Rampant Biblical Illiteracy

"Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence."

-- 1 Peter 3:15 --

Am I alone in thinking that the majority of church goers today are Biblically illiterate and/or just plain ignorant? Is the church today neglecting sound doctrine for the sake of unity? As the time come when many churches “will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires” (2 Timothy 4:3).

It just seems like people no longer care. They get their weekly fix of praising Jesus, who they know little about, for one hour on a Sunday morning, then live out the rest of the week as if He doesn’t exist, or maybe they have too much on their plate like attending their grandchildren’s sports events. Whatever is going on today, Biblical illiteracy among professing Christians is becoming a pandemic. No wonder why the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has nearly eighteen million members world-wide! They are filling a gap that is left wide open by traditional Christian churches that use to faithfully teach sound doctrine to their congregations. The LDS and the Jehovah’s Witnesses would love to spend a year filling this gap by teaching people their false theology. Sadly, there are Christians today who really believe they worship the same Jesus as the Mormons do. I could probably walk into any church today and recruit at least half of their members to one of the aforementioned cults! Hopefully, their church’s leadership is very aware that those two nice young men, each wearing a white shirt and tie, and going door to door in a neighborhood near you, will succeed in doing this.

I had a conversation a few weeks ago with a gentleman who attended the same church for over forty years. I was telling him about some of the verses the Jehovah’s Witnesses use to prove that Jesus isn’t God. The last part of one verse (John 14:28) states, “the Father is greater than I.” He gave me this puzzled look then asked, “is this in the Bible?” I should have answered, “yes, in 2nd Hezekiah 2:15, look it up,” but I didn’t. I thought, how can you attend the same church for over forty years and not know what is in the Bible. This gentleman is not alone. The 2022 State of Theology (thestateoftheology.com) Survey by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research yielded the following results:

• 48% of American evangelicals agree that God learns and adapts to different circumstances.

• 65% of American evangelicals agree that everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.

• 56% of American evangelicals agree that God accepts the worship of all religions including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

• 43% of American evangelicals agree that Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.

• 26% of American evangelicals agree that the Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true.

• 38% of American evangelicals agree that religious belief is a matter of personal opinion; it is not about objective truth.

• 37% of American evangelicals agree that gender identity is a matter of choice.

• 28% of American evangelicals agree that the Bible’s condemnation of homosexual behaviors doesn’t apply today.

This survey concludes the following:

“These results convey the ongoing need for the church to be engaged in apologetics, helping unbelievers by providing a well-reasoned defense of the Christian faith, and helping believers by strengthening their clarity and conviction regarding why they believe what they do. Additionally, the people of God must continue to obey the Great Commission by communicating the whole counsel of God in biblical evangelism and discipleship. The need is great, but the power and promises of God can equip the church to bring truth and light to a deceived and dark world.”

I cannot imagine what the results would yield if this same survey was given today.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations cited in this post are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.