In promoting biblical literacy, I know that I'm being counter cultural. Not too many people these days actually study the bible. Lots seem to think they do, or at least they can quote it when it suits them. That's not the same thing.
At our "little church with a big mission" we'll begin reading on Thursday a little new testament book, the "letter" of First John, with lots of questions. Why did the early Christians consider this so important? What's the issue being addressed by they author? Does it have anything to do with the 21st Century?
Our age suffers from not just biblical illiteracy, but the view that nothing can be learned from the struggles of our ancestors. Past ages were so different from ours that they are now irrelevant, the thinking goes. It's a kind of snobbery.
I'm so excited when folks begin to let their guard down and just read the Bible for its own sake--no agenda, no pressure--just a lot of ways to encounter an expanded way of living. The Christian heritage, going back to Jesus' own self, has unique and precious things to say to the world. It would be a crime for Christians to forget that.
Let's go, Thursday-nighters! 7:30pm, same place.
