The Biblical Illiteracy Crisis - Part 4

Blessings to Israel presents Discerning the Times, a program committed to encouraging you to view current events through the lens of the Bible.

Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, please join us for today's program. Bible teaching is not a popular activity in churches anymore, and if you're in a Bible church like this one, that may be a surprise to you because I'm hoping you are going after better things. But if you look broadly at the community of Christians in the world today, at churches generally in the world today, Bible teaching is no longer a popular activity for whatever it may have been in the past. Because many Bibles have just disappeared from churches altogether. You know, they're not in the pews anymore, or in the theater style seating now.

They're not there. And fewer and fewer people are actually walking into the building holding a Bible, and fewer and fewer pastors step into the pulpit and attempt to exposit the Bible as a regular routine in their preaching. And when Christian families go church shopping, and when they go with a checklist of things they expect in a church, I've seen those checklists, and they have things like music as a priority, or children's programs as a priority, or the building amenities as a priority, or sermon humor as a priority. Almost anything comes before the quality of Bible teaching in the pulpit. Or, if Bible teaching is on the list, it will give way to something else when you have to push one or the other. If it's music or Bible study, well honey, the music's pretty good, we'll have to make do with the Bible study. If the children's programs are great, well honey, I think that's our first priority, because after all, they're our kids, and so we'll let the Bible study happen somewhere else.

Does this ring true? Welcome to Discerning the Times, my name is Brian Thomas, so great to be with you once again this week as we continue our series on the biblical illiteracy crisis. So we will wrap things up this week, joined by my co-host, Dr. Bruce Logan, who I will pull in shortly, but before I do, I want to remind you that your eternal state is far more important than your current state. If you have never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I encourage you to do so today.

Otherwise, you will spend eternity in the lake of fire separated from almighty God, so will you please give your heart to Jesus on today? All right folks, we're going to pull in now, my co-host, Dr. Bruce Logan, and Doc, how are you doing today? And we heard in that opening clip from Pastor Armstrong, who we've been listening to for the previous weeks in this series, he's saying, well, people's priority today is not Bible teaching, unfortunately, and we've been unpacking it, so we'll continue with this week. I'm doing pretty good. Had a little cold, I was fighting here the past week, but I'm feeling back nearly 100%, and so glad to be back with you today as we tackle, again, this most important topic. I mean, it's one of the, you could argue that this is actually one of the most important topics that we can actually discuss.

Yeah. Well, glad to have you back. Glad you're feeling good.

You're sounding good. So we are looking forward to, again, closing out today, this, this very important topic. And as Pastor Armstrong said there, I had a sort of a smile on my face as he was speaking of, well, for some people, when it comes to preaching is about humor. And there are so many who are today looking for entertainment and unfortunately they're all too many who are willing to fulfill that. And we know from the scriptures, it says, well, the time will come when they will heap up for themselves to tickle their itching years. And we, we see that a lot today.

So we're going to dive into it more, but before we go forward, I want to share another clip. This is from Pastor Greg Laurie, and he is echoing just how much we have biblical illiteracy in our society today. This is illustrated by a little story I read about a recent episode of Jeopardy. You know the game show Jeopardy? And these are intelligent people that go on this show.

Well-read people. And all three contestants were stumped by this question. The question was, Matthew 6-9 says, our Father who art in heaven blank be your name. That's a question. Our Father who art in heaven blank be your name. Ok, what's the answer?

Thank you. None of them knew. See, that's called biblical illiteracy. And that speaks to our culture today. There was a time when even if you weren't a Christian, you would at least know the answer to that question and others related to the Bible. Here in America, only 6 percent of Americans hold a biblical worldview despite the fact that 87 percent of American households have at least one Bible. A survey of graduating high schools revealed that 12 percent of Americans believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife.

Get it? Joan of Arc. That's not a joke. They thought Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. They also thought Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. That would be a fun service to perform. Sodom and Gomorrah.

I now pronounce you man and wife. And here is one I really found amazing. Some thought the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham.

I am not making this up. Billy Graham. Now Billy was a great preacher but I'm sorry, that one goes to Jesus. But that just shows a radical biblical illiteracy. So Doc, you heard the people there laughing and it's hard not to chuckle, but this is very concerning.

Absolutely. I mean, on the surface, I can understand why people would laugh at that. But when you really examine it, it's very, very concerning, as you said, and very, very problematic. Because the fact that what Pastor Laurie described and those examples and those illustrations, in fact, I actually am familiar with those statistics because I follow the Barna Research Group quite often.

And they put out these types of studies. And they've been doing this for quite a while, pointing out that how biblically illiterate we are as a culture. And as Pastor Laurie pointed out, what's even more alarming, and when you think about this, that although I think he said, I think the quote was 90% of Americans claim to be Christian, but only 6% have an actual biblical worldview.

In other words, only 6% actually perceive or interpret what's happening in the world through the lens of scripture, which is basically the cliff note answer for what we mean by a biblical worldview. And the fact that those numbers exist in the United States of America, where probably, in spite of a lot of the anti-America negative narrative that we see across the media, America is still yet arguably the freest overall country on earth. And to prove that, you don't see a whole lot of people from America rushing down to Mexico, trying to escape to Mexico or to escape to Venezuela or to escape to Cuba. You don't see that. You don't see Cubans putting up a fence in order to keep Americans out.

You don't see that. But in spite of that, we have only 6% of our population with a biblical worldview. And think about this, that that is in spite of the fact that in most cities, no matter what direction you go, you're going to go past the church. In some communities, you'll find a church literally on just about every block.

I mean, there are some denominations within my local community that have, I don't know, 15, 20 different churches just within a particular denomination. And there is just so much access to Scripture. And not only that, when you think about the technological age that we live in, where we have access to the Bible in just about every venue, you can pull up your phone and you can Google just about anything or ask any biblical question, or you can actually listen to the Bible while you're driving in your car.

I mean, that's the kind of access that we have. But yet we have such a crisis of biblical illiteracy in the United States that is alarming. And look what this level of biblical illiteracy has done to our culture and to this generation of youth.

We're debating things now as what is and what isn't a male or female. We've just gone sideways as a culture in spite of the fact that we have such access to God's Word. And that is in large part because of the lack of, as Pastor Laurie said, the lack of priority that we place on the Scripture, on Bible study, on biblical exegesis. We place much more priority and emphasis on external things as services and entertainment and concerts and these types of things that really does not lend itself to growing our minds and renewing our minds and bringing about conviction and discernment and understanding in God's Word.

And so it's a cultural problem and it's systemic and it's impacting virtually almost every aspect of society. That's exactly right. Definitely.

Most definitely. I want to transition on that note to an article that we've been covering the past several weeks in this series that is titled the biblical illiteracy written by Rick Dubose. He states in the article, quote, every church should have a process that will take anyone from any demographic and from any level of biblical knowledge to full biblical literacy.

For that to happen, we need an overarching understanding of the whole canon of Scripture. Pastors must lead their people into a discipline reading process that guides them through key passages of Scripture, starting in Genesis and ending in Revelation. We must also help people apply what they learn, making sense of what they have read and turning it into a biblical lifestyle. This includes covering the fundamental truths of the Bible, but it should also include practical teaching that helps people see the world through the lens of the word. What believers read in the Bible should begin to change the way they think about sex and marriage, finances, worship, evangelism, et cetera. The third path, and this is referring back to the different paths that he was laying out in this article as far as how we need to become biblically literate. The third path is living and sharing the word. Now that we have read the full Scripture, learned to speak the language and started thinking it instinctively, how will you live it out daily? And Doc, that's exactly what you were just speaking of just a minute ago.

That just says it just so succinctly that, you know, really it just speaks for itself. And again, I'll just add to that just by saying that just to summarize what we just read is that we need to reestablish the biblical understanding, a biblical worldview, biblical study, biblical exegesis from the pulpit. We need to reprioritize that and make that a number one priority. Otherwise we're going to continue down this road of biblical illiteracy that, like I said before, it's impacting every aspect of the culture. We're going to have to like prioritize, we're going to have to like live, raise Bible study to a priority that's number one in our churches and our services. We're going to have to create an environment where people look forward to coming to Bible study. Like a lot of places where you go, you know, Sunday mornings are going to always be packed. If you have a concert or service or anniversary or any type of service, it's going to always be packed. If you call in, you know, bishops so-and-so or apostles so-and-so, it's always going to be a pack. But when you say come to Bible study, you know, you have to beg people to come.

You have to look out in a Bible study setting and see, you know, maybe a handful of people. Whereas, you know, in Sunday service, it's going to be packed. And that has a lot to do with the fact of what we prioritize. We prioritize service. We prioritize events. We promote those the most and we don't prioritize. We don't promote Bible study. And again, like I keep repeating, that trend is impacting the culture at large and it's got to start from the pulpit. Absolutely. Let's return now to Pastor Armstrong as he's given this message on this topic of biblical illiteracy.

And then you go beyond the main service. Small group studies, Sunday school classes, they've all together abandoned studying the Bible. In fact, a Sunday school class today will virtually study any book they can find so long as it's not the Bible. They like to study books about the Bible rather than just opening the book itself.

In fact, I think the surest way to keep your small group small is to propose a Bible study that only uses the Bible. And there are other signs that the church is moving away from its commitment to scripture. It used to be that when a church put the word Bible in their name, it was a reasonable expectation that when you came into that church on Sunday, God's word would be exposited from the pulpit. It was one of those signs that told you, here's where you come for Bible teaching. In fact, today you can walk into Bible churches, churches with a name, and not find a Bible.

Certainly not in the hands of those who walk in because they know they're not going to need it when they sit down in the pulpit. Now, doc, I echo the words of pastor Armstrong because the Bible is so, it's so in depth. You're, you're not going to go through all the Bible in any short period of time.

It's going to take a while. And I say that to say, why are people turning to other books when you have so much in the scriptures? And I recall that pastor John McArthur, he preached all the way through the new Testament and he started in the 1970s and just finished in the two thousands.

I think it took him about 40 years to preach through the entire new Testament. But that's what we find though. A lot of people today, they have small groups Sunday school, but yet they want to look at books other than the Bible.

And that's so true. Again, we're looking at any other thing other than the Bible. I've been at Bible studies where they use the, I can't even think of the name of the perfect driven life.

Yeah. We studied where they studied the perfect driven life and all those types of books, the five love languages, right? That's a book that's sold millions of copies where we, I've been in attended marriage conferences where the five love languages was the main topic, was the main reference and not a single scripture was ever quoted. And as a matter of fact, just on a side note, for those of you who espouse to the five love languages, you'll notice if you actually sit down and read the book and which I try to, and it literally, you can literally count the scripture quotes in the book on one hand and still maybe have some fingers left over.

And so that just echoes what we just heard. And the fact that we look for any other sources other than the Bible itself, but the Bible is just so rich. It's so much, you can never really get through it even within a year. Like you said, it took decades in order to go through the Bible. And that was just the New Testament. And imagine how long it would take if he would have started with Genesis.

He'd still be working at it. But it's just so much there. Just open it up and just begin to read and dissect and just to exegete. One of the things that's always been a problem with me is that oftentimes you'll go to Sunday morning service and you'll hear a sermon. And then the next week, it'll be another sermon. And then the next week, it'll be a topic, something else.

And then following week, it'll be something completely unrelated. And there's no continuity. There's no symmetry.

There's no consistency. There's no train of thought that we can connect, no dots that we can connect in order to really understand the big picture of the scriptures. And one of the things I'm a firm believer in is that we need to get back to expository teaching, expository preaching, which means that you take a book of the Bible and you go through it verse by verse, and it may take 10, 12 weeks. You take the book of Romans, for an example, the book of Matthew, the book of Daniel, the book of Revelation, the book of Genesis, and just dissect it verse by verse by verse. And then as we just also heard in the previous clip, that you then in turn, after espousing it, then you make it applicable to our daily life.

How can we apply this? Or does it even apply? Because not everything is applicable to us.

Some of it was intended for Israel, but that's all part of exegesis, determining who was the audience, what was the message, what was the original intent, what was the historical setting, what was the language, what was the cultural setting? I mean, all of these things are important in interpreting the scripture and rightly dividing the word of God. And that's what we need to get back to.

Yeah. And as you were talking, I had this picture in my mind, in my mind, what else do we do in life where we just jump around that way? As you said, so many do with topical sermons because when you go to build a house, what do you do? You start on the foundation and to get that foundation, you have to dig for the footings. And then you, you start on the foundation and you work your way up. You don't, you don't one day work on the foundation and then say, okay, today, let's, let's jump over and work on the roof.

And then, okay, today, let's, let's do a little plumbing. You're going to end up with a mess, but you, you build it as you're going, you're building that foundation. And that is why expository teaching is so important. Um, as you said, so, so back to this article from Rick DeBose, he states quote, again, this begins with the pulpit, exactly as you said, doc and continues through a process, but it ultimately depends on our personal and individual devotion to the word pastor, how you view the scripture will determine the attitude your congregation has toward the Bible. Jesus taught us through the sermon on the Mount that our first priority is to go into our secret place, our closet and devoted portion of our day to seek in his face, praying for his wheel and our needs and leaning into his word for pastors. Our task is so vitally important that we can not do it without first receiving the word for ourselves in the synoptic gospel accounts of the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus first hands the bread to the disciples before they can feed the crowds without receiving the bread from the Lord.

They had nothing to offer, but after taking it from the master's hand, they were able to feed thousands. And doc, I think that's very profound. That is extremely profound, but I just want to go back and just point it just to illustrate kind of like encapsulate everything that what you just read is that you start up by saying that Jesus taught us through the sermon on the Mount now. And one of the things that I used to teach a new Testament survey and I, and I walk through the book of, of Matthew and where Matthew gives the biggest picture or the biggest account of that sermon on the Mount. And I asked the question, and I always do this whenever I teach on the sermon on the Mount, but when you, when you, you ask the question to the audience, what is the first thing that you think of when you think of the sermon on the Mount and those that are even remotely biblically literate will all generally always respond by saying the beatitudes. But what people don't realize is that the beatitudes was not the sermon on the Mount. The beatitudes was just a part of the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount actually included all of Matthew chapters five, six, and seven was all a part of the Sermon on the Mount. And Jesus concluded that sermon by saying that he, that obeys these words of mine or, or, or will be like the, the, the sand and the sea. In other words, obeying what words was he referring to? He was referring to everything from chapters five, six, and seven. And that was the encapsulation of the Sermon on the Mount.

But, but I'm always amazed at how many people aren't even aware of that basic fact. I mean, that the Sermon on the Mount is more than just the, the, the certain, the beatitudes. And so again, that just kind of encapsulates what we're, what we're talking about, how important it is that we get down to actual biblical exegesis. I'm not talking about that you have to be a, a, you know, a seminarian, you know, that you have to study, you know, everything in Greek, which all that's all good, but we need to get back to just at least get back to the basics of, of biblical teaching and exposition.

Yeah, you're exactly right, doc. And as we close out this series here in the final couple of minutes, I, I just stress how we in this ministry, we are a Bible teaching ministry and I was just speaking over the weekend and I gave a message and I told the people there, I said, listen, I'm not here to hoop. I'm not here to holler and I'm not himming and hollering.

I'm not putting on a performance. I'm here to teach the word of God. And then we walk through the scriptures line by line and verse by verse and also share that just like the mailman, he's delivering the mail. So you're there not to hear that person, but you're there to hear the word of God and the mailman, he's bringing a letter.

And when you get that letter, you're not excited about what the mailman has to say, but you're excited about the person who wrote the letter, what they have to say. And that should be our attitude when we approach, uh, the, the scriptures we are hearing from God is something that is sacred and is really an honor and a privilege that God speaks to us through his word. So we really need to get back to, uh, biblical literacy. And again, you know, we expect the world as, as we know, a commentator in the ministry says the world is going to world. So we expect that to be the case in the world, but when we see the illiteracy level in the church, so high that's, that's what's really concerning and disturbing.

But doc, what are your closing thoughts in the final minute before we wrap things up, I'm just going to close out by saying, because this is a topic that we, it can be ongoing because this is a, it's a serious, serious problem. And if it, as I, uh, re uh, said or to repeat what I said earlier, it's impacting every aspect of the culture. It's, it's impacting our youth. It's impacting society. I mean, it's, it's impacting everything, how we vote.

I mean, it's, it's impacting everything. And, and basically I just want to close by saying, or encourage the audience to, uh, develop a heart, a hunger, a desire, uh, for the word of God. And if you don't, um, you know, attend a church where they are espousing the things that we're discussing, I mean, there are, there are avenues, there are outlets where you can go and, and, and really, really dig into the Bible for yourself.

Now, of course you got to be careful because everything out there is not good. Um, but you got, but, but once you develop a habit of personal Bible study, then, or get involved in small groups. I mean, there are avenues now there's zoom, there's small groups, there's little home church where people get together over coffee and discuss the word of God. I mean, get into the word, get into the scripture, develop a hunger, a passion, a desire to learn more about God's word, to learn how to write the divider, uh, divide the word of God. And, um, uh, and that's what I want to leave this audience with, uh, and just an encouragement, just the word of motivation to develop that hunger, develop that desire, develop that function of the Holy Ghost to really want to study and learn God's word. Yeah, that's a great way to close it out. And I echo your words because just like a coach in sports, he pushes you because he wants to get the best out of you.

He wants you to maximize those abilities. And, and that is what we're trying to do as well. Folks, we're not here to fuss, but we're here because we know the word of God is so rich and it is a great benefit to us when we glean from what our Lord has shared with us. So that's going to wrap it for this week. We want to thank you for tuning in. Please come back next week and join us as we continue to discern the times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel. To the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

Amen. Thank you for tuning in to Discerning the Times. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God. Discerning the Times is presented by Blessings to Israel.