I would like to comment on the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey that was recently released. The headline read “Non Believers Score Best on Faith Survey”. What does this actually mean, and why? The poll said that half of those who call themselves Christians don’t know what the first four Gospels are. It’s a sad commentary on Christian life when atheists know more about Christianity than most regular churchgoers. What causes this? In my opinion, the blame can squarely be placed on what is coming out of the pulpit, or more importantly, what is not coming out of the pulpit. It is a shame that in a great number of churches, reading and bringing the Bible is not even suggested or encouraged. Most churchgoers just sit and listen to some vague story about work righteousness or some aspect of the social gospel or just go to be “religutained”, so they can walk out feeling good when they leave. It’s no wonder, as the survey suggests, that people who call themselves Christians don’t know about the Bible, compared to atheists who sometimes study the Bible in order to refute it. Some churches now focus on the small stuff – parking cars, PowerPoint presentations that are visually appealing, praise band musical numbers, serving coffee, and making sure the cookies are fresh instead of focusing in with a laser beam on Salvation. We know of some churches that don’t even allow the words sin and repentance to be used in a sermon because they don’t want to offend anyone. We certainly wouldn’t want anyone to leave church, contemplating what they must do to seek eternal life. Some ministers are holding the hands of their parishioners as they walk towards the beach of the Lake of Fire where no one will be offended as they jump right on in; I call that “ministerial malpractice”.
I am thankful for a handful of preachers and churches that still find it their calling to preach from the Bible and actually believe in the Bible as it is written. As I’ve been heard to say, “Good preaching works every time it’s tried”. It is incumbent upon us ministers to educate our parishioners in what the Bible says, encourage them to read it, and get involved in Bible studies with a big dose of prayer mixed in, so that we can know what Christianity actually means. We are to go forward and preach the gospel to all nations, that’s our great commission, but we can’t do that if we don’t even know what Christianity is all about. That way, when the next survey comes out, Christians will actually know something about what they say they believe in.
pray4u@chaplaincare.us
