***Originally posted March 2nd this year. Reposted in light of the Pew Forum poll showing that atheists and agnostics know more about the basic tenants of our faith and world religions than Christians. I was going to dedicate a whole (and original!) post on the subject, but as others cover it just as well as I could. Get Religion does a terrific job looking past the headlines to break down what the Pew Forum poll results really mean and points out the obvious: atheists and agnostics have those beliefs (or lack thereof) for a reason- they’ve done their homework. Does that make us blind followers, then? Matthew Paul Turner snarkly considers this in his response. Either way you slice it, from the serious to the snark, we have a Biblical Literacy problem. Christianity Today recently had a feature titled, “Why Johnny Can’t Read the Bible” that I encourage you to check out. I also want to point you to a recent Barna survey that is more depressing than the Pew poll. Keeping these in mind, maybe we need a Read Across our Churches Day?***
Today is National Read Across America Day. Celebrated on the birthday of Dr. Seuss, events are held all around the country to “motivate children to read.” A worthwhile event and a noble goal.
The American Christian Church needs something like this. Maybe not your priest/pastor/evangelist dressing up as the Cat In The Hat for the Sunday sermon. But something needs to be done in the Body of Christ to encourage reading and studying. Charles “Tremendous” Jones has often been quoted saying, “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” Reading was so important to the Apostle Paul that he asked Timothy to “come to [him] quickly” and bring his “scrolls, especially the parchments” while he was believed to have been in prison (2 Tim 4:9,13) While this most likely at least included Scripture, it was just as likely it included Rabbinic teachings given Paul’s education. Paul also taught that the Bible is “useful… so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17)
hey ff.
what are you up to today?
i think i'm having a flashback!
i'm in the sand box, see, and i the shade of a really nice old tree….then mom calls me in for lunch.
Hah! It took me a second to get that, flashback… 🙂 just grabbed some coffee and a donut and about to dig back into Mere Churchianity. I haven't read tour post yet, I don't want to cheat!
I agree – we need to get back to reading the Bible and books that help us grow – we need to embrace lifelong learning as a mode of worship – I blogged about this subject this morning, but not as directly as you do here, using Philippians 1:9-10
well, you won't get much from my mc post. it is a mish mash, i must say.
though maybe God will make something good of it! 🙂
♥
Actually, Herb, I really liked how you laid it out. Yours was a good point. We need balance- we can't all just be theologians with book-smarts, but no street-smarts. All the knowledge in the world means nothing if we're not doing something with it. That's my struggle. I'd rather close myself off in a room and read than step outside and minister to someone.