Why We Don't Read It

It = the Bible

Another interesting tidbit – while I was driving around last week I happened to hear an interview of Woodrow Kroll from Back to the Bible. He was being interviewed on a local Christian channel (88.3 fm) on a show called Christian Life Today. (I tried to find the website and a tape of the show, but was unsuccessful. It seems that this was just a fill in show and doesn’t normally air on this channel.) The topic was “Why Don’t People Read Their Bible”(right up my alley) and Kroll’s answers were amazing. In an odd way, I felt that his answer(s) to this question also answered the question of why our children/Christian kids are leaving the church in droves.

I’m going to attempt to relay some of the information that I heard, but please be aware of the fact that my memory is terrible and I would much rather have redirected you directly to the interview, but as far as I can tell it does not exist anywhere online (even my dear husband who can locate just about anything couldn’t find it).

Here are some of the facts as I recall them:

1. The main answer to the question of why people do not read their Bible is lack of time. People say they simply do not have the time. But the consensus on the show was that we find time for things that we deem important.

2. Kroll said that he took a stop watch and timed just how long it took him to read the Bible from cover to cover and he found (and I may not have the time exactly right, but close I think) that it only takes about a half an hour to read the Bible half way through so it is possible to read the entire Bible in about an hour or two. (Even if I’m a little off here, the point is that you could probably easily read the entire Bible in a few weeks or a month.)

3. He gave these facts – he said that if you read your Bible 0-1 times a week then you are the same as a non-Christian and there will be no noticeable change in your lifestyle from that of a person who does not claim to know Christ. He said that if you read your Bible 2-3 times a week, there will be a slight change in lifestyle from that of a non-Christian, and if you read your Bible 4 or more times a week, your life will be significantly different from those who do not read their Bible or only read it 0-3 times a week. He said that this was scientifically proven, but I’m not sure where he got his facts or how he proved this.

4. He said that he used to work for Liberty University (a Christian college) and that he was in charge of giving the incoming students an exam to test their knowledge of the Bible so that the college would know where to place the students in their religion classes. He said that in the year 1980 (early 80's) the college had something like 1100 incoming students – all of them from Christian backgrounds - and that of these 1100 students only 85 or so scored 50% on the test (they only had to score 50% to pass; my numbers are probably off a bit, I think the number was actually less than 85 students, but I wanted to give a higher number just in case - but regardless you get the point, the number was a two digit number and the results were horrible) the rest failed. The point being that we are raising children that are biblically illiterate and who do not have, or know, or are able to articulate what a Christian worldview is. We are raising children that do not read or know their Bible.

5. And this was the most amazing and scariest point he made – he said that he polled a large group of Christian teens and asked them where they go to hear from God; as in what source they use when they want to know God’s will for their life. Do you know what their answer was? They ask their friends! They go to their peers! They are going to their friends to figure out God’s will for their life! If that information doesn’t bother you…it should.

~Friends are great and a wonderful resource (as are blogs and online resources), but please go to your Bible first, then go to God in prayer, then go to someone who has more wisdom than you (preferably someone with an in depth knowledge of scripture) and ask their opinion about your dilemma, question, etc. ~

I wish I could find the tape of this show because it was so enlightening and there was much more said. It's my guess that much of the information that was presented is in Woodrow Kroll’s book, Taking Back the Good Book, but I haven’t read it. As I said, I just stumbled upon this show but since it was on topic, I wanted to share the information as I recalled it. If anyone knows where I can find this message in its entirety, I would be grateful.

I hope I haven’t misrepresented too much of what was said, I’ve done my best to be as accurate as I can.

I think it is interesting and scary stuff and definitely worth pondering.

P.S. My two cents about instilling a Christian worldview and raising readers of the Word: The church isn’t dropping the ball; we parents are. It is our job to raise biblically literate children and children with a Christian worldview. The church’s job is to add to what the children learn at home. One Sunday a week is not going to give your child enough information for them to be able to combat all the liberal anti-God doctrine they will be surrounded with once they leave the safe confines of your home and head to college.

Day by day; precept by precept; step by step...

You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. –Deuteronomy 10:19