John_C quotes:
"Plus Christians are becoming increasingly ignorant of the Bible."
After doing some research online, I came across this little fact. In 1647, in the Massachusetts Bay in New England, there was an act passed called "The Old Deluder Act."
Here is what it says:
It being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times by keeping them in an unknown tongue, so in these latter times by persuading from the use of tongues, that so that at least the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded and corrupted with false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers; and to the end that learning may not be buried in the grave of our forefathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors.
It is therefore ordered that every township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to fifty households shall forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in general, by way of supply, as the major part of those that order the prudentials of the town shall appoint; provided those that send their children be not oppressed by paying much more than they can have them taught for in other towns.
And it is further ordered, that when any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families or householders, they shall set up a grammar school, the master thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the university, provided that if any town neglect the performance hereof above one year that every such town shall pay 5 pounds to the next school till they shall perform this order.
The interesting thing here is in the realization that the main reason that these townships were setting up primary schools was for the purpose of making their children literate so that they could read the Holy Scriptures for themselves.
So in early Colonial America, children were going to school to become literate so as to be able to read the Bible.
During this time in American history, Colonial children were brought up in the Scriptures. They attended church where the Bible was read and preached from. (in which Scripture reading, sermons and the worship service lasted a lot longer then today) They were required to learn and know primers and catechisms. There was also Bible reading in the home or in public places.(when people couldn't own a Bible for themselves)
Now of course, I don't expect our secular culture to ever become like this and my focus isn't on our culture. My focus is on the church. I think it's incredible that in the past you had a whole society stringently advocating and or enforcing Bible literacy and today, you can't even find this kind of focus in the Church.
The Church has lost pretty much all disciplinary power, even the Reformed Church. There is nothing a Church can really do to "require" it's members to take Bible reading and study seriously. All it can do, is have a strong focus on Scripture from the pulpit and from the Sunday School curriculum and "encourage" it's members to read their Bibles. It can require the church leaders (elders/deacons) to study and take tests, but this is only a small part of the congregation. So basically at the end of it all, all the church can do is urge and encourage members to read their Bibles.
The problem in this of course is that there are people who are not going to have the desire to read their Bibles. So the question is, should we "force" people in the church to read and learn their Bibles? The early colonial people seemed to think so. They seemed to think that in order to preserve and protect the Protestant Church from Err and Heresy, that what was needed to prevent Satan from destroying the church and culture, was requiring "all" of it's people to learn and know the Bible.
When I was a member of the PCUSA, the Da Vinci Code was published and to my utter frustration and amazement, it was a topic of interest in that church. It reflected/mirrored the congregations lack of Biblical knowledge. There was even a Sunday School class on it, where it was viewed as interesting and not refuted! There was a total lack of understanding of Gnosticism and how damaging and heretical the Da Vinci Code was. They simply just didn't understand the implications of the book all because they didn't know their Bibles. Words like "heresy", "err", and "apostasy" are "no-no" words. These are words of intolerancy, of fundimental right winged ultra-conservative bigots. So things like the Da Vinci Code, because they are the newest hype are embraced because it is a cause for socialization. A good means to draw and keep people interested in coming back to church.
In today's market driven, seeker sensitive, mega-church ideology, anything that might drive away the "goats" is looked upon as wrong. The main focus in these churches is keeping members (especially the reprobate) and to grow. So the focus ultimately shifts from sound Biblical truth and giving God glory to that of secular thought and giving the self glory. So obviously when this happens, the Bible starts to become less and less important, to the point that, it only serves to provide moral narratives to encourage right living dictated by secular thought.
For further reading go to this
article on Banner of Truth.Soli Deo Gloria,
Dave.