Falling on Deaf Ears?—Why So Many Churches Hear So Little of the Bible

AlbertMohler.com ^ | 10-14-13 | Albert Mohler

[ReformationFan]

“It is well and good for the preacher to base his sermon on the Bible, but he better get to something relevant pretty quickly, or we start mentally to check out.” That stunningly clear sentence reflects one of the most amazing, tragic, and lamentable characteristics of contemporary Christianity: an impatience with the Word of God.

The sentence above comes from Mark Galli, senior managing editor of Christianity Today in an essay entitled, “Yawning at the Word.” In just a few hundred words, he captures the tragedy of a church increasingly impatient with and resistant to the reading and preaching of the Bible. We may wince when we read him relate his recent experiences, but we also recognize the ring of truth. Galli was told to cut down on the biblical references in his sermon. “You’ll lose people,” the staff member warned. In a Bible study session on creation, the teacher was requested to come back the next Sunday prepared to take questions at the expense of reading the relevant scriptural texts on the doctrine. Cutting down on the number of Bible verses “would save time and, it was strongly implied, would better hold people’s interest.” As Galli reflected, “Anyone who’s been in the preaching and teaching business knows these are not isolated examples but represent the larger reality.”

[my small voice]

Amen. Talk about overkill. Attract new members with a rock concert while abandoning the people who are there now by eliminating the old hymns! I said it was a mistake 10 years ago and I stand by that comment today.

We go to a Bible church (that we love), but it is all I can do to make it through the music.

[narses]

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[haffast]

Hmm - I keep a good Bible on my iPhone, and is a service really the best time to do Bible reading? I know that I need to do my reading in a quiet, disciplined fashion....

A quiet time of Bible study is good to be able to hear over our own voice to hear the Holy Spirit teach us.

Acts 17:11 - New International Version (NIV)

11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

[haffast]

Good song. Thanks.

(Kinda sad, yet glad, the Gaither era/generations had a revival, and now may be passing on into Glory.)

[OrangeHoof]

Any church that reads and teaches only out of the King James Version, I can understand the problem.

I grew up with the New American Standard Bible and even that now is starting to sound archaic in places.

Some of the newer versions are easier to hear and relate to but may not always be the most precise translation.

Yet, deep down, it is the human heart that has the problem. Those that are hungry for God’s Word will take the time to study it and understand it. Those that don’t will find any excuse not to.

The Holy Spirit will provide the wisdom and understanding if you take the time to read with an open and sincere heart.

Timothy says it best in “2 Timothy 3”:

1 But realize this that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God,

5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

I emphasize verse five. They will *claim* they know God but they will deny God’s infinite power. That, to me, represents quite a few churches that have decided to compromise with God’s clear commands in order to satisfy their lusts or because they, in their blindness, believe they know better than God does when it comes to some topics.

Jesus will tell them “I do not know you.”

[Stingray]

“...including emphasis on expositional preaching.”

I’ve come to the conclusion that most expositional preaching is nothing more than an excuse for some people to interject their own agendas into the text (prosperity preachers are notorious for this.)

I’ve had enough of junk theology preached from the pulpit.

[TMA62]

“Don’t use too much scripture, you’ll loose people”.

The making of LIC (Low Information Christians)

[SoConPubbie]

Which means if people were sharing Jesus' teachings in the proper way, with "gentleness and a humble heart," that "easy yoke," that "rest," is what those hearing those teachings would experience. Instead however, people arrogantly teach damnation, against Jesus' instructions, and drive people away - and straight into the hells that have plagued the world to this day.

And yet some of the greatest, Holy-Spirit driven Revivals were started by men who dared preached about Heaven AND Hell and our just deserts if we did not Repent and Believe the Gospel.

Men like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley and many of those that followed in their foot steps.

They did not tailor their message so as to not offend, but spoke the truth plainly and convincingly, and as a result, God the Holy Spirit blessed their efforts with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of born-again converts to Christianity, not just those who had "Accepted" Jesus, but those who had truly repented and received the Spirit of the Love of God in their hearts crying "Abba Father"....

[SoConPubbie]

Any church that reads and teaches only out of the King James Version, I can understand the problem.

And yet millions through multiple centuries have found God, have repented and believed and received the Holy Spirit using just that version.

Could the problem not be the version of the bible used, but the watered-down, ineffective, non-offending sermons preached from it?

[crazycatlady]

What could be more relevant than the Bible?

I think churches are making a mistake by trying to attract seekers by trying to make church too fun and entertaining. When I was housesitting in Seattle I went to a Presbyterian Church I hadn’t been to in 2 or 3 years and was disappointed in how watered-down things had gotten.

When I moved to Everett I sampled 4 churches before settling on one. There are literally dozens of churches in downtown Everett if you count storefront churches. Now I will be frank and hope I don’t hurt any feelings. At the Baptist church the people were very nice but the sermon too long and they sang that awful new music ad nauseum. Hardly anybody, even the preacher, was dressed up. The Episcopal church seemed to be a lot of ceremony, props and costumes and not too much substance. She preached about the Prodigal son, which was OK.
Judging by the bulletin, they are heavily into environmental causes. The Presbyterian church on Wall and Rockefeller is very historic( as is practically everything in downtown Everett) has a good organ and serves the best food. At least they sang old hymns. But I didn’t like how they managed volunteers at the rummage sale. The Presbyterian church on Hoyt, where I now go, is part of Presbyterian Church in America and fairly old school. Yesterday the pastor preached from a book of one of the well-known Old Testament prophets, the Sunday before it was an obscure prophet I’d never heard if(I confess I haven’t read the whole Bible.) I think he hits the right note between verbatim scripture and the rest of the sermon. His sermons are not too long. And we do sing old hymns. Yesterday was the first time I heard him mention a hot social issue(gay marriage) in so many words. So I don’t expect them to be hanging rainbow banners up as so many of the churches in Seattle have. Sunday before there were pro-life flyers in the bulletin, though they weren’t mentioned in the sermon.

[mlizzy]

Cracks me up when folks contend Catholic’s unfamiliarity with the Bible...Each Mass has a reading from the Old Testament, one from the New, and a Gospel...Citing chapter and verse is a parlor game, having little to do with the knowledge of the Bible.

Yes! It's true. Catholics are fed Holy Scripture [along with the Body of Christ] on Sundays, and daily too! The homily then reflects the readings. Here is a photograph of our Weekday Missal, well worn, which is the condition of many a missal one will see at daily Mass. This is Volume 1; Volume 2 (which we are currently using) is out in the car, which we will be perusing in a few hours. :)

And to be reminded (of the readings) throughout the day, I go to Salvation's "daily" threads of Catholic Readings that she provides, along with a plethora of other Good information -- (here is yesterday's; today's will be shortly forthcoming): http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3081884/posts

Thank you, Salvation, for all that you do!

[mlizzy]

Correction: the link given above is to TODAY’s readings. Salvation is on top of things!! :)

[Biggirl]

Do not forget also that the beautiful icons also do the job of preaching the scriptures of God as well.

[Biggirl]

They forget the famous saying from St. Jerome, “ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ”.

[Honorary Serb]

Indeed they do!!!!

And so do the Orthodox Sacraments, every one of which is mentioned in the Scriptures (unless the Scriptures are misinterpreted and/or mistranslated).

[GailA]

501C3 ties a good preacher’s hands. And all churches want it to stretch their donation $$.

The truth does not matter to these false preachers, it is outside the limit of the Bible.

[PeterPrinciple]

For all:

Get in the habit of asking people one of two questions when you go to church:

1) What did you hear in the sermon?

2) What did you read in your Bible this past week?

This will tell you a lot about your church. But, be prepared to answer that question too.

[PeterPrinciple]

But you’re free to judge and condemn if you’d like, since I don’t carry a leather-bound book with me when I go to church ...

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Why is an observation so IMMEDIATELY thought of as judgment and condemnation? (rather than a learning and correction opportunity) The world has been VERY EFFECTIVE in it’s JUDGE NOT message, hasn’t it?

[PeterPrinciple]

Amen. Talk about overkill. Attract new members with a rock concert while abandoning the people who are there now by eliminating the old hymns! I said it was a mistake 10 years ago and I stand by that comment today.

---

Right now I am in a cocoon, working my way out as to the purpose of the church. Like most problems, it is several things coming together for the “perfect storm” It is not just the music, but that is a part of it.

Our retired preacher vested every church in town and I asked him what he observed. He keyed in on two things. Passive/active involvement of the congregation and music. In essence the mechanics.

“Some churches have responsive reading and a lot congregation involvement, others just listen, we do a good job of balancing. Some churches have modern music, others old. We have a good mix of both in our church so we are doing pretty good.”

I am still thinking this through......................

[OrangeHoof]

And yet millions through multiple centuries have found God, have repented and believed and received the Holy Spirit using just that version.

True but expecting the modern churchgoer to wade through thiseth and thoueth and all sorts of archaic words is an impediment to understanding God's truths. It's like expecting today's people to understand Beowolf.

Languages change and words change their meaning. As long as the translations from the original Greek and Hebrew are steadfast, using the words and idioms of the 21st century can only enhance understanding, not impede it.

The KJV was a remarkable work in its time but so was the Model T.