It's been a long time since I posted on this blog. But I wanted a blog to which I could post book reviews, to answer a challenge. And I discovered that I had a huge backlog of partially finished blog posts. So here is one.
While rattling around on the web, actually in pursuit of information I needed for a specific task, I ran across the American Bible Society's "State of the Bible" survey, conducted annually for the past several years by the Barna Group. It's interesting.
What drew my attention, though, was the summary which trumpeted:
While rattling around on the web, actually in pursuit of information I needed for a specific task, I ran across the American Bible Society's "State of the Bible" survey, conducted annually for the past several years by the Barna Group. It's interesting.
What drew my attention, though, was the summary which trumpeted:
For the record, these adults all reside in the continental US.
We are clearly meant to be alarmed. The millenial generation is losing sight of the central importance of the Bible. And, in fairness to the broader focus of the survey, I would agree that this matches my perception as well. The millenial generation is less engaged with the Bible. But perhaps they have also learned to take surveys more intelligently.
I myself, though I believe the Bible to be incredibly important, do not believe that it contains "everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life." In fact, I'm rather shocked that 50 percent of "all adults" were willing to sign off on this statement. I'm a teacher. While much of what I teach is not absolutely necessary to living a meaningful life, I do believe people need some of it. It's very helpful to know how to read. It's helpful to have certain basic social skills. Yes, the Bible teaches morality, but it does not teach a great deal about HOW to live at peace with your family and neighbors.
I think it's helpful to have some skills that allow you to serve others. We don't all need the same skills, but to live a meaningful life you need SOMETHING. For some few people, perhaps all they need for their life to be meaningful is the ability to respond to the loving care given by others. Those people are not going to be absorbing much of the Bible, which does not mean that their life is not meaningful. For most of us, we need some sorts of skills. And the Bible is not a training manual. It needs to be supplemented.
Given that 50% of adults answered yes to this statement, I am inclined to believe that it should at least be substituted by a course in logic.
