“Why are So Many Christians Biblically Illiterate?”

 

At Village Schools of the Bible we exist to help the local church grow biblical literate believers.  What follows is an excellent article by Jeremiah J. Johnston, “is president of Christian Thinkers Society, a Resident Institute at Houston Baptist University where he also serves at Associate Professor of Early Christianity. Johnston is the author of “Unanswered: Lasting Truth for Trending Questions” (Whitaker House,November 3, 2015) and accompanying Bible Study.

Pray for Village Schools of the Bible as we fulfill our mission: teaching God’s word and transforming lives. Warren Coe

Emblematic of the Bible’s declining influence is what Harper Lee penned in her 1960 novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” in which the character Miss Maudie says, “Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of [another].”

Most Christians know enough about the Bible to be dangerous.

The Bible in America is a massive industry ($2.5 billion) yet it is the best seller few read and fewer understand.

The Bible has become a moving target. One can strip it down, twist it, misread it, add to it, supplement it, and even overrule it, and, unfortunately, 95 percent of the congregation will not realize it.

Why? Because Americans no longer know the Bible. The evidence is overpowering that contemporary Christianity is Bible-ish, at best, and at worst, in some cases, Bible-less.

The American Bible Society releases an annual State of the Bible report and their research is persuasive in understanding the declining influence of the Bible in America.

Everyone has an opinion about the Bible. Politicians attempt to use the Bible, Grammy-award winners quote it and Hollywood has portrayed it on the big screen.

Yet one problem remains: most are oblivious to the Bible’s basic content, meaning, and message.

Across the pond, the results are even more dramatic: one-third of British parents thought Harry Potter was a thematic plot-line derived from the Bible.

The Bible is not held in the esteem it once was. Over the last 150 years, America has drifted from its Biblical focus. In an election season, it is remarkable to recall that, though he was not a member of any church, the Bible was valued as an authority in America so much so that Abraham Lincoln quoted from it four strategic times in his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865. President Lincoln used words ascribed to Jesus in Matthew 18:7 and – using the Bible — pronounced God’s judgment on our nation for her moral bankruptcy of slavery.

The unwillingness of many Americans to dig deeper into the Scriptures is not related to a lack of options. The Gideons give away a Bible every second. One publisher sells more than sixty different editions of the Bible.

Clearly, the challenge of biblical illiteracy in America is not because of a shortage of Bibles, but rather knowledge and appreciation of the Bible’s message.

The Bible is a diverse love story. Actually, it is the greatest break-up-and-get-back together story the world has ever known.

The message of the Bible is that even though we are not what we should be, God loves us, redeems us, and has a purpose for our lives.

A tremendously exciting new initiative is underway to re-introduce the world to the Bible.

In 2017 the six-floor 430,000-square-foot Museum of the Bible will open only two blocks from the National Mall in Washington D.C. The Museum of the Bible invites all people – those with faith and those without – to engage with the Bible in an immersive experience with its unique history, narrative and influence.

Once one encounters the story of the Bible’s history and preservation, the cost that was involved — and it was a terrible cost — one can never again open the Scriptures with the same detached, careless attitude.

The story of how the Bible has come to us is a tale of heroism, courage, persecution, betrayal and towering faith in a God who raises the dead, mixed through the centuries with the blood of martyrs. If 80 percent of Americans believe the Bible is “God’s word,” shouldn’t we show the Bible some respect by knowing more about it?

Join Cover-to-Cover Bible Survey Online Learning

I am excited to announce that Village Schools of the Bible now serves the body of Christ through online learning.  We offer Cover-to-Cover Bible Survey, our signature discipleship ministry, to brothers and sisters in the United States and around the world.

What is Online Cover-to-Cover Bible Survey?

Cover-to-Cover Bible Survey is a journey through God’s Word beginning in Genesis.  In thirty-two weeks we travel through the Old Testament and New Testament, ending our study in the Book of Revelation.

The Old Testament is divided into sixteen lessons (one lesson a week).  The New Testament is sixteen lessons (one lesson a week).

Each lesson consists of three to four audio/power point presentations.  Each episode is about 10 minutes in length.  So you can learn as you travel or during a lunch break or anyplace you have time to learn from God’s Word.

The discipleship curriculum includes:

• The Bible.  You will read through the entire Bible in thirty-two weeks.
• Cover-to-Cover Bible Survey textbooks.  You will read our two textbooks (one on the Old Testament and one on the New Testament).
• Writing a Reflection paper.  At the end of each lesson is a series of questions designed to engage you in a deeper reflection on God’s truth.

A mentor will assist you along the journey.  The mentor will invite you to join the discussion forum with other students.  The mentor will interact with you and your paper.  Mentors will pray for you.

How Do I Get Started?

Visit: http://www.villageschoolsofthebible.org/online-courses/

Follow the prompts.  We are so excited to have you join this amazing journey through God’s Word. Student who take Cover-to-Cover Bible Survey all say the same thing–“Cover-to-Cover Bible Survey transformed my life.”  This is the power of God’s Word in the life of God’s people.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Warren, Executive Director of Village Schools of the Bible

Facing Hard Times

Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks?  The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come.  When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm.  While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it.

The eagle does not escape the storm.  It simply uses the storm to lift it higher.  It rises on the winds that bring the storm.

When the storms of life come upon us – and all of us will experience them – we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God.  The storms do not have to overcome us.  We can allow God’s power to lift us above them.

God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives.  We can soar above the storm.

Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them.

The Bible says, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles.”  Isaiah 40:31

(Source Unknown)

Elisabeth Elliot is with Jesus Today

I just got the news that missionary and noted author, Elisabeth Elliot has died today (June 15, 2015).  Her husband, Jim, was martyred for the cause of Christ over 50 years ago. As a widow and young mother, Elisabeth continued to serve the people who killed her husband.  As a thinker and writer, she helped many to deeply understand the call of God upon their lives.

In Today’s Christian Woman magazine (2013), Jan Wismer, wrote: “Elisabeth believed in asking this foundational question: Is this God’s will for me, right now, in this place? … Unapologetically, Elisabeth espoused such truths as: give to get, lose to find, and die to live. Setting her sights “on things above” (Colossians 3:1), Elisabeth ministered among three indigenous groups in Ecuador before helping listeners and readers find joy in the ordinary affairs of life—like cooking meals and cleaning toilets—on her globally syndicated radio program. She called it living sacramentally, and her rock-solid principles shaped my life.”

At a personal level, there are three important women of influence in my life: my mother, my wife and Elisabeth Elliot.

Thank you, Lord for giving Mrs. Elliot to the body of Christ on earth.

Covenants: God’s Way

The Covenant of Eden

Covenants are important to God.  He has chosen to relate to the human race and His people through covenants.  The first covenant takes place in the Garden of Eden.  The Lord said to our first parents, “The Lord commanded the man, saying ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.’” (Genesis 1:16-17)

Amazing!  One rule in the garden.  Life and death rested on obedience to one rule.  We all know how that came out.

The Covenant of Noah

After the great flood, God made a covenant with Noah and the human race.  “…I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.”  (Genesis 8:21)  This was an unconditional covenant.  It was a covenant that rested entirely on God’s faithfulness and not on man’s.

The Covenant with Abraham

This covenant with Abraham reached around the world.  “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the family of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2, 3)  The Abrahamic Covenant was unconditional.  It rested on the Lord to fulfill.

The Mosaic Covenant

Then the Lord made a covenant with Israel during the exodus.  The Mosaic law comprised of 613 laws.  These laws include the 10 commandments, the sacrificial system, the feasts and the cleanliness laws.  God said, “All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 28:2).  This covenant was conditional.  God would bless Israel if they obeyed God’s law.  The tragic story of Israel was their inability to obey.

The Davidic Covenant

This unconditional covenant promised that Messiah would be heir to King David’s throne.  (2 Samuel 6:16).  When Jesus entered Jerusalem his last week on earth, the crowds shouted, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:10)  Jesus is our King of kings and Lord of Lords!

The New Covenant

Jeremiah prophesied that God would establish a new covenant.  “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.  “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  “And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, (Jer 31:31-34)

Praise God!

New Testament believers live in the light and miracle of the new covenant.  Christianity is not about external obedience but inward transformation.  (John 3:5-8)  Grace through faith and not of ourselves is God’s way to salvation.  Yes, out of faith comes obedience. (James 2:18)  First things first.  Our standing before God rests upon faith.  Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Praise God for the new covenant.  Sealed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Received by faith alone in Christ alone.