That Explains Something

A neighboring pastor asked the question on Facebook. He wanted some help in making plans for the coming September. He has been holding a weekly Bible Study at his church and he asked for suggestions. On his Facebook site he got a lot of help, but there was a strange consistency. Nobody suggested any books of the Bible. This was to be a Bible Study group and the pastor wanted suggestions on which book of the Bible might be interesting to a group, and all the suggestions were things other than the Bible.

There were lots of good suggestions. There was a suggestion about a study of the seven major sins. That is a good series. We did that in my previous congregation for Lent. It was a good program and it was a helpful discussion about the attitudes and desires of sin, and not the specific acts that are sins. There were good suggestions about a number of popular books that would make a good study. Still coming are suggestions like Purpose Driven Life, The Shack, the Prayer of Jabez, and others. Nothing wrong with these books. I knew a pastor who had a Wednesday morning round table discussion group that read all kinds of things. But this was a request for Bible Study, and he got no suggestions.

There is a great concern among most of the religious leaders that I read about the lack of Biblical knowledge in the congregations. Teachers of preachers tell students that they will have to do more explaining of the Biblical story when they want to use the Bible because most people in the congregation will not be familiar with the Biblical stories. Sunday School Classes seem to find other things to teach besides the Biblical stories. Of course, one notices that lots of preachers do not even use the Bible as the text of their sermons any more.

The lack of suggestions for good Biblical studies in response to that inquiry is just another clue as to why nobody knows the Bible. When those pastors had Bible studies, they did not study the Bible.