II Tim. 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
George Barna wrote The State of the Church in 2002. He had conducted a survey of self-pronounced Christians and here’s what he found about their knowledge of the Bible. These are Christians.
• 48% could not name the four Gospels.
• 52% cannot identify more than two or three of Jesus’ disciples.
• 60% of American Christians can’t name even five of the 10 Commandments.
• 61% of American Christians think the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham.
• 71% of American Christians think “God helps those who help themselves” is a Bible verse.
George Barna said, "Americans revere the Bible, but by and large they don’t know what it says. And because they don’t know it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates."
For any organized society, literacy is essential. If people are not taught, we cannot read. If we don’t read, we won’t recognize quality literature. If we don’t recognize quality literature, we might never learn what God says in His Word. Where there is no known truth, understanding is incomplete. Without understanding, we can have no vision of our lives, eternity, or any other crucial truths. Therefore, there will be no vision of truth. And where there is no vision, people perish (Prov. 29:18).
Let us determine to preach, teach, and witness the truths of God to a lost, dying world before it is too late. If Barna’s analysis was correct or nearly so more than twenty years ago, what must be the state of things today? There is no valid excuse for Christians to be biblically illiterate!
