An Anglicostal Connecting to a Real World
As I teach Old Testament and New Testament at a college level, at I am continually amazed at how little “Christian” students know the stories. This presents a question I simply want to ask and see if there might be any discussion:
Is it intellectually dishonest to say you are a Christian and then never read in full the sacred text of your faith?
I would love some thoughts on this.
Hi Dan,
This is where the Bible Orality movement has come in. Because we have moved away from the “Master Teacher – Jesus’” methods of teaching – Matthew 13:34,35 – ‘telling God’s Story’ God’s way! We are wired to be story tellers and story hearers/learners! Check our Bible story telling/ teaching manual!
I did. Kevin passed one along to me awhile back. It’s good stuff. Another part is essential: We, as the Church, must be intentional on TELLING the story.
I call it not doing the foot work. This is sad, because it makes it so much harder to be a witness and to evangelize if the word isn’t known to them or living inside of them. Can then their christianity be believable? One day a person will ask these said Christians a hard question, and that Christian doesn’t know, and then maybe doesn’t do the research in the bible, there goes a soul that could have been ripe for the Kingdom. The word says one must be ready to give account for the Hope we have in Christ Jesus.
Well, I guess it depends on the context – here in the US we may very well be glutted out with biblical resources that reveal our own sins and tendency toward idolatry of knowledge – even so is there no reason we should have read through the Scriptures at least once?
But then what about those folks in cultures where literacy is low or there are no Scriptures in their language – yet their devotion to Christ shames many of us here in the West?
Brian, thanks for the distinction. YES… the U.S., YES those who have full literacy capabilities. Even those with limited access to Bibles do better than we do here.
My question is more geared toward us in the “land of plenty.”
Yes. The ‘summed up’ commandments demand that we knoe God and know His commands which can’t be done without reading the Bible.
Also, if we are truly changed by receiving the Holy Spirit, we will want to.
Jeff
“Also, if we are truly changed by receiving the Holy Spirit, we will want to.”
I certainly agree, Jeff. But I have seen a problem with this, even in my own wife. Some people never seem to get out of the starting gate when it comes to Bible reading. In my wife’s case, first of all she is often too busy to pick up a Bible and read, Second, she thinks she can’t understand it. (So I have a couple NLTs around the house.) Third, if anyone asks her to come to a Bible study, even one geared to beginners, she is afraid she will appear stupid, thinking that all those other people know more than she does, so she stays home. I have seen this in our own local church for a number of years. Fortunately over the last couple months our one adult Bible study class has suddenly blossomed so we often have 17-20 people on a given Sunday morning.
I think this is why we need to insist on telling the story more in our churches as well as calling people higher to KNOW the story themselves. There are so many ways to take in Scripture in our culture, and we just don’t utilized any of them it seems.
This is just a question for me because I teach OT right now and when I get to a very familiar story (to me, anyway) and it’s one that is integral to the narrative of Scripture, I am met with blank stares. People who are getting a Christian education, they are capable of reading, they have had at least a few years in a church somewhere… and they don’t know the story.
Like prayer I believe that the enemy fights against any attempt to read God’s word. Reading the Bible is a powerful, integral part of being a Christian. Satan often plants fear and self-doubt in our minds to keep us from the things he knows will empower us. I experience it myself. Maybe it would help to be taught in church exactly what’s at stake, what the enemy does and why it’s SO important to read the Word of God. (Maybe we need to share this with fellow believers outside the church too). Once we know how important it is and get started, we discover it’s not as hard as we believed.
Very interesting comments! Dan you hit it on the head! It is the TELLING that is missing!!!! The Bible Orality movement has identified Primary Orality and Secondary Orality! Secondary orality is us in the USA. Literate but we like to learn and receive our information through oral means or through stories! The most successful churches today are those that are using “story telling” in their message. Not in anyway watering the message, but using story give the message its stickability!
Dan,
I don’t know if I would go as far as to call it Intellectual Dishonesty but I would say that by not reading on a regular basis you are missing out on one way God speaks to us-through His word. For some of us who have been in church since we were born, the “stories” are second nature. For those who come to their faith at a older age, this isn’t the case. But one would think that the newness of their faith (along with a good mentor/pastor) would be encouragement enough to get stuck in. Every time I open the Bible, I learn something new. Even as someone who has read it cover to cover multiple times. I hesitate to categorize so I choose to perhaps rephrase their inaction as simply not realizing the true power of the Word alive and in action in their life.
That’s a tough one Gary and I often forget there are people who have some problems that I can’t understand. I’ve always had an easy time with prayer and reading the Bible. I’ve also never had a problem with weight and using food for comfort. But I certainly have a whole lot of other problems that other people don’t have. So it’s not as clear as I might think. That doesn’t mean people aren’t responsible, but it may be more difficult for some than what I realize.
Jeff
I certainly do not wish to demean people with challenges. My question is for those who are fully capable… I mean I AM teaching students in college. They have the ability to learn and they DO learn. They learn songs, they learn band member names, they follow American Idol…
THEY KNOW STUFF!
And yet, there is this claim to Christianity and they do not pick up the sacred text of our faith with any regularity to learn from it. It has led to a shallowness in faith and belief that is quite scary, in all honesty.
I hear you Dan! Our “other son” Tim also feels that same frustration! Blessings on you Dan as you excercise patience with this malady!
You know, Dan, John MacArthur, (and I’m a big fan of his) seems to tell us that if people don’t continually grow spiritually by digging into the scriptures and drinking deeply of its truths almost constantly, that they’re not saved. (I hope I’m not misrepresenting his beliefs.) But I think what I see in reality has made me rethink how it all works.
There are some of us who do that, pastors and teachers, and those of us who have the interest and gifts for it. There are others who have repented of their sins and put their faith in the Lord Jesus and trust Him and Him alone for their salvation; who live their lives in fear of God and love for the Body; but who never seem to get out of the starting blocks when it comes to Bible study. They get fed by a good preacher, and sometimes they try to read parts of the Bible. But they never seem to be able to dig deeply into the scriptures. They never seem to be able to get away from the milk and into the meat. Does this mean they’re not saved?
I don’t think so. They may be marginal; they may be on the edge. But like an old pastor told me once, “I’d rather be a foot away from hell and heading away from it than be a mile from hell and be headed straight towards it.”
It’s an important thing that you pastors MUST do – tell the story! You are the only real meat such people ever get to eat. If they don’t hear the Word preached faithfully, they don’t grow. Tell the story!
I keep thinking about people in other religions, ones that have a scripture. Muslims, for example, are made to memorize the entire book!! And not just Imams (pastors) but school-age children. They know the importance of knowing what you believe.
I just can’t help believe that we’ve become lazy and unconcerned with what’s important to God. If we trust Him for our salvation, but don’t bother to discover what he said to us then which way are we headed?
How true Terri! Do we really love the Word?
I came across a very good explanation (‘I think’ – which is a far stretch for me!!) from John Ortberg’s latest book “the me i want to be”. It is vintage Ortberg! And chapter 9 deals with reading the Bible or ‘the lack thereof’. God is Good!
I have long entertained a similar thought, namely that most members of various religions have a too limited understanding of what they supposedly believe in, why they should believe in it, and similar.
As for specifically having read the Bible, I do not necessarily see a problem—at least when we talk of the Bible in its entirety: Some passages are valueless, others may be better understood through secondary literature (including easier re-tellings for children), much of the thinking of e.g. the catholic church is based on other sources, the choice of what constitutes the Bible was originally highly arbitrary, etc.
“Intellectual dishonesty”, in particular, is typically used for cases of deliberate reality distortion—and I think it safe to say that most Christians who have not read the Bible act in good faith. (No pun or double meaning intended.)
Apprentice 2 Jesus 
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