"Because the Bible Says So" Is Not Good Enough
A Case For More Apologetic Teaching in Today's Church
Let me be clear, I believe that the Bible is to be the ultimate authority in a Christian's life, and EVERY WORD is accurate and inspired by God. Because the Bible says so should be enough for a Christian, but sadly it is not.
The Barna Group has an article out today titled New Research Explores How Different Generations View and Use the Bible. It is at the same time interesting and very sad. It really highlights a problem that I have recently come to see a the root of a lot of the problems we are currently seeing in the modern Church, specifically, a low view of scripture. The Authority of scripture is not emphasized, and Apologetics is rarely taught, if at all.
The survey sited in the article defined four generations.
- Mosaic generation - ages 18 to 25
- Busters are those ages 26 to 44
- Boomers are 45 to 63
- Elders are 64-plus.
Researchers found three similarities amoung all four groups.
- Over 50% of all four age groups consider the Bible a sacred book.
- Right at 25% of all four groups have the “highest” view of the Bible – that it is “the actual word of God and should be taken literally, word for word.” (Mosaics: 27%, Busters: 27%, Boomers: 23%, and one-third of Elders 34%)
- 20-25% of all four groups have the "lowest view" of scripture - that "the Bible is not inspired by God." (Mosaics: 25%, Busters: 19%, Boomers: 22%, and Elders: 22%).
The differences between the four groups are more interesting, and show a bad trend towards a lack of belief in the authority of scripture. This is illustrated by the following six areas of belief, or lack of belief.
- Bible as Sacred:
"9 out of 10 Boomers and Elders described the Bible as sacred, which compares to 8 out of 10 Busters (81%) and just 2 out of 3 Mosaics (67%)" - Accuracy of the Bible:
"Just 30% of Mosaics and 39% of Busters firmly believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches, compared with 46% of Boomers and 58% of Elders." - Acceptance of Universalism:
"Among Mosaics, a majority (56%) believes the Bible teaches the same spiritual truths as other sacred texts, which compares with 4 out of 10 Busters and Boomers, and one-third of Elders." - Skepticism of Origins of Manuscripts:
"Young adults are more likely to express skepticism about the original manuscripts of the Bible than is true of older adults." - Less engagement with the Bible:
"Busters and Mosaics are less likely than average to have spent time alone in the last week praying and reading the Bible for at least 15 minutes. Interestingly, none of the four generations were particularly likely to say they aspired to read the Bible more as a means of improving their spiritual lives." - Biblical Appetite:
"Despite the generational decline in many Bible metrics, one departure from the typical pattern is the fact that younger adults, especially Mosaics (19%), express a slightly above-average interest in gaining additional Bible knowledge. This compares with 12% of Boomers and 9% of Elders."
This study gives us a picture of American society that is about 50% accepting of the Bible as sacred, but 30-50% accept universalism and only 30-40% believe in the Bible's complete accuracy.
We live in an age were the average person has more information at their fingertips than ever before, and the younger generations are consuming that information as fast as they can get it, but most of what they hear and read concerning the Bible either negative, or completely false. But if you look at the last point in the study, 19% of our youngest adults "express a slightly above-average interest in gaining additional Bible knowledge." I would bet that if we fed the curiosity of that 19%, a good portion of the rest would then become interested.
We (the Church) are doing a horrible job of teaching the historicity and factual accuracy of the Bible, let alone the spiritual truth of the Bible. We need to equip ourselves and fellow Christians with the knowledge, skill and desire to defend the Bible and all that it teaches to the world. Our young people need to know how to defend what they believe. If they can't even defend the provable history and facts in the Bible, how do we expect them to be willing to share their faith to an increasingly skeptical peer group? Heck, how many of us can defend what we believe to our own kids when the come home from high school and college with their heads filled with all of differing beliefs and philosophies taught by their teachers and professors?
"Because the Bible says so" is no longer good enough.
