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Why Many Christians Don’t Know The Bible

1. Their denomination may have told them that smart people have already studied it and they just need to acknowledge the bullet points those people extracted.

2. The bible seems difficult to understand (Act 8:30-31).

3. The bible seems alien to the modern life with which we are more familiar.

4. People have become convinced that “science” has disproven the bible.

5. Many think that the biblical description of supernatural events is just superstition.

6. Some see contradictions in the bible and feel that it is invalidated.

7. Some see bible familiarity as an optional extra and not worth investing effort in learning.

What most Christians fail to understand is that the bible is a powerful way God works in one’s life (Is 55:10-11). It sustains life (Lk 4:4). It is the means to know truth and achieve freedom (Jn 8:32). The bible has transformative power (Jn 17:17). The bible is a source of illumination (Ps 119:105). Walking according to the bible can prevent being overcome by sin (Ps 119:133). It contains valuable instruction (2 Tim 3:16, 1 Cor 10:11).

When life is prosperous and comfortable, people often see little value in the bible. However, now that our society appears to be melting down, some may wish to rekindle their faith. This emerging interest is often hindered by not knowing where to start. Some start at the beginning (as one might with any book) and find the stories about Adam and Eve, the flood, Abraham, and even into the first part of Exodus interesting. However, things soon bog down and often interest is lost.

If one starts with the New Testament one can read in the gospels about who Jesus was and what he did and said. One problem that can be encountered is what Francis Chan told about his youth. The bible tells us that Jesus told his disciples they could move a mountain with enough faith. Francis tried moving a pencil and could not. He considered that what Jesus said was either wrong or that he did not have enough faith. This dilemma is more correctly resolved with a better understanding of context. For example, If one considers that Jesus was telling his disciples what they could expect to experience when the kingdom was established for Israel, we might not read ourselves into every situation.

There are Old Testament prophecies that supernatural phenomena would be operative in the kingdom. The bible tells those in New Testament times that the supernatural works they did were just a taste of the age to come (Heb 6:5). The fact that no other book in the world has accurately described future events like the bible alone testifies that it is from God.

Many have undertaken to attack the bible under the guise of the truth of “science” like evolution (nothing existed and then it blew up and became everything) even though no one has ever observed any life “evolving”. When one takes a closer look at how the bible is attacked, it becomes obvious that the bible is what is true. We might think of the bible as a pipeline from God to us. We should not be surprised that the enemies of God would try to cripple us by turning us from our connection with our creator.

There are many reasons we have become disconnected from the bible. One problem is accepting what so-called experts say. We need to be searching the scriptures ourselves to see what is true.

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