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!
Sometimes I wonder…if in some cases, it is Bible Ignorance. I would even speculate that this ignorance is among the Biblically educated crowd. Look at how many MDiv’s, PhD’s and such, teach things that are the complete opposite of anything Jesus said or did. I mean, fer real, people…even us un-edyookated bloo coller fokes can reads our Gospel books.
From my experience what’s in Criss is the going out into the world and being Christ to others in our communities. This is born out by new believers who often know very little about the bible but are not scared to show love and Jesus grace to non believers. It’s the crisis of in action brought by the teaching ….it safe in here don’t go out to the evil sinners. Funny about that we are all sinners and Jesus ….well that’s where he spent most of time out there!
I think that this a very relevant issue to discuss and Mr Myers discussion brings up some things which really need to be considered in depth . Although I don’t agree with everything he says, I think a working knowledge of the contents of the Bible is valuable because the scripture is God’s revelation of Himself to us and Jesus Himself put value on knowledge of scripture. Jesus chided the Sadducees for being wrongheaded because they didn’t know scripture.
The question I always ask when the issue of biblical illiteracy comes up is : why, after decades of people sitting through week after week, hour after hour of sermons allegedly done to educate Christians on scripture, do some make a case that there is a “crisis” of Christians being biblically illiterate. Maybe it is not too much bible study that is the problem but too many lectures that, as the saying is. go in one ear and out the other.
Both Mr Myers and Grahame make the excellent point that action is the calling rather than just poring over the writings. (A bit like forever reading the literature about cars but never getting into the car to go for a drive). However I point out that Mr Myers himself wrote an excellent article on equipping ourselves with the belt of truth (from Ephesians ) and as the Bible is the prime source of truth, I think we should be wary of thinking that biblical illiteracy is unimportant, if indeed that is a real or perceived issue for the church.
Well said.
To add a further point to my earlier comment and to Nevilles… in action by some believers in relation to being Christ to others can also be caused by the institutional system itself. If biblical knowledge is the main objective and it is taught that it can only come from the pulpit then church attendance may well be policed in some cases. Furthermore you may well be sanctioned for going out to the “non saved where evil exists” as it has been put to me…you may bring the local church into disrepute by being seen with those who drink, smoke, or take drugs or have lose morals. The issue really is where did Christ go when he walked the earth and what does scripture tell us to do. Jeremy makes it clear in one of his books the gates of hell is where we need to be …..not hidden in the church studying scripture never ending.
I just shake my head when I hear someone say, “Too much bible reading, not enough doing.” Just smacks of anti-knowledge. Sick of it. I hear that message numerous times every month every church I’m ever gone to for years, all the while I have yet to see this person that knows too much of the Bible. The next thing I hear is the next manipulating line for them to get me to do their bidding, be busy bodies for the church, burnout inevitably follows. In my opinion it’s Satan’s greatest trick, and many good christians fall for it. Now, I know Jeremy isn’t anti-knowledge because of all the time he’s put into this blog and the content, just makes this post more of a head scratcher.
Message to Dave
It’s balance really between learning, and doing what Christ did. Some churches push doing, others just learning, some both.
Early church had letters and not much else to teach from except what they heard and saw what Christ did and said. Jeremy is talking more about inaction not opposing learning from what i can see from his post. I’ve spent decades learning and doing, what I’m talking about is what I observed.
Grahame, I wish I could find these Churches that just push learning and not doing. I’ve heard about them, man I wish I could find one. I think one of the problems is, sometimes, what passes for ‘learning’ is just repeating the same cliches, so it’s not really learning. The other problem is…..the only time I’m able to do ‘the work of the church’ genuinely, naturally, honestly and earnestly, is when I’m fueled by learning something about the creator of the universe. As cars don’t run without gas, I think christians not fueled by real spiritual food, daily bread, the Word of God, without that it ends up being works of the flesh and burnout is all but guaranteed. I’ve seen this burnout dozens and dozens of times, more than I can count, I’ve experienced it. On the other hand, I’ve never seen someone whose downfall was too much knowledge about God.
Now, I’ve seen churches that well so legalistic, they sequestered themselves from those they they should be trying to reach, however, I don’t see that problem being connected to too much biblical knowledge. In fact, seems more like it’s a symptom. If they knew their Bible, then they would be familiar with the passages where Jesus reached out to sinners and tax collectors. If they understand that concept and yet rebel against it, seems like the problem is a matter of faith, or rebellion, not a problem of too much biblical knowledge.
DAve the other aspect is as you rightly question is what is the work of the church. CHrist defined that for us very clearly in Luke 4 and also in the great commission, add caring for the saints and you have it. THe issue is what has been taught to me people about this work. If you beleieve in predestination as in TULIP then their isn’t much for you to do out in the community re salvation. In essence do the things of Christ and you will be on the money. Gods word tells us what to do along with God the Holy Spirit. I am in favour of learning and believe me non doing churches exist because of what they been taught.
I do love this blog! You always come up with such interesting challenges, Jeremy. Thank you!
My tuppence worth: I totally agree that Biblical literacy/illiteracy is not the issue so much as Biblical application (which as Jeremy points out sometimes happens without any Biblical knowledge anyway). It’s the going out and doing that is needful and not just the knowledge. And then again it’s the understanding rather than just the knowledge that is relevant to how we live and follow Jesus.
Thanks again for the great article, Jeremy. I look forward to more.
Thanks, Jem! I do wish I had stated some of the above ideas a bit differently. But I am just hoping to get people to think and reconsider some of what they’ve been told. Sounds like this is happening.
Jeremy,
Your posts and books are always thought provoking and edifying. And every one has increased my knowledge of scripture, my understanding
of scripture and my desire for increased knowledge and understanding
of God and His Word. The simple fact is that the more. I know and understand about Jesus, the more I desire to follow Him into the world every day.
Paul tells us that as we behold Jesus we are being trasformed into the the same image. I have found that this is true in my life. The more I know about our God who is love, the more I know that I am loved.
St. John tells us that we love God because He first loved us.
As the late Trappist Monk, thinker and writer Thomas Merton wrote: ” To love is to know that we are infinitely loved by God and to make that love known in this world. ”
My point is that the more I know God the more I understand God’s infinite love for me, which causes me to desire to please God by becoming more like Jesus who tells us that we should demonstrate our love for God by loving our neighbors. And studying good exegesis, good Biblical theology, and good philosophical and systematic theology increases my faith my and my apprehension of God’s infinite love for me and for everyone in the world.
Your point that becoming more like Jesus is more important than intellectual knowledge is well taken, and I quite agree. But I must reiterate that, at least in my experience, in the words of Pastor Joseph Prince, right believing leads to right living.”
So my friend, thank you for your thought provoking exegetical and theological writings, and please know that all have directly or indirectly
edified me spiritually as well as intellectually.
Grace, peace and love
Bill
Thanks, Bill. Yes, as you know, I study Scripture tirelessly and have found great benefit from the practice. I will have two more blog posts in this series, which will continue to speak to this issue. I strongly want people to know the Bible, but I think that Bible knowledge for knowledge sake is not helpful.
Most people who read the Bible are tacitly cutting out the pieces they don’t want to focus on. How convenient. They might just as well use real scissors like Jefferson did with his Bible. I would say that most Christians who claim they believe the Bible cover to cover, haven’t really read or understood what’s between those covers. Many even treat the Bible like an e-contract and simply scroll to the bottom of the page and click accept.
Is the mystery of biblical understanding at the core of an invisible religious conspiracy? Does the clergy guards it’s secrets revealing them a morsel at a time to keep the seats occupied and the offering plates full? Does this work wonderfully for the laity too providing the perfect excuse to put off being who and doing what God desires until better understanding?
Great post, Jeremy. You have some good takes on those traditional opinions. But I do disagree with you on memorizing scripture. When we’re in disappear or faced with struggles, good often send far away. Having scripture on the back of your minds to fight off negative thoughts and lies from the enemy is essential in our race. However, I’m with you on memorizing for the sake of memorizing. Itdoesn’t mean anything.
> Having scripture on the back of your minds to fight off negative thoughts and lies from the enemy is essential in our race.
+1
Yes, I appreciate the verses I know. Knowing Scripture does help, as you say.
But I often find that some people use Scripture memorization as a sort of “Christian magic” where if they recite a particular incantation (a Bible verse) their problems and temptations will just disappear. It never works, of course.
“Yes, yes it is. Next question please.”
Jim says Is the mystery of biblical understanding at the core of an invisible religious conspiracy?
No.
Furthermore, people are eager to go by the words they see (ipsissima verba, exact words) and neglect to seek out God’s voice (ipsissima vox, exact voice). We need to see what God is truly saying, rather than seek out some set of rules He allegedly wants everyone to live by.
Dear Mr. Jeremy,
I just wanted to defend Mr. Stetzer.
According to your article, he listed some things that, if they were present in a person, would make it more likely that the person is biblically literate.
This was your response:
“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.”
I would disagree with the way you present your opinion of these activities, but that’s not the point.
The point is:
According to your text, Mr. Stetzer did not say anything about the activities he listed as being “important for the Christian life”. You can’t disagree with something he didn’t say. You can present why you think people put too much emphasis on ‘Christian’ deeds.
You shared Ed’s statistic. All he was saying is that it is common to find biblically literate people who do the things he listed.
Sincerely,
Daniel
P.S- I understand what you are saying about the importance (or lack, thereof) of biblical literacy. That is not the issue I’m addressing here.
You might be right. Following my statement which you quoted, I said, “Yes, if someone does these things, they might gain more Bible knowledge, but who cares?”
I am not trying to pick a fight with Ed Stetzer. I have read many of his books and respect him a lot.
My only point was that doing these activities doesn’t really matter too much for actually living biblically and looking more like Jesus.
It seems to me that lots of people see the lack of love in the church today and think that the solution to this is to get people to know the Bible more. I am not saying Stetzer believes this. It is just my observation of what I have heard and seen elsewhere. I am only arguing that maybe the lack of love in the church today has very little to do with gaining more Bible knowledge (and possibly the inverse is often true!).
One doesn’t “gain bible knowledge” by confessing sins, following Jesus, and obeying God no matter what. If you’re going to try to tell people that obeying God (by GOD’S standard) isn’t important for Christians, and that you disagree with it, then you have a problem with God.
Jesus is God.
Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey my commands”.
Clearly obeying God is very important. As is praying for people. As is showing love to people. You are trying to say that people should be doing what you tell them.
You may have gotten this calling from God. I respect that. Do what God is calling you to do.
Speak about the fact that we need to be showing waaaay more love to the loveless, the abandoned, the ‘burn-outs’, the ‘freaks’, the homeless.
We really need to do this. Instead of downplaying the importance of doing genuinely important things, reaffirm the importance of love. I believe lack of love in churches is a huge issue. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray for people. We should do both.
One point Jeremy mentions is discipleship. Sitting in a room with someone helping them to read the bible and sort life issues out was the image he had some issues with. I agree with him completely. Now from my experience with this (I have discipled all sorts of believers including pastors) , this room setting is only a small part. In many ways discipleship must include the doing just like a mentor and apprentice relationship. If I have to go and help a family who has lost a son to suicide I do my best to bring with me the person who is being discipled. The issue here is Jesus is the Word and we are called to be Jesus to others which is applying the Word in the form of grace, mercy and justice. The written word is a start but everything else must follow Christs calling. Jeremy also mentions praying for people. Yes sure do that but as he said go out be its arms and legs. I believe in Gods miracles but I also believe in standing next to the person who needs His help and be Christ to them in what ever way is needed. With the family who has lost their son, praying for them is one thing, but if you stand next to them and support them the chance of cluster suicides are greatly reduced. Praying and doing, you need both. Christ did both so should we.
Grahame – I agree with some of what you are saying, but here is what I find problematic, and I’ve encountered in the vast majority of churches I’ve encountered( I can think of 2 possible exceptions, but those groups changed or no longer exist). It’s all heavy pressure guilt trip, works of the flesh, burnout inducing, busy-body work of the church…and you get nothing….NOTHING from the church beyond the basics and Chistianity 101, basic christian doctrine. AFTER THAT, It’s all cliches, all the time, 24/7/365. You don’t learn about God, you don’t grow closer to God, there’s no additional knowledge of God gained. In fact, it’s seen as unspiritual and selfish. Sunday morning, night, Wednesday night, bible studies, prayer groups…it’s all prayer, fellowship, and numbers, numbers, numbers, convert, save souls. Even if you follow suit for months, or years, lock step, not objecting or saying a peep, but then one day you say, ‘Hey, I’d like to learn something new about God, either directly or indirectly’ they put the guilt trip on you about ‘knowledge puffs up but love edifies.’ I think saving souls is great, I really do, but at some point, I’d like to get to know God. In fact, that’s all it’s about for me. Knowing God comes before all else, non-believers don’t care about that, and ‘believers’, everywhere I go, discourage and/or criticize it, all to manipulate and control the laity and to go do their bidding.
Thanks Dave for that , yes there is great pressure to do institutional church and its traditional ministries, their are always work to be done and pressure to obey. But in the end one of the best ways of getting to know the character of God is to be a hearer of the word (understanding) and then enact His word in your life, keeping in mind God the Holy Spirit guides us daily. Jesus looked up into heaven to see what the Father was doing and he then went did it. He went to the gates of hell in peoples lives each day. This is where we get to know God in a new way, ie we go where he wants us to be…. in relationship with others who are struggling. You and God together at the edge of life where trouble lives. Scary but you learn so much more.
I am reminded of a fellow we knew for many years. He has since moved to another state. When we knew him, he attended five Bible studies every week. He led one of them. However, he did not know any of his neighbors. He had no personal relationship with any of his coworkers. He had few, if any friends. If anyone disagreed with him on even the smallest point of Bible interpretation, he broke off whatever relationship he had with them. He studied and studied the Bible, thought he totally understood every word of it, and his goal in life appeared to be to get everyone else to understand every verse as he understood it.
Then there was the church we once attended. They prided themselves on being Biblically based in everything they believed. Eventually we figured out that they did not really study the Bible. They studied books “about” the Bible. Finally I discovered that every one of their beliefs came not from the Bible, but from a thick book about “doctrine” written by the hero-theologian of their movement. He told them what to believe and said each doctrine was based on the Bible. Only a few of the elders knew this. The books “about” the Bible they studied were all derived from this ultimate source book. We noticed that there were huge gaps in their actual Bible knowledge.
Yes, by all means read and study the Bible. Listen to whatever others think it says. But we will soon discover that there are many opinions. We are of the opinion that those who really understand the Bible do what it says. We may not all agree on what that may be at many points, but how can we fail to understand Jesus’ simple message: Love God with all our hearts, strength and minds, and our neighbors as ourselves. If we love him, we will do what he says. To figure out what that is, the Gospels are a great place to start. How can we not figure out that doing what he says, loving others, involves getting off our chairs and going to others (for all of us who are able, which is most of us) and showing them the love of Jesus, in person?
Nothing to add. I just agree with what you say. As if I wrote it myself. 🙂
I think your article on Bible literacy is taking a far too pro-antagonistic approach in the importance of continuing to read the Word of God, which is what inspires us to evangelize as well as to properly defend our faith. Yes, I agree, that we must absolutely be proactive in our approach to live out our faith in the world. Sometimes that means that we don’t quote Scriptures or bring condemnation to others that don’t believe, but show the love of Christ with them. However, I do believe that most churches today err on the importance and time spent in helping the church to be the church that Christ died for, which is a combination of being discipled and to evangelize.