What Do Americans Really Think About the Bible?

We are emphasizing the story of the Bible at Westwood this year as we explore The Story together. Many of you know that The Bible miniseries on the History channel has drawn the attention of many people in the country to the Bible as the miniseries is being broadcast this month. The miniseries is setting records for the number of viewers for a non-sports cable TV show.

Now the Barna Group, a Christian research firm, in a survey commissioned by the American Bible Society, has provided insight into questions concerning how Americans view the Bible: What do Americans actually think about the Bible? Do they believe it to be sacred, authoritative or merely nonsense? Do they try to follow its exhortations, or do they regard the Bible as antiquated literature? Does the Bible still matter—besides television ratings—to Americans?

The Barna report on their survey concludes, “It’s easy to see why the Bible remains a cultural force in the United States. Yet, its future role looks very different than its past.“

Here are a few of the findings in the Barna survey:

• 88% of Americans own a Bible. That is a slight decline from 1993 when 92% of Americans owned a Bible.
• On average, American Bible owners have 3.5 Bibles in their home, and 24% of Bible owners have six or more.
• 79% of Mosaics (people aged 18-28) own a Bible, compared with 95% of Elders (who are ages 65-plus).
• It is not surprising that devoted Christians own Bibles, but the study finds that 59% who have no faith or who identify as atheists own a Bible.
• 80% of Americans identify the Bible as sacred literature, without any prompting from interviewers. That proportion has dipped from 2011, when 85% of respondents affirmed this perspective of the Bible.
• The above item may explain why 61% of American adults also say they wish they read the Bible more.

There is much more information in the Barna survey. If you would like to read more, go to www.barna.org, and follow the link to “What Do Americans Really Think About the Bible?”

This leads me to suggest to you that one way to share your faith with others is to encourage them to read the Bible. The story of the Bible has captivated people for many years, and continues to do so. Share with people your interest in the Bible and how reading it has affected your life. Tell people about how we are going through The Story this year, and encourage them to buy a copy (or give them one) and read it.

People sometimes ask me where to begin reading in the Bible. I tell them to begin with one of the Gospels — and I suggest they begin with Luke. Luke wrote to people seeking to find God, and his Gospel can still show people the way to God through Christ. Keep on learning from the Bible, and encourage other people to read the Bible and find their way to God.

THANK GOD FOR THE BIBLE

I have the privilege of serving on the board of Global Outreach for Christ, a small organization that provides support churches and individuals for Marty and Tina Ganong, Bible translators for a language in West Africa. The Ganong’s do their Bible translation through Pioneer Bible Translators (PBT). PBT recently celebrated the publication of their first full Bible translation. This week, Lindsay Davenport of PBT wrote the reflection below of the celebration that was held upon the publication of that Bible. It reminded me of how grateful to God we need to be for the numerous Bibles and translations that are available to us in English.

I was there as an observer. Up until this point, my closest tie to the Yalunka people was the many prayers I offered on their behalf and the numerous stories I heard about them from our president, Greg Pruett. Now I was privileged beyond words to witness these stories take on flesh before my very eyes as the Word of God came to life among them.

My eyes scanned the crowd of Yalunka men and women, hoping to absorb every snapshot of this historic moment – the dedication of the complete Bible in their language. It was actually the little things that stood out to me.

First there was the man who accepted the gift of a Bible with unbridled joy on his face. He didn't glance up from the Word for the next 15 minutes or so, opening the book and immediately beginning to read. He then struck up conversations with those around him, pointing to the text and smiling. Although I couldn't hear or understand his words, my heart sung with the realization, "He is Bible-less no more!"

Then there were the children, so curious about the many westerners who showed up for this momentous day. They were eager to hold my hands, have their picture taken and catch my attention with a smile. They are the first generation of Yalunka children to grow up with access to God’s Word in their language. As their parents become acquainted with and transformed by Scripture, so too, will they.

I watched the Yalunka church leaders unload the boxes of Bibles in front of the crowd and set them down reverently on the table. They methodically passed them out to each group of visitors according to the size of the church in their area. Some men received one or two, others were given entire boxes of Bibles to take home with them. At the conclusion of the ceremony, I choked up as these same men lifted the boxes to their shoulders and carried them off from the meeting place. I imagined the rejoicing of the saints waiting at home as the Bibles were delivered and could almost hear the sound of pages turning in church on Sunday as the pastor preached from the Yalunka Bible instead of the French.

I then observed one of our veteran missionaries open the Book, awe etched on the canvas of her face. I almost felt like an intruder on her private expression of praise for this long awaited day. She served for years as a literacy specialist among the Yalunka people, daily laboring to teach them to read so they could take ownership of the Scriptures once they were available. She placed her hand palm down on the pages of this Holy Book, closed her eyes and raised her head heavenward. The reverence in her countenance sang with mine, “They are Bible-less no more!”

Finally, my eyes caught sight of a woman standing in the back of the crowd, pulling her ear and looking intently at the ground below. As she dropped down on all fours to look for her earring, I saw Scripture played out before me - the vision of another woman sweeping her entire house in search of a lost coin (Luke 15:8). In that moment, I heard the whispers of the Father, "I am searching for every lost Yalunka soul - every…single…one."

As songs were sung in praise to God, as introductions of visitors from far away were made, as sermons were delivered and prayers prayed, my love and appreciation grew for the worldwide team who enabled this ministry among these beautiful people. We always describe the ministry of Pioneer Bible Translators as a team ministry, but the reality of this was never clearer to me than at that moment. God accomplished this work – our first completed Bible – through a team of missionaries, support personnel, donors and prayer warriors who each made sacrifices to see God’s Kingdom expand.

Together we look forward to the day when a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language will stand before the throne and before the Lamb (Rev. 7:9-10). On that day, none present will be mere observers, but full participants in the coming of His glory.

“The Lord is with you, O mighty person of valor.”

As we journey through The Story this year, I continue to be amazed at the people we read about in the Bible who served the Lord. Many of them did extraordinary things. We have seen some of these people in the past week as we have studied the book of Judges together.

One of the people in Judges who stands out is Gideon. The secret to the amazing things he did in rescuing Israel from the Midianites can be seen in how God called him: “The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ’The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor’” — Judges 6:12. Gideon was able to rescue Israel because the Lord was with him.

Charles Marsh, in his book Welcoming Justice, tells of Martin Luther King, Jr. having that kind of encounter with Christ:

“[In January 1956, Martin Luther King Jr.] returned home around midnight after a long day of organizational meetings. His wife and young daughter were already in bed, and King was eager to join them. But a threatening call—the kind of call he was getting as many as 30 to 40 times a day—interrupted his attempt to get some much-needed rest. When he tried to go back to bed, he could not shake the menacing voice that kept repeating the hateful words in his head.

“King got up, made a pot of coffee, and sat down at his kitchen table. With his head buried in his hands, he cried out to God. There in his kitchen in the middle of the night, when he had come to the end of strength, King met the living Christ in an experience that would carry him through the remainder of his life. ‘I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on,’ King later recalled. ‘He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone … He promised never to leave me, no never alone.’

“In the stillness of the Alabama night, the voice of Jesus proved more convincing than the threatening voice of the anonymous caller. The voice of Jesus gave him the courage to press through the tumultuous year of 1956 to the victorious end of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. More than that, it gave him a vision for ministry that would drive him for the rest of his life.”

One of the themes of the New Testament is what both Gideon and Martin Luther King, Jr. experienced — that God will be with us as he was with them and many others through the Bible and through history. Yes, God will be with you.

Later this month, we will come to this theme at the end of Jesus’ ministry. On March 24 and 31 we will take a break from The Story on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. On Palm Sunday, we will see in Matthew 21 how God honored Jesus in the Triumphal Entry, and on Easter Sunday, we will go to Matthew 28 and rejoice again in Jesus’ resurrection.

At the end of Matthew 28, Jesus makes the last promise of his ministry on earth when he says, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

You may think the people of the Bible did extraordinary things, but he is still with his people and is still doing extraordinary things through those who follow him. He can do extraordinary things in your life, too. He can influence people through you. He says to us as he did to Gideon, “The Lord is with you, O mighty person of valor.”