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What's Your
BIBLE 1
?
•
by
Richard H. Sedliacik
What is the Bible? Why was it written? And to whom? Why do so
few really understand the Bible? Read
this eye-opening article for the surprising answers!
B
IBLICAL
i~
norance
l S
considered
"respectable" to–
day.
"It
is one of the
curious phenomena
of modern times,"
comments J.B.
Phillips in
The
Young Church in
A ction,
"that it is
considered perfect–
ly respectable to be
abysmally ignorant
of the Chri s tian
faith.
"Paradoxically ,
men and women who
would be deeply
ashamed of having
their ignorance ex–
posed in matters of
poetry, music, or painting, for
example, are not in the least per–
turbed to be found ignorant of the
New Testament" (p. 6) .
And so the Bible has become lit–
tle more than an obsolete sacred
book to which most of its devotees
pay lip service, but which they
practically never read, study or
understand!
What are sorne of the underlying
reasons for such widespread bibli–
cal ignorance and lack of under–
standing in the world today? .
Sep tember, 1981
No t Even Theologians
Understand?
You might expect that atheists and
agnostics would not understand the
purpose of the Bible and what it says.
But would you expect that many of
today's Jeading ministers and theolo–
gians tbemselves don't understand
the significance of the Book they pro–
fess to understand? Not when you
understand that they have assumed as
true the hypotheses and theories
taught today in semin'aries and
schools of theology!
Typical of com–
mentary by leading
theologians and bibli–
cal scholars today is
this from a minister
of a major church
denomination:
"No mainstream
Christian church ac–
cepts the Bible as the
literal interpretation
of the Word of God.
Sorne of it is folklore,
sorne legend , sorne
tribal history. "
Another theolo–
gian summed up the
modern trend thi s
way: "We must take
the Bible seriously;
but not literally."
N o wonder the
ordinary layman has
backed away from
the Bible.
The trouble with most people is
that they have taken for granted what
other people say about the Bible!
Most people- including church
laymen and many in the clergy–
have not taken the time to really
look into tbe Bible and study it for
themselves! They simply have nev–
er provea what they have come to
accept as truth.
What the Blble IS
Believe it or not, the Bible was written
for our day, this age- this generation!
7