to focus on? How would you respond to the points by Ed Stezter above? Weigh in below!

Strive for Biblical Living More than Biblical Literacy