It's not just about knowledge
There’s been much talk in recent years about ‘Biblical Illiteracy’. There is a growing concern that people, inside and outside the church, don’t know the basics of the biblical story. This was illustrated extremely vividly to me when the film ‘The Passion of the Christ’ was released a few years ago. Many of the people I knew who went to see it were totally confused by the film, because they didn’t have a basic grasp on the story of Jesus.
There’s no denying that ‘Biblical Illiteracy’ is a growing problem. However, if I’m honest, I’m not sure I really like the words ‘Biblical Illiteracy’. Firstly, it’s probably because I wasn’t a huge fan of literacy at school, therefore the word brings back bad memories! Secondly, and more seriously, when we talk of ‘Biblical Illiteracy’ being the problem, it means that ‘Biblical Literacy’ is the solution. It’s here, if we are not careful, that we can easily miss the point. ‘Biblical Literacy’ is really just about having knowledge of the Bible. Yes, knowledge of the Bible is important, but it is not what it is all about. We need a certain degree of knowledge before we can accept Jesus Christ and knowledge will help our ‘roots go deep’, but as far as I am aware there is not going to be a Bible knowledge test at the gates of heaven before we are allowed to enter!
It appears to me that God is much more interested in wisdom than he is knowledge. You can know the Bible inside-out and still be a complete fool – wisdom is putting knowledge into practice.
We shouldn’t be approaching the Bible simply to gain knowledge - in my mind that makes reading the Bible pretty boring. Instead we should read the Bible because we want to discover more about the living God and the plan He has for our lives.
When I think about the current problem of biblical illiteracy, I look back at my own Sunday School days and consider the reasons why I, relatively speaking, know my Bible quite well. There are many explanations I could provide. However, one of them is the annual, dreaded by all, Scripture Exam! Upon reflection I am, in part, grateful for them as they got me studying the Bible. However, I really think that in so many ways they missed the point. Yes, they helped me learn the stories and increased my knowledge of the Bible a great deal. I learnt lots about the life of David and the missionary journey’s of Paul. I learnt what places Paul went to, in what order, and what happened to him at each location. These dreaded ‘Scripture Exams’ really did give me an excellent grounding in many Bible stories. The problem was I don’t think they taught me anything about what all this had to do with me. They increased my knowledge, but they didn’t change my life. They didn’t help me connect these stories to my life.
We need to address the problem of ‘Biblical Illiteracy’; we need to engage today’s young people with the Bible. An understanding of the biblical story is essential as it provides us with a framework to understand God and his plans for us, it explains why Jesus is so important and it helps us interpret life. However, within all of this we need to remember that knowledge of the Bible is not an end in itself; it’s the means to an end. If our Bible study does not lead us to a closer encounter with God and a transformed life we need to re-think what we are doing.
Questions to consider:
- How well do the young people you work with know the Bible and its overarching story?
- How well do you know the Bible and its overarching story?
- Why do you think ‘Bible knowledge’ is important?
- Why is it important that we don’t stop and just knowledge?
- Is the youth work you are involved in just increasing people’s bible knowledge, or is it changing lives?
Phil Green, *essential project director
