Today, many people think Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple, including Christians. Since these statistics came out years ago, you might think church leaders would have addressed this problem. Mohler states:
Christians who lack biblical knowledge are the products of churches that marginalize biblical knowledge. Bible teaching now often accounts for only a diminishing fraction of the local congregation's time and attention. The move to small group ministry has certainly increased opportunities for fellowship, but many of these groups never get beyond superficial Bible study.
I am afraid Mohler is right on here. How many Bible studies are actually about studying the Bible? Yes, we have bible studies on how to manage our money, our families, how to raise boys, how to have Biblical sex ect.. Although these are issues that certainly need to be studied, there are almost no Bible studies that actually teach how to interpret the Bible consistently and exegetically.
How many people have actually read John 6 and dealt with the weighty theological issues of the nature of man and sin and God's Sovereignty? How many people have actually read through the Sermon on the Mount? How many preachers have preached through the Sermon on the Mount verse by verse? I am beginning to wonder if the above average layman could even define or defend the teachings of the "Five Solas"?
The problem of Biblical knowledge becomes even worse when God's Law is discussed. I have personally read the Old Testament several times, and I must confess that I remain ignorant of it. The main reason is, we never discuss it or take the time to study it. If there is going to be a true revival, I sure hope the Spirit starts by getting His people back to studying His Word, since He wrote it `n all.
5 comments:
A response to sprocketsandspokes.
Those kind of statements are so ridiculous that they really are not worth responding to (you are obviously repeating nonsense you hear from schoolmates or college professors or atheist websites, ect..). I have done so on many other occasions. You make far too many assumptions that I could not even begin to address them here.
I would like to demonstrate that your thinking is warped by just looking at your statement, "im a FIRM believer in the greatness of Christ. its his FOLLOWERS that one has to be weary of."
Why? Why do you think Christ is great? What is your source for doing so? Why is your "interpretation" better than everyone else's? Jesus loves His people, why do you hate them?
You are a snob and a snot. Readers of this BLOG are well aware of those kinds of silly ramblings that would never hold up in a debate (listen to Dr. White tear apart Dr. Crossan of the Jesus Seminar at http://aomin.org/mp3/shop.html?shop=list3#496). So please think before embarrassing yourself here.
You stated the problem is with Biblical knowledge, but I think it goes beyond that. J.P. Morland states in his book "Loving God with all your mind" that the problem with Americans today is that we practice Anti-intelluctilism. When the pilgrims first came to America they studied Literature, the arts, philosophy, and the Bible. We as a nation have become lazy in our dedication to love God with our mind.
Anonymous,
It is true that we do not practice studying the arts and philosophy as the Pilgrim's may have. Truth be known though, the Pilgrim's were hardly interested in these things outside of the Bible.
For them the Bible ungirded everything. It is how they approached the arts and philosophy. They critiqued philosophy from what they already knew Biblically. Therefore they did not approach these things outside of a Biblical worldview, but were instead proudly guided by it.
Today, Christian scholars and laymen alike are trying to act as if man can be neutral and objective without the Bible. We think we can look at the world objectively and then judge God to see if He is true. This I think has paved the way for Biblical ignorance. I also think it has paved the way for philosophical arrogance by man in general and the intellectual elite in particular.
God Bless
Why is it that Mohler rarely shares the gospel on his radio program or in his blog?!
I don't know anything about his radio program. So I can not speak to that here.
As for his BLOG, I think his purpose is to demonstrate how the Law and Gospel apply in our culture. It is true he doesn't seem to call men to repentance. He seems to be trying to look at things through a more scholarly approach?
Perhaps he doesn't see the BLOG as where men are told to believe in Christ but simply a place to have an exchange of ideas. Perhaps he believes that the proclamation of the Gospel should be done in person.
Write and ask him.
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