Last week I wrote about James Emery White’s book The Rise of the Nones. The Nones referred to in the title are those people who indicate that they have no religious affiliation. Studies have found that since WWII the number of Nones has increased from 5% of the population in the 1940s to 20% in 2013. Over half of that number has come in the last 15 years.  White contends that one of the reasons modern churches are failing because they are using Peter’s method of witnessing in Acts 2 when we need to be using Paul’s methodology from Acts 17. Peter was witnessing to Jews who had religious understanding of God and the scriptures and he tapped into that knowledge while he witnessed.  On the other hand, Paul was dealing with the intellectuals of Athens who had little knowledge of God and didn’t particularly want any new knowledge of Him.  Consequently, Paul’s understanding of their unbelief shaped the way way he presented the gospel.  White believes that the churches are treating those outside the church like Peter’s audience when they are much more like Paul’s.

The “nones” are important to reach because the body of Christ can only grow when new members are added to the “church” not just moved around from denomination to denomination. The old Pink Panther movies were a riot and I think Peter Sellers was a comic genius. In one of the scenes of the first Pink Panther movie Inspector Jacques Clouseau is trying to get into a window with another man by standing on his shoulders, but he cannot reach. He says, “Wait, you can stand on my shoulders, you are taller than me.” Well, obviously, that doesn’t change anything at all. That is much like the modern churches. Exchanging members with other neighborhood churches does not increase the size of the Body of Christ. We live in challenging times, and as usual, the answers on how to meet the challenges can be found in the Word. We need to look at how Paul dealt with the problem of recruiting the uninterested because that is a majority of the people we deal with on a daily basis. In the meantime, we can do what Christ, through the Apostle Paul calls us to do… “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-4)

There is no doubt that Bible literacy over the past eighty years has decreased exponentially to the point where the most common Bible themes and teachings elude the average reader. I taught English for many years and there are so many Biblical allusions in classic literature that at least some rudimentary knowledge of the Bible is necessary to understand many of our greatest literary works. Unfortunately, I saw fewer and fewer students who could recognize even the most obvious Biblical connections. Well-known Bible accounts such as Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark, David and Goliath, and others drew blank stares from the students. Every year I had to give more and more Biblical information to the students before I could explain how the allusion fit into the story. We are in a time where over half our population does not know who the vice-president is; do we really expect them to know who Lazarus was? We have to learn from Peter and Paul that the presentation of our message must be fitted to our audience.

Jay Leno once went into the audience to test their Bible knowledge. Only one person even ventured a guess on one of the Ten Commandments. “God helps them who help themselves?” he said.  Nope, sorry. Not even in the Bible, much less the Ten Commandments.  No one in the audience could name even one apostle, but almost everyone one of them could name the four Beatles.  A  recent Gallup survey found that only two of ten people know who delivered the Sermon on the Mount and typically most people can only name three or four of the Ten Commandments (not good, but beating Leno’s audience decisively).  Remember, we live in a country where over 80% of the people say they are Christian.  There is a simple Bible test that has been circulated among churches over the past few years. The average score is usually somewhere around atrocious. It is thought that practicing Christians should do well on this test, so the poor scores seems to indicate that there are a lot un-practicing Christians out there.  So the stage is set.  We are witnessing to people outside the church who say they are Christians but have no desire to go to church, read the Bible, or know the things of God.

Part of the problem in the U.S. is that Christians set the spiritual bar for the rest of the country.  If Christians are not in the Word, the rest of the population will be in the Word even less.  Would we really expect the average man on the street to know who the prodigal son is if most Christians have no idea.  If we, who claim to know God, don’t care to read His words, why would we expect others to.  In China the people have have little access to Bibles, but find time to read. In America we have unrestricted access to Bibles, but find little time to read- that is called irony.

For many years now many families have relegated their Bible study to an hour of church or Sunday school weekly. During these difficult covid times families are finding out how important it is to have consistent schooling. Education that is hit and miss is not very effective. Distance learning without social interaction has had its negative effect on almost everyone, and that effect has been very noticeable.  Sadly many cannot see the connection between this forced isolation in our country and the voluntary isolation in their spiritual lives.

Most parents realize that their children can’t learn math or science in one hour a week with no homework, but find it fully acceptable for Bible study.  This is a trend that has resulted in Biblically illiterate adults who think Sodom and Gomorrah are two guys with really bad names. Only 16% of Christians say they read the Bible daily. With those few Christians reading the Bible, how much knowledge does the rest of the population have?

When I have a problem with one of my vehicles I take it to my mechanic.  In explaining the issues to me he uses all kinds of terminology that sails over my head.  I smile and nod my head politely, but I am virtually clueless about what he is saying.   I have never studied the workings of a car and my knowledge is just what I have picked up on my occasional breakdowns.   My mechanic is sharing truths with me that he would like me to understand, but  his great deal of knowledge combined with my lack of knowledge makes it a pretty fruitless goal. This experience is similar to what Biblically illiterate people must be thinking when someone approaches them with spiritual ideas.   It is incumbent on us to keep this in mind when we speak to others about the Lord.  Paul understood that and we can learn a lot from his evangelistic methods.

Next week we will look at Paul’s approach in Athens because the people of Athens sound a lot like the people we deal with everyday.

Part 3 next week!