CBN.com - Some Christian leaders say this generation is the most biblically illiterate generation they have ever seen. They say Christians are not guiding their lives by the Scripture, looking instead to psychology and popular culture for answers.
The consequences have been devastating, not just for the church but for society as a whole. CBN News spoke to a number of ordinary Americans to see just how common this problem really is.
One woman was unable to name any of the Ten Commandments and one young man just laughed and walked away. Another man could only name the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill.”
Some could not name books of the Bible, others thought the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves,” a phrase found nowhere in the scriptures.
It is clear that many Americans do not know their Bible, and a recent George Barna study backs up that notion.
Barna’s research showed that 60 percent of Americans can not name half of the Ten Commandments and 63 percent can't name the four gospels of the New Testament. Eight-one percent believe that "God helps those who help themselves" is a direct quote from the Bible, 80 percent of born-again Christians hold the same belief, and 31 percent believe a good person can earn his/her way into heaven.
So what are the consequences of being a biblically illiterate society?
Dr. Vinson Synan, dean of the Regent University School of Divinity, said, “You can see the results everywhere, the breakdown of homes, divorces, the permissiveness of sex, homosexuality, AIDS, all of these things are consequences of not knowing the word of God."
Synan calls biblical illiteracy the "ultimate disaster" for a nation, even greater than AIDS or atomic war. "Because if people lived biblical lifestyles, they would not have AIDS, if people followed the scriptures there would be no nuclear war, so most of our problems are from unbiblical behavior," he said.
Pollster George Gallup, Jr. said, “Most people say the Ten Commandments are valid rules for living but they can't name them."
Gallup, who recently wrote a book called Surveying the Religious Landscape, says America is reaping the consequences of biblical illiteracy. "Because people don't really know their own traditions and don't know the Bible that well, they're really open to a wide variety of spiritual movements."
Even Christians often seem more influenced by popular culture than the Bible. For instance, divorce is just as common in Christian homes as non-Christian homes.
Some say the root problem is famine — not a famine for food, but a famine for the word of God.
Synan quoted from Amos 8:11-13 saying, "The Scriptures say, ‘Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land.’ But this is different. He said, ‘not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord.’ The Lord will allow people to ignore His word, He won't force you to learn...then He said, ‘The result of this is people will stagger from sea to sea, from the north even to the east, they will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord."
“And the worst thing is,” Synan continued, “’In that day, the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst.’ In other words, He doesn't mention the older generations, it's the young people, the idealistic teen-agers, the idealistic young men and fair virgins are fainting for thirst, because they're searching for meaning to life and the only place you find that is in the scriptures."
Christian scholars say the issue is simple — even people who profess to be born-again Christians are simply not spending enough time reading and studying God's Word. And if they don't study it, they can't live according to it.
Christian leaders believe the only hope for both individuals and our nation is a return to strong biblical teaching and the Word of God.
