Wise or Otherwise By George Thomas Jones
Is Biblical illiteracy affecting our American culture
Few will refute that education is one of the essential foundations for the overall culture of any world class nation.
Gene Owens headlined his column, published in a 1999 issue of The Mobile Register "You’re not educated without Bible knowledge".He opened his first paragraph with this line, “There’s no question about it. We’re living among a generation of biblical illiterates.”
Kinda hard to believe when 86% of Americans claim to believe in God. For, to truly believe in something of this magnitude, one must certainly have a sound, basic knowledge of the Almighty. This knowledge comes from only one source, the Holy Bible.
Owens went on to say that if you were to pick people at random on the streets of Mobile and ask them to name the 12 apostles or the 10 tribes of Israel, or to recite in substance the Ten Commandments, that you would probably draw blank stares.
On one of Jay Leno’s late night TV shows, he moved through the audience asking people what they knew about the Bible. “Name one of the Ten Commandment”, he asked. “God helps those who help themselves”, was the first reply. (Actually, this was a quote from Benjamin Franklin that was published in 1736 in Poor Richards Almanac.)
Next Leno asked, “Name one of the Apostles”. No one could.
Finally, he asked them to name the Beatles. Without hesitation, the answer came ringing from throughout the crowd: George, Paul, John and Ringo.
Was Leno spoofing the Bible that evening? No, he was spoofing our society, which claims a grounding in Judeo-Christianity principles and yet, according to a number of surveys, is increasingly losing touch with the Scriptures of that faith.
In a recent Gallup poll, only two out of every ten people participating correctly identified who delivered the “Sermon on the Mount”. In the same poll, people could name only three or four of the Ten Commandments.
Other recent polls indicate that people generally know some of the Bible’s major figures, such as Adam, Abraham, David, Solomon, Paul and Jesus. However, when asked to place them in chronological order, they were stumped.
The question begs for an answer.
Surely, our forefathers were miles ahead of the present generation when it came to biblical knowledge. I would bet the farm that those early pioneers would grade well in the 90’s on most any biblical quiz. Why then, the drastic decline.
The primary answer can be attributed to several things.
People today do not read and study the Bible on a regular basis.
Why Not? In part, at least, it can be attributed to “the busyness of daily schedules for kids as well as adults. We live in the fast lane and because, of their work load and play load, people are spending less time studying the Word of God.
As one theologian put it, “In order to be a Bible reader, you have to be a practicing Christian, and, apparently, there are a lot of non-practicing Christians.”
Too many parents depend on Church Sunday Schools. Is it not rather ridiculous to think that an adequate, overall knowledge of the Bible can be learned in 45 minutes once a week. Would a responsible parent send his child to learn math or science for just an hour a week with no homework?
I’m sure many would like to blame our courts for taking prayer and biblical studies out of our public schools. Frankly, this does not bother me as much as others, for I would be uncomfortable not knowing what doctrines were being emphasized by teachers who might profess a faith in which I did not concur. Too, in my opinion, bible teaching is not a responsibility of our public school system.
Also, for my part, the government should adhere to the First Amendment to the Constitution and keep its cotton pickin’ hands off religion per se, whether it comes to encouraging or discouraging it. This is the province of parents and the religious institutions with which they wish to affiliate.
Whatever the reason, people are reading the Bible less these days. Statistics of occasional Bible readers have declined from 79 percent of Americans in 1980s to just 59 percent according to a recent Gallup Poll.
So, what part does biblical knowledge play in our culture?
Everything!
The Bible’s impact on American culture is immense beyond measure, for our founding fathers framed our Constitution and Bill of Rights on the morals and standards of biblical truths.
I am a firm believer that God directed the thoughts and directives of those early patriots who wrote this unmatched republic treatise that has stood the test of time. Therefore, I believe as long as our national leaders adhere to these God-given principles for governing, we will continue to be the leader of the Free World.
On the other hand, should we continue down the road of allowing our courts, our law makers and our judicial system to ignore and twist the true meanings of our Constitution, thereby placing it on a strictly secular basis, our future as a great nation will gradually decline.
Former President Ronald Reagan summed it up in one sentence when he said, “If we ever forget that we are a nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
It comes full circle. Biblical knowledge is imperative for “we the people” to preserve these profound truths.