Here is a sad reality — many Christians are biblically illiterate.
Jeremiah Johnston, the president of the Christian thinkers society, bible college professor and author says Americans no longer know the Bible. In fact he calls contemporary Christianity Bible-ish, at best, and at worst, Bible-less.
The American Bible Society’s annual State of the Bible report found 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 plotline 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.
Johnson says 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.
And he asks, 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?