Prophecy Matters Blog

I routinely receive emails from people who lament the lack of Bible study and Bible preaching in American churches today. A gentleman this week wrote and said that for years, he has encountered relatively few people in the pews who seem interested in studying the Bible.

Of course, we've all heard for years that the Bible is often hard to understand. That is nonsense, if one believes in a Creator God who is able to communicate clearly with humans.

It is important to understand that the seeds for this lethargy were sown a very long time ago, as Enlightenment thinkers began to propose that Scripture was not the Word of God.

I have open in front of me a popular Bible study that was hatched in mainline churches two decades ago. The workbook looks like an intensive, wonderful Bible study. A lot of text, blank lines, etc.

Sadly, what unfolds as one reads it is an Enlightenment-soaked bias against the reality that the Bible is in fact the Word of God.

For example, the author of the study writes, about Genesis:

"The second (and much older of the two) Creation story (2:4-25) is a very ancient story, told long ago around campfires, under a star-studded sky. It was recited for centuries before it was written down."

The author prefaced that by saying that the "first Creation story" (Genesis 1:1-2; 4) is a "carefully worded poem of praise to God."

The "two Creation stories" heresy has been around for years and has influenced many people.

The truth is, a third-grader could read the first two chapters of Genesis and conclude that it is straightforward history of the creation of all things. Poems and campfire stories are not straightforward history.

These allegations against Scripture were necessary as liberal scholars sought to convince listeners that Genesis could be harmonized with the philosophy of naturalism, better known as Darwinism.

In other words, when liberal scholars attempt to attack the veracity of Scripture, they eventually take the heart and meaning out of it, at least in the minds of church members who assume the scholar is simply an unbiased, learned man.

In fact, the author of the particular Bible study I refer to became incensed during our correspondence some years ago, as I attempted to simply understand why he wrote, for example, that many OT figures were—according to him—fictional.

In the end, he told me that he had been a scholar for 40 years, as if that sealed it.

How sad. He played a significant role in turning people away from Bible study, in reality. At one time, his views were seen as heresy.

Today they have become mainstream.

And we wonder why people are leaving churches in droves.

jim@prophecymatters.com