The Epidemic of Bible Illiteracy in Our Churches [Amos 8]

Christianity Today ^ | 6/1/2015 | Ed Stetzer

[Jan_Sobieski]

When was the last time you read a book? For almost 1 in 4 of us, it was more than a year ago, according to Pew Research. That's three times the number who didn't read a book in 1978. In America, we have a literacy problem. But more concerning to me, we have a biblical literacy problem. Americans, including churchgoers, aren't reading much of any book, including the Good Book.

Christians claim to believe the Bible is God's Word. We claim it's God's divinely inspired, inerrant message to us. Yet despite this, we aren't reading it. A recent LifeWay Research study found only 45 percent of those who regularly attend church read the Bible more than once a week. Over 40 percent of the people attending read their Bible occasionally, maybe once or twice a month. Almost 1 in 5 churchgoers say they never read the Bible—essentially the same number who read it every day.

Because we don't read God's Word, it follows that we don't know it. To understand the effects, we can look to statistics of another Western country: the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom Bible Society surveyed British children and found many could not identify common Bible stories. When given a list of stories, almost 1 in 3 didn't choose the Nativity as part of the Bible and over half (59 percent) didn't know that Jonah being swallowed by the great fish is in the Bible...

[Jan_Sobieski]

Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

When the nation of Israel turned against the God of the Bible and rejected calls to repentance from Hosea and Amos, the Lord gave Amos the prophesy above. America and Britain, two of the greatest God fearing, missionary supporting, nations that this world has ever know have become like ancient Israel.

Staggering numbers like, "27 percent think Superman is or might be a biblical story and more than 1 in 3 believes the same about Harry Potter...and more than half (54 percent) believe The Hunger Games is or might be a story from the Bible", reveal our ignorance. The western world is famished. We are starving. Not physically for lack of food, but spiritually, for the Word of God. This may explain how our nation could vote for an anti-Christian, social justice communist, president and allow Sodomy to be judicially forced upon us with great fanfare.

People who are starving will eat anything. Scientists say Ebola is caused from hungry Africans eating bats. The spiritually starved western world's astounding Biblical illiteracy is preparing us to receive a political/spiritual figure who will seem to be a real Superman, a harry potter like magic worker, a hunger games like savior, a leader for the world. This coming leader will promise promise peace, freedom, and equity. He will be an Christ-like antichrist (in place of Christ) who can stand in our church pulpits and preach to adoring, teary eyed, congregations while solving the world's problems.

The Biblicly illiterate will swear that he is speaking gospel truth, while saving the climate, bringing peace, and loving Homosexuals. This coming savior will not truly bring peace, for only the Prince of Peace, the Messiah of Israel, Jesus Christ can bring that. He will bring something else...

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

2 Thess 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed , the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. [...] 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed , whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish ; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

[DungeonMaster]

We had a guest preacher from a nearby Christian college says that the young people starting out in said college have all kinds of enthusiasm but very little biblical knowledge.

[tbpiper]

My favorite bible verse is Jude 3:21 “God helps those who help themselves.”

[Old Sarge]

I am endeavoring to catch up...

[Jan_Sobieski]

Great! That was Judas' favorite verse as well. Here is another one you will love...

1 Marx 6:66 - "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

[INVAR]

Amen Jan. Amen.

[Heartlander]

The Reason for God MP3s by Tim Keller

Direct links to the audio files are below, or use the RSS Feed here.

• Exclusivity: How can there be just one true religion? MP3
• Suffering: If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world? MP3
• Absolutism: Don't we all have to find truth for ourselves? MP3
• Injustice: Hasn't Christianity been an instrument for oppression? MP3
• Hell: Isn't the God of Christianity an angry Judge? MP3
• Doubt: What should I do with my doubts? MP3
• Literalism: Isn't the Bible historically unreliable and regressive? MP3

Note: These are sermons based on his book - this is not the actual book, which I highly recommend

***(((&)))***

Bonus Videos: The Prodigal God --- and --- The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World

[Alex Murphy]

Christians claim to believe the Bible is God's Word. We claim it's God's divinely inspired, inerrant message to us. Yet despite this, we aren't reading it. A recent LifeWay Research study found only 45 percent of those who regularly attend church read the Bible more than once a week. Over 40 percent of the people attending read their Bible occasionally, maybe once or twice a month. Almost 1 in 5 churchgoers say they never read the Bible—essentially the same number who read it every day.

Because we don't read God's Word, it follows that we don't know it. To understand the effects, we can look to statistics of another Western country: the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom Bible Society surveyed British children and found many could not identify common Bible stories. When given a list of stories, almost 1 in 3 didn't choose the Nativity as part of the Bible and over half (59 percent) didn't know that Jonah being swallowed by the great fish is in the Bible...

Good article - thanks for posting it

[oblomov]

Most Christians, and even most priests/pastors, seem to believe that when a Christian dies, he or she is immediately judged and enters Heaven or Hell at that point.

[Jan_Sobieski]

Thank you for the kind words! Scary situation we are in because in one sense people are more spiritual now, but it is the wrong kind of spiritual...

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

I wonder how many know Jude is 1 chapter, and that faux verse is repeated so often.

[Jan_Sobieski]

Yes, that is because they read their Bibles. To be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8). Here is another one...

Hebrews 9: 27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die , but after this the judgment: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear * the second time without sin unto salvation.

[PATRIOT1876]

* My favorite bible verse is Jude 3:21 “God helps those who help themselves.” *

That reminds me of the time that I was in a Bible study when I was a teenager and the preacher asked me to look up Hezekiah 4:26.

I picked up the Bible and stated to flip through the Old Testament just before I thought, “Wait a minute...”
;—)

[Adder]

In America, we have a literacy problem.

Not sure...i know a lot of kids are dumb as sacks of stones. But to use the metric”haven’t read a book”, well I haven’t either. I get my reading on line for the most part, including biblical reading.

So taken literally, Yeah, I am sure many have not read a book....but they have read.

[Big Red Badger]

I’ll read this Later,

[EBH]

And this is why when Democrats claim biblical moralities in what their evil efforts force people to do...millions miss the blasphemy and vote for the forked tongue devils.

More than once has 0bama himself attempted to quote and twist numerous Bible verses during his campaign in 2008. And more than once I pointed out his blasphemy and heretical statements, alas it often fell on deaf ears.

[tbpiper]

I taught a senior high Sunday school class at one time and would have them look this one up. The point was that just because someone says it’s in the bible doesn’t necessarily mean it is. They needed to confirm it for themselves.

[showme_the_Glory]

My favorite bible verse is Jude 3:21 “God helps those who help

and mine, 1 Tim 5:23 “Be no longer a drinker of water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.”

[rawcatslyentist]

Not surprising when most people heed the very first verse with all the understanding of a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.

Time, space, matter, and life are His creation. Created because He LOVES US!

[huldah1776]

That bell curve is very steep.