Christian, Find Your Bible

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen 

This post is likely to offend and enrage people, but I have to tell the truth. Sure, people say that as an excuse for being unkind, but keep reading to discern my motives.

It is a sad fact that many professing Christians are effectively non-Christian heretics, accepting things that are contrary to the Bible that they claim to believe. The Word of God is the source of life, but many are unaware of its contents. They will not even read it.

Image credit: pazham at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Take six minutes and read (or listen to the audio by my favorite reader), "The Scandal of Biblical Illiteracy" and then come back.

A bane of social media is when people will simply ignore the content and make uninformed comments, and the linked material often contradicts their opinions. (This is one reason I seldom make my titles into questions such as, "Was Adam the First Man?") I've mentioned before that when I asked someone if they read the article on a biblical subject, the reply was that they read something years ago and didn't need to read that one. So, you can't learn more?

Let's face it, many professing Christians are lazy. That's a big reason for functional heresy and biblical illiteracy — and firing off uninformed opinions without checking out the material. (Sure, we all do it sometimes, but some folks make it a lifestyle.) We recently had the eleventh annual Question Evolution Day. I was reluctant to participate in an observance of my own making after the tenth annual because, from what I observed, most people who claimed to support it couldn't even be bothered to even share a post with a hashtag. (I'll allow that on places like Facebook, privacy settings make sharing invisible to people who aren't their friends, but it seemed that there was still a great deal of apathy.) The eleventh annual had some people who cared, however.

Christians must learn what and why they believe. Indeed, many need to examine themselves and see if they are truly saved. Their primary focus should be about the basics of the faith and submit to biblical authority. That naturally flows into biblical creation. We need to be willing to spend time learning, but the idea of studying the Bible may have boring connotations of spending hours each day with notebooks, felt highlighters, commentaries, learning the original languages, and so forth.

Such detailed study may not be for everyone (I'm no polished and shining example of that), but at least read your Bibles. Here's a simple plan: Proverbs has thirty-one chapters, so read one a month, plus one Psalm a month. Add to that a chapter from the New Testament. Later, you can add a more comprehensive reading and study method. You savvy that, pilgrim?

Professing atheists (there are no real atheists, Romans 1:18-20) spend more time learning their talking points and misrepresentations than most professing Christians spend reading and understanding their Bibles. When we neglect the Word of God as well as teachings from sermons, articles, audio and video — no wonder those atheists effectively tie us to chairs and kick us down the basement steps.

Atheism is a religion for lazy people. We don't have the luxury of sitting back and saying, "I lack belief. Give me evidence", then rejecting everything presented. Jesus never said following him would be easy! But it's worth it. The same with apologetics, which is the next level. Those of us who specialize in creation apologetics have to do even more. God has blessed us with several ministries from which to draw.

None of this means we can't have fun or hobbies. If someone knows all the statistics of a sports team and its players, or what is happening in the entertainment industry in detail, they need to check their priorities mighty quick.

Some of us on the lay level are doing creation apologetics, which requires learning the material and presenting it to others. I am not a genius, scholar, or scientist, but I still try to give glory to God and equip the saints so that we can all learn and participate. We draw from numerous sources. Then we can help build each other up.

Some are called to more advanced levels. What follows gives several examples and plans for personal growth and also preparation for those called to an apologetics ministry — especially young people.

Those wishing to make progress or to minister in creation science, or apologetics, need to apply themselves to study. This is especially written with young people in mind, and includes study within secular schools, colleges, or universities, but must also involve a serious study of Scripture. The Bible needs to be read at an intellectual level, and also devotionally. Devotional application leads to the spiritual transformation of the believer. We often think of study as a necessary activity. For some it is perceived as a necessary evil, and it is often seen as being divorced from the spiritual life. But that is not the case.

The discipline of study leads to spiritual maturity, and the development of service towards God. This is true whether that means pastoral ministry, evangelism, missionary service, working in the charity sector, or in ‘creation science’ apologetics; that is, the defence of biblical creation.

To read the rest, see "Creation science and the discipline of study." Excuse me while I work on developing my own study plans more fully.