Tonight Stephen and I were watching watching Jeopardy. (And here I will digress to say that Stephen beats me in answering most of the questions, but that's only because he forgets to say "who is/are" or "what is/are." If he played fair, I'd have him beat...yeah right. Well, if knowing the correct phrasology would get me there, I'd be on Jeopardy. "What is Fiddler on the Roof" or "I'll take 'pithy quotes' for $1000, Alex." Saying Mr. Trubeck's name is really important, too.)
Anyway, tonight on Jeopardy, one of the few (literally, one of only 2-3) questions that none of the contestants even guessed at was whose death Jesus was mourning when it was said of Him, "Jesus wept." It was a sad commentary on the Biblical illiteracy this reavealed not only among this triad of intelligent minds, but of many in America today. It reminded me of this article I read today about the findings of the "Bible Literacy Report," which includes this pathetic fact that "...eight percent of American teens...believe that Moses is one of the twelve Apostles."
The author misses the heart of the Bible's message -the Gospel. However, in his recounting of the profound impact the Scriptures have had upon every discipline -literature, politics, and on from there- he raises some thoughtful questions and relevant points.
The public square should be a support for promoting Bible literacy, but not the sole facilitator. He rightly says: "What kind of parents leave their children's Bible education to the public schools, anyway? How do we go beyond public schools in attacking a nationwide problem of Bible illiteracy?" That is the question, and he touches on the answer when he promotes that places of worship take up the banner. But again, in missing the heart of Bible's message -the Gospel -the answer to the problem of Bible illiteracy is also lost. The Scriptures changed the course of history not because men and women knew the facts of the Bible, but because they knew the God of the Bible.
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