PRINT

 RSS

EMAIL

With all the negativity being thrown at Christianity today, you might be tempted to say that Americans think it isn’t.

But surprisingly, an American Bible Society survey shows that 69% of Americans “believe the Bible provides answers on how to live a meaningful life.”

However, while this is encouraging, there are quite a few statistics that should give us concern.

Statistics such as these:

--79% say they are knowledgeable of the Bible but 54% couldn’t name the first five books
--46% believe the Bible, Koran, and Book of Mormon teach the same spiritual truths.      
--46% only read the Bible “no more than once or twice a year.”
--The average number of Bibles in a household is 4.3, with 85% of households owning a Bible.

It seems to me there’s a disconnect. Many people believe the Bible to be relevant, but very few read the Bible and know what’s in it.

When asked what frustrated them the most about reading the Bible, the most common answer was ”never had enough time to read it.” It is blamed on the busy-ness of life.

My response is, codswallop. (I’ve always wanted to use that word.) This is always the easy answer because everyone can relate to it. But I don’t agree. I believe they can’t find the time to read the Bible because it just isn’t a priority. If I told them of a book that will show them how to take their money and grow it tenfold year after year I would bet they would find the time for reading that book.

Or maybe people are saying leading a meaningful life just isn’t important to them.

As the author said at the end of his article, “So is the Bible really relevant in 2012? You won’t know until you read it.” But you won’t read it unless you take the time to make it a priority.