Sometimes I just do not know how to say things in a way that does not come across as offensive to some. Since this is one of those times I guess I should just come right out and say it. There is a decidedly anti-intellectual mind set in much of the Christian Church and I believe that it is responsible for a lot of the angst that the Church is experiencing today. It is almost like being personally familiar with the Bible and the writings of Church theologians are bad things. I am not sure why this is, but it seems to have a greater effect on how the world views Christians than one might expect. I was surprised to find out just how many people that I know who are good Christians but have not bothered to pick up and read a Bible in years. I was shocked to find out how many Christians have not read the Bible at all. They may have picked it up and turned to a passage that they heard in Church or they may have earnestly started to read the Bible and gave up after the first few chapters in Genesis. Some will even tell you that the Old Testament does not matter; it is what Jesus said in the New Testament that counts. Even then many of these people have not bothered to read the New Testament either.

The only deviation of this is that it seems like everyone has read the book of Revelations and generally more than once. Why is that? It is kind of like reading the last chapter of a fiction novel to find out what happens and then never bothering to read the rest of the story and discover what leads up to the conclusion. Every likes all the damnation and hell fire and the sinners really getting it in the end but no one is much interested in why Christ told us to pray for our enemies and forgive them when they trespass against us. I guess this is akin to slowing down to look at the crash on the side of the road. Reading Revelations gives us the Biblical version of gapping at an accident and thinking ‘That sure looks bad. Boy I’m glad that didn’t happen to me.’

Anyways, why do Christians shy away from reading the Bible and other good sources of information that may help them understand what God is saying to them? Most every Church member has heard of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Aquinas, Saint Augustine and John Wesley but very few people have actually read any of their works to see what they had to say about Christianity and faith. That is really sad considering the fact that those are the very people who established the theology, liturgy and beliefs that are the basis of most every Christian Church in the world. In fact if it was not for the bravery and moral conviction of Martin Luther it would have taken the Bible a lot longer to get in to the hands of average people and there may have been no reformed theology to become the basis of the Protestant Reformation. There are theologians who gave their lives in order for the common man to be able to obtain, read and interpret them Bible for themselves.

Think of these martyrs and then consider what their legacy has become. Instead of people reading the book that these brave men and women died to put in our hands, some people opt to have their total exposure to the Bible via what their Priest, Minister, Pastor or Reverend reads to them every Sunday and possibly (for those really dedicated learners) on Wednesday night Bible study. The Bible was wrestled from the hands of a very dogmatic Roman Catholic Church and translated from its Latin and Greek forms in to the common vernacular of just about every country on Earth and now almost five hundred years later the average Joe Christian rarely bothers to read it. To say that the run of the mill congregant is ignorant of the beliefs that he or she professes to follow is being somewhat optimistic. In reality it is probably the vast majority of those sitting on a pew on Sunday mornings.

I am sure that every Christian household has at least one Bible in it. I am also sure that most non Christian households contain at least one Bible. Now with all these Bibles lying around one would think that Christians would do a lot of Bible reading but this does not seem to be the case. In fact some of the most astute Bible readers seem to be the atheists and agnostics who read the Bible in order to debate Christians on their beliefs. It is heartbreaking to watch someone who professes a strong faith lose an argument with an atheist mainly because the atheist had a better knowledge of Scripture than the believer.

This is why so many Christians can not defend their beliefs when confronted by even the simplest argument of an agnostic or atheist. Eventually things break down to heated words and name calling and this behavior does not cast Christianity in a good light to any bystanders who might be observing. All this does is play in to the hands of the antagonistic unbeliever. His arguments are predicated on getting the Christian to lose his temper and appear ignorant to anyone watching. This is easy to do if a Christian does not possess a rudimentary understanding of his beliefs and a basic knowledge of Christian history.

It seems that we have lost the meaning of what Paul was telling us in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” How can someone test and approve what God’s will is if they do not even know if the book of Romans is in the New or Old Testament? Paul is basically telling believers to wise up and learn what God’s will is so that they will not be fooled by false teachings or lead astray by false prophets. If believers don’t know what Christ’s teachings are then how can they defend the faith when it comes under attack? How can they know when they are being lied to or being lead down the wide path to destruction?

Unfortunately all this leads to the misconception of many unbelievers that Christians are just ignorant rubes, being lead by their noses through a fairy tale story that they can not and will not understand. One can attempt to make the argument that it does not matter what others think because believers know the truth. I do not think that is a very good or useful point of view. How can a Christian effectively witness to an unbeliever if the unbeliever feels that he or she is hearing from someone who is uneducated in their own faith? The unbeliever is immediately prejudiced against God and His saving grace and is not receptive to the Gospel message. Might I suggest that when we put on the armor of God that we also educate ourselves in its usage?

The Lord wants us to read His word and to study it. He needs us question it and put it to the test because when we discover that His word is true it glorifies Him and prepares us to be good and useful servants to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we witness we will know of what we speak and that too will glorify our Creator as well as assisting in turning the view of Christian ignorance in to a myth. In all we do we should seek glorify our Father in Heaven. We should know and understand His word and be ready to share it with anyone who crosses our path and seems to be in need of hearing the good news. If we plant a seed and water it with an accurate understanding of the faith then should God cause that seed to sprout it will be well nourished with a righteous understanding of God’s good and perfect will.

The anti-intellectual attitude with in the Christian Church must be done away with in order to preserve the true gospel that Jesus Christ gave us. We most know and understand God’s word so that those who would invade the body are recognized for what they are and rejected for the over health of the Christian community. Look at the liberal changes that are happening with in most of the major protestant denominations today. Sin is being redefined and what is abhorrent to the Lord is being taught to new congregants as being something that is good and pleasing before God. Liberal leaders of the visible Church feel that lowering the bar of sin will attract new members, but what point is there to attract someone to the Church if the convictions of the Church will damn them to hell? Could the motivation be more money in the coffers?

If more worshipers where aware of what the Bible teaches us then these types of heresies would not be as easy to perpetrate on the modern Christian Church as they seem to be. Christ’s commandments have not changed in two thousand years and the God’s word is the same as it always has been, but because of the lack of Christian education, discernment of the truth is a lot harder than it use to be. All members of the body of Christ must pick up the Bible and educate themselves. It should become a daily habit to read a few chapters and then think upon them. Christians should be reading books explaining the history of their faith to them and why we do what we do for our Lord and Savior. Only then will we as Christians stand firm against the misconceptions of our beliefs by the outside world and against the heresies that arise from within. God be with us and bless us all!

Another Pilgrim