Are youth Bible illiterates and what to do about it!
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| Reflecting God Study Bible (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Youth workers from throughout the repeatedly talk of the average teens with whom they interact are biblically illiterate. Need proof? Ask teens to name even half of the Ten Commandments (or where to locate them in the Bible). Ask them why Jesus had to die. Where is the account of how God created the world? In what book would I find the story of Paul’s conversion? An important goal of youth ministry must be to rescue a generation of teens who are drowning in an ocean of relativism, a sea of uncertainty. Even many Christian teens are led more by their emotions than by God’s Word. Our youth need to know they are loved by their very Creator and are precious in His sight. Other religions, fighting for their souls, do not have a living, loving God who provided the solution for their sin problem. It may sound narrow, but Christianity is the only religion that corresponds to reality. Combining the truths of the Bible with logical, critical thinking will yield a clear understanding that other religions cannot also be true. Our youth need to know that you can care for a person even though you disagree with his religious beliefs. In fact, those who care deeply will help their friends think and pray seriously about the implications of their beliefs.
ut what does knowing the Bible do for a person in a “practical” sense? The Christian Scriptures alone give solid, positive answers to life’s ultimate questions. The Bible provides comfort and strength for the inevitable and numerous tough times. A good friend of mine recalls how the Bible verses and traditional hymns were what carried him through the dark nights following his daughter’s untimely death. Knowing the character of God—the depth of His eternal love for us—took away the anger. The truths of the Bible helped him go from despair to hope.
The majority of teens are egocentric; life is about them. With consistent, solid, prayerful Bible study, they learn that life is about God and their relationship to Him. What they learn in the Bible and at church must touch all areas of their life. Bible study is not a “church thing.” It is what Christians do to equip themselves for life’s unrelenting struggles. It is part of the whole armor of God (see Ephesians 6:10-17). Even the students themselves tell us that they want their Christian faith to touch all of their lives, and they want someone to teach them. They also want to see authentic Christianity modeled with integrity.
Integrity, in Greek, means “cut from the same cloth.” So basically, a Christian with integrity is one who is the same at church, at work, on the ball field, at home, or sitting with the TV remote in his hand. A Christian with integrity sees all of life through a biblical worldview—a view of life based on the truths of the Bible, the truths of who God is and who man is, created in His image.
You probably know the story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Why did everyone go along with the story fed to them by the tailor except one boy who spoke the truth? That story’s premise isn’t too far fetched. That’s the kind of thing that happens when people don’t think for themselves and just latch on to what everyone else says. They want to be “politically correct.” Scripture, however, tell us to “destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God” and that we are to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (1 Cor. 10:5). Give them the roots and wings they need. But it will take a little effort, a little thinking, some planning, and a lot of praying.
Worldviews, Biblical and otherwise
As we listen to radio, read newspapers and magazines, watch TV, and surf the web, we are bombarded by conflicting philosophies or worldviews. What is a worldview? Basically, a worldview is the set of lenses through which one views all of life. It colors one’s understanding of life’s experiences. A person’s worldview colors everything he does, whether he knows it or not. Ideas are not just interesting thoughts to be tossed around. Ideas have consequences. One’s ideas about how and why the world operates—one’s worldview—will impact a person’s decisions concerning abortion, evolution, marriage—all areas of life, personal and in community.
A study of worldviews is beyond the scope of this chapter. But always keep in mind that the goal of Bible study is not merely knowledge of facts. The goal is transformed lives, young people who are confident in their faith, and whose biblical worldview gives them courage and compassion for others.
To have a biblical worldview, you must first know the Bible and what it teaches concerning God, man, sin, salvation, and even the Bible itself. You must be convinced that the Bible is God’s word, contains the Truth, and is trustworthy. How do our teens measure up?
In the book, Pushing the Limits: Unleashing the Potential of Student Ministry, almost 80 percent of teens will no longer participate in organized religion/church by the time they reach adulthood. The number of students who are turning from their faiths demonstrates their ill-preparedness for living out their Christianity in a hostile society.”4 The battle for their minds and hearts begins when they are very young. If they do not choose to live with a biblical worldview, then another worldview will take its place. There is no neutral ground, no vacuum.
Comprehension, challenged by doubts
After talking to several high schoolers at local churches, I saw a few common concerns about even studying the Bible: “My teacher said the Bible was written down by people, and since people are fallible, the Bible must be also.” “The Bible doesn’t seem relevant to me. Why should I read it?” “I already know all of the stories in the Bible.” “If I do try to read it, I don’t know where to start.” “It’s too confusing—you say a passage means one thing and my friend says another.” “There are so many different versions, which one should you believe?”
These are honest questions that deserve solid answers. Indeed, they require answers that point them in the direction of Truth and a life long commitment to it. Lingering questions about the Bible’s accuracy can breed spiritual skepticism. Satan will always try to cast doubt on what God says. At the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, he challenged Eve by asking, “Did God really say that?” These seeds of suspicion, unless removed, can grow to strangle a person’s faith. Lack of knowledge of the truths in the Bible and misunderstandings about God can open the door to acceptance of the relativism of our age, to a worldview that contradicts the biblical worldview.
At the beginning of any Bible study you should show your students the trustworthiness and authenticity of the Bible. If it is not reliable, then there is no reason to trust it and make it THE authority of your life, let alone waste time reading a “bunch of old fashion stories.” Second, they need a plan for studying the Bible. They need to decide where to begin, either in their personal study or in small groups. What will help them both understand what they read and apply it to their lives? Third, it is important to tackle some of those difficult “contradictory” passages. It is far better to discuss these in your Bible study than to throw the students unprepared to the skeptical wolves. There is always that dilemma that arises when someone says something like he can hate his parents because it is in the Bible—or any number of “interesting” decisions that are made when verses arbitrarily are pulled out of context. So, to put them on the right track, teach them some basics of hermeneutics. This is just a scholarly word for proper, logical, consistent biblical interpretations, guidelines.
It’s the Real Thing: Authenticity of the Bible
For my book Stand Strong In College (Carol Stream, Illinois: Focus On the Family / Tyndale, 2007), I personally interviewed over 100 college students. These were mostly freshmen and sophomores, not too far removed from their high school and youth group days, representing over three dozen U.S. states. Of those who experienced spiritually dry period while in college, almost all cited uncertainty about the Bible’s authenticity as the starting point of their struggle. Just because a teen comes from an exemplary Christian home or is faithful in youth group does not guarantee that they are adequately prepared for the probable attacks on Scripture that they will hear while in college. Readers young and old must handle the challenges often made to the trustworthiness of the Bible. Because the truth of Christianity is inseparably bound up with the historicity of the New Testament, we must not only discuss with teens with its content but also its compelling credibility.
Faith is certainly at the heart of our belief in the Bible, but the book that we trust as God’s Word is also a superbly written, historically documented work. It was written by real people, in a real period of history, for a specific purpose and message. Many noted individuals have stepped out to prove the Bible wrong. In the process, critical thinkers like C. S. Lewis (a highly respected literary scholar), Lee Strobel (an award winning journalist who earned a law degree from Yale), and Ann Rice (a best-selling author, known for her meticulous historical research), all moved from doubt to belief as their studies bred within them the firm conviction that the Bible is indeed reliable. They (and countless others) have found both internal and external evidence that the Bible is the Word of God.
External evidence
By external we mean non-biblical sources. The facts are clear: Compared to all ancient books (e.g., Homer’s Illiad, Plato’s Republic, Caesar’s Gallic Wars), the Bible has the oldest copies, the most numerous copies, and the most accurate copies.5 Sir Frederick Kenyon declares, "It cannot be too strongly asserted that in substance the text of the Bible is certain: especially is this the case with the New Testament. The number of manuscripts of the NT, of early translations from it, and of quotations from it in the oldest writers in the church, is so large that it is practically certain that the true reading of every doubtful passage is preserved in some one or other of these ancient authorities. This can be said of no other ancient book in the world."6 All but eleven verses of the Bible can be reproduced from quotes by the Church Fathers. It is not myth; it is not fabricated. Your students need to know that the Bible is infallible and inerrant. Infallible refers to not misleading. Thus, Scripture is a safe, reliable guide in all matters. Inerrant means free from all falsehood or mistakes, and so the Bible is trustworthy. God Himself says His word cannot be broken (John 10:35b).
Secular historian and archeologists give support to many of the claims in the Bible. As Nelson Glueck, a well known Jewish archeologist, wrote, “It may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.”7 “William F. Albright (called, “The father of modern archeology”), said, “There is no doubt that archeology has confirmed the historicity of the Old Testament.”8
Internal evidence
Within the Bible itself there is evidence that the Bible is the Word of God. Internal evidence includes such things as prophecies foretold in the Bible which actually came true. For example, over 300 Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah’s first coming were fulfilled by the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ.9 George Heron, a French mathematician, calculated that the odds of one man fulfilling only 40 of those prophecies are 1 in 10 to the power of 157. That is a 1 followed by 157 zeros.10 (In other words, a statistical impossibility!).
The Gospel of Luke stands out in its remarkable accuracy of historical facts. It contains at least 70 different facts revealing the author’s knowledge of local places, names, conditions, customs, and circumstances, all which have been verified by historical and archeological research. In his book The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History, Colin Hemer, a noted Roman historian, confirms Luke’s accuracy.11 Once again, the stones cried out to confirm what the Bible has taught all along. You can easily do some reading to find other examples to share with your students.
Jesus Himself treated the Scriptures as being literally true (see Luke 24:25; John 17:1-17). His disciples and the early church knew nothing but a literal belief in the Word of God. In fact, to believe otherwise forces you to abandon rational thought. You must engage in mental gymnastics, crimes against language, semantical contortions, historical revision, and intellectual grandstanding, not to mention “pulling rank theologically” arguing against the likes of St. Paul, the Prophets, Augustine, and Aquinas.
Implications of the evidence
In response to such evidence and data, teens may say, “So what?” They should know that that is a good, honest question. So, the Bible’s content and divine origin can be defended by many compelling lines of evidence. The Bible, then, must be true (as it claims itself to be). Great. Why should this matter to a teen? Consider a few things. First, there are disastrous theological consequences resulting from any other view. If God is not powerful enough to clearly communicate and preserve a message, what basis do you have for believing that God is able to do “larger” more difficult things, like saving a soul or providing a home in heaven? Personally, I want my view of Scripture to be the opposite of Satan’s. In Genesis 3:1 he causes Eve to doubt God’s word. The great Deceiver works unceasingly to cause you to doubt, to deny, and to disobey God’s Word. Satan’s goal is deception and death for you. That’s another consideration: the reality of hell. The Bible says it is real. Jesus speaks more of hell than He does of heaven. If the Bible is just a collection of vague generalities, then sin, death, and hell must not be that serious.
Yes, I believe the Bible is true- literally, historically, actually, genuinely, factually, perennially, existentially, and comprehensively. Every person will find out sooner or later that what the Bible teaches is accurate, either in this life or the next.
Have a plan, Stan: How to study the Bible
Even students who understand the importance of belief in the Bible and accept that it is true still have questions. One of the most common concerns is where to start reading.12 What do they need to read for encouragement, inspiration, and to become more equipped to help others? I am told that after they read a selection, often they are left feeling like they only understand the story portions. To some, it seems there is nothing new or interesting, and they cannot relate to the Bible. A key to reaching them, then, seems to be relevancy. Bible study must be more than just facts. We must apply the principles to real life, to the situations these youth are encountering every day—dating, sex, ethics at school and work, handling emotions, drinking, choice of music and TV programs, godly living, and use of the internet.
Getting started
Before beginning any Bible study, pray. It is the Holy Spirit who illuminates our minds, give us the spiritual understandings we seek. James said, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:6). Ask Him to guide you as you decide on a book to study. The Gospel of Mark is a good book because of its conciseness. It presents Jesus as the Suffering Servant. The Gospel of John is strong theologically and presents Jesus as the Son of God. Perhaps your group is interested more in a topical study. Using a concordance and a topical Bible, you can identify passages that relate to a specific area or do a word study.
A careful reading first looks for what the passage meant to the people to whom it was written. From this you glean principles, and these principles can be applied to your own life. As Norman Geisler says, “To interpret we must in every case reproduce the sense the Scriptural writer intended for his own words.” And this must be done “before we go on to name the relationships between that meaning and ourselves, our country, our day, and our conception of things; that is, before we consider the significance of the text for us.”13
When studying an entire book, read straight through. This gives a valuable sense of what the author is saying. Many of the New Testament books are epistles, letters written to churches. Treat the epistles as you do any letter, and read it in one sitting. If possible, read it in both a strict translation and a modern, “looser” paraphrase. Then ask yourself if the passage tells you who wrote it, to whom, when, where, why, and of course, what—what is the main theme. From this, you glean principles which may be applied to your own life. Get in the habit of always keeping paper or a notebook and pen by you to take notes. Some people enjoy journaling their thoughts.
Another technique is to make a list of the events (if applicable) or thoughts in a chapter. Look at the list and see if the events fall into grouping or divisions. Label these divisions. Then think of a theme or subject sentence of that passage. This, in essence, is like writing an outline in reverse. Once you have established the who, what, when, and why as it applies to the original audience, decide on some lessons you think the recipients could have learned from each section. Translate this into principles that could be applied by anyone in any era. To facilitate discussion, phrase the questions in such a way as to encourage discussion rather than a mere yes or no response.
Study aids (I favor the hard copies)
In addition to the Bible itself, I would encourage each to own hard-copies of some basic study aids. It is true that there are plenty of online Bible study resources, many of which are very helpful. But I believe that there is no substitute for spending time before an open Bible, digging into the Word, taking notes, all the while referencing back and forth with an assortment of time-tested study resources. One of the best ways we disciple teens is to teach them to disciple themselves. Make sure that your students know how to find key verses by using their concordance. Tell them that God won’t get mad if you write in His book- it is OK to underline verses and to write notes in the margins of their Bible! Additionally, here are some recommended study tools that will provide great insights and help to all users:
A Bible Dictionary (There are several good ones available; select one produced by a reputable Christian publisher).
A one-volume concordance (I recommend Strong’s Concordance or Young’s Analytical Concordance. You can use these books to look up any word used in the Bible. Note the number given, look the number up in the back to see the original Greek or Hebrew word)
A Bible handbook (Check out such classics as Halley’s Bible Handbook or Willmington’s Bible Handbook. Either of these will provide a wealth of information about people, places, history, and just plain interesting facts related to the Bible. Seriously, start reading either of these handbooks and you’ll find that they are hard to put down).
A dictionary of New Testament words (Specifically, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Like Bible dictionaries, several reputable publishers print versions of this venerable work. Vine’s provides detailed explanations and examples of usage for every Greek word in the New Testament. You’ll uncover nuances and meanings that make the Bible come alive in new ways).
A Bible commentary (such as the Bible Knowledge Commentary, Volumes I and II (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1983). Commentaries provide good explanations of books, chapters, and individual verses. Teens should remember that the content of any commentary- to one degree or another- will incorporate the author’s own bias. That is not necessarily a bad thing, just something to keep in mind. Rather than taking everything at face value, we must always keep going back to Scripture, and should judge man’s words in light of God’s).
An interlinear New Testament (You probably already know that an interlinear Bible puts the original language text on the page right underneath the English words. You can look at the New Testament words and see a numbered Greek word right alongside its translated counterpart. Flip to the lexicon in the back, and viola! Mucho info about each specific word that makes up our New Testament. An interlinear New Testament can look pretty intimidating at first glance, and I’ll admit that many of your teens may not want to get into their Bible to this level. But these books can be navigated fairly painlessly, and are quite helpful).
A “history of Christianity” book (Allow me to recommend three wonderful church history books. Each of these contains a wealth of information that is helpful to understanding the Bible. The following books are each a great read in its own right, they are not expensive, and I wish your teens would own them all. They are: The 5-Minute Church Historian, by Rick Cornish and Bruce Shelley (Navpress, 2005); The Complete Book of When and Where in the Bible, by E. Michael Rusten and Sharon Rusten (Tyndale, 2005); and Christianity Through the Centuries, by Earle Cairns (Zondervan, 1996).
Apologetics books (Knowledge of apologetics- why we believe what we believe- is mandatory for Christians today. My own book STAND: Core Truths You Must Know For An Unshakable Faith (Tyndale, 2005) is written at a 7th-grade reading level, explains the six most important themes of the Bible, and gives reasons why we hold them. The “magnum opus” of apologetics content is The Baker Encyclopedia of Apologetics, by Norman L. Geisler, Ph.D. This one-volume work covers every imaginable issue related to apologetics and defense of the Biblical worldview).
While it is true that I lean toward the “hard copies” for serious study- books, research journals, and lots of my own scribbled-up legal pads- I don’t want to minimize use of the resources that are online. An exhaustive listing of internet Bible study sites is, of course, impossible. But here are a few URL’s that I especially recommend:
Bible.org
BibleGateway.com
NTCanon.org
Scriptures.com
EarlyChristianWritings.com
Inerrancy.com
Biblical Hermeneutics: Principles of integration
Your students will ask about some problems area—apparent contradictions or inconsistencies or difficulty understanding passages.14 One good general rule is that if it makes sense using common sense, don’t twist it into nonsense. When a literal meaning works, use it. “Jesus never sought a hidden or secondary meaning when interpreting the Old Testament Scriptures. On the contrary, He consistently interpreted the Old Testament quite literally, including the Creation account of Adam and Eve (Matt. 13:35; 25:34; Mark 10:6), Noah’s Ark and the Flood (Matt. 24:38-39; Luke 17:26-27), and Jonah and the whale (Matt. 12:39-41), Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10:15), and the account of Lot and his wife (Luke 17:28-20)”15
Baker’s Dictionary of Theology sums up a solid hermeneutical approach, advising us that the Bible should be interpreted literally, according to typical rules of grammar, within its historical context, and one passage cannot be interpreted in a way that conflicts with other passages.16 When difficulties arise, there are three words that can solve many interpretation dilemmas. These are: context; colloquial, and comprehensive. Here’s what I mean…
Context: Looking at the larger setting
A sure way to come to a hasty conclusion is to pull one verse out of context. For example, the Bible says, “There is no God.” But Psalm 14:1 actually says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Most critics like to supposedly create a moral or ethical dilemma regarding things the Bible records by ignoring context. Nothing in scripture contradicts itself. Show your students that cults frequently pull scripture out of context and create doctrines out of it. You will only end in error if you base a teaching on an obscure passage, where meaning is not always clear.
Reading in context generally means, at a minimum, reading both the chapter before and after the one you are studying. Remember also to interpret difficult passages in the light of clear ones in other chapters or books of the Bible. Even the use of specific words can be compared for clarity. “Studying parallel passages can be one of the most helpful ways to decipher the true meaning of a word or phrase. If one passage is obscure, the other may be clear enough to shed light on the obscure one.”17
Colloquialisms: Understanding figures of speech
We must also remember that God used the peculiarities of speech, personalities, and culture of His pen men. An agrarian culture should not be expected to speak in the same terms as our informational and scientific age. If a passage is not intended to have precision, it is not an error when precision by our standards is not found. The truthfulness of Scripture is not negated by either irregularities of grammar or spelling, or seeming discrepancies between two passages.18 None of these minor differences affect any of the doctrines. The Bible also includes a variety of genre, or types of writing—history, poetry, hyperbole, metaphors, narratives, and epistles (letters, correspondence with a godly message to the recipients). Thus, a metaphor would obviously be interpreted figuratively, and letters might not necessarily present events in chronological order.
If a literal translation does not make normal sense, the writer is probably using some figure of speech. Jesus often spoke in parables. When He said, “I am the door” (John 10:9), we know He doesn’t literally mean He is a wooden object leading into a room. When Scripture speaks of God having wings, from all we know about God from the Bible, it does not mean He literally has physical wings. Symbolic language has its place in the Bible, as it does in other pieces of literature.
Comprehensive: Keep the overall message in mind
Keep in mind that the overall message of the Bible is salvation is through God’s Son, Jesus Christ.19 Look at the whole panorama/message of God’s revelation through this Truth. Apologist Hank Hanegraaft often says that the Old Testament is the “background music” playing as you read the New Testament. The Bible’s consistent harmonization with itself is amazing and beautiful. The comprehensive theme is, “God’s Son, and how you may know Him.” The 66 books of the Bible were written by 40 human agents specifically chosen by God, spanning 1,600-2,000 years, with one common theme running throughout—the Messiah, Jesus Christ. No one but God could give us such a unified, powerful book. The Bible is not a haphazard collection of books.
tying it All Together
One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture is Psalm 119:93 (NLT), which says, “I will never forget your commandments, for by them you give me life.” Clearly, the Bible is vital to both salvation and Christian growth. Because we are not called merely to be converts but disciples, study of God’s Word is an inseparable part of a consistent Christian life. There are eight basic things to keep in mind as you approach God’s Word. The Bible is faithfully handled when read (1) prayerfully; (2) reverently; (3) personally; (4) contextually; (5) textually; (6) applicably; (7) consistently; and (8) obediently. It has been said that, “When the scripture makes clear sense, seek no other sense, or you will have nonsense.”
Remind teens that the Bible is a priceless roadmap for decision making and godly living (What does the text say? What is my responsibility in light of what the text says?). God’s Word should guide our beliefs, our behavior, and our worship. With a commitment to these eight basics, your students’ lives will be transformed.
Notes:
1 http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=40728. Accessed September 3, 2007.
2 Carter, Tom, ed. 2,200 Quotations From the Writings of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1998. Page 365.
3 Summit Ministries: Resources: Truth & Consequences Archive. “Leading a Worldview Study: The Experiences of One College Student” by Christina K. http://www.summit.org/resource/tc/ archive/0707. Accessed July 30, 2007 ).
4 Mike Calhoun and Mel Walker, Pushing the Limits: Unleashing the Potential of Student Ministry (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 120.
5 For an overview of the Bible’s manuscripts in comparison with other ancient texts, see Alex McFarland, The Ten Most Common Objections to Christianity (Ventura, California: Regal Books, 2007).
6 Sir Frederick Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, 4th Edition (New York: Harper and Row, 1958), p.55.
7 Nelson Glueck, Rivers in the Desert: History of Negev (New York: Farrar, Straus & Cadahy, 1959), 31.
8 William F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religions of Israel (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1968), p. 176.
9 Josh McDowell, Evidence for Christianity: Historical Evidences for the Christian Faith (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 193.
10 http://biblia.com/jesusbible/prophecies.htm. Accessed August 3, 2007. Accessed August 7, 2007.
11 Colin Hemer, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1990).
12 For a good book on Bible study see Howard G. Hendricks and William D. Hendricks, Living by the Book (Chicago: Moody Press, 1993).
13 Norman L. Geisler, Inerrancy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980), 118, 119.
14 An excellent resource for handing difficult passages is Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe, When Critics Ask (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1992).
15 Ron Rhodes’ downloadable article, Esotericism and Biblical Interpretation, can be accessed on the web at http://home.earthlink.net/~ronrhodes/Esotericism.html
16 E. Harrison, ed., Baker’s Dictionary of Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1960).
17 W. M. H. Paterson, L. Fuerringer, and C. O. Hofmann, Biblical Hermeneutics http://wls.wels.net/library/Essays/ Authors/L/LillegardHermeneutics/LillegardHermeneutics.pdf
18 Geisler, Inerrancy, 500.
19 For a helpful overview of the Bible which clearly shows the unit of the Bible’s message, see Norman L. Geisler, To Understand the Bible Look for Jesus (Chicago: Moody Press, 1975).
