Some startling statistics on Bible reading. . . and an Antidote

Yesterday, I had the opportunity and the privilege to teach some of the incarcerated youth in one of the several sites Los Angeles County has established for youthful lawbreakers; Challenger Memorial Youth Facility.  The teacher I worked with is a very culturally aware guy, and can speak the kids' language and idioms very well. . . he connects with them tremendously.  Your tax dollars well spent!  

The teacher, Mr. Banks, has several ways to attract his young charges to willingly learn new material and progress in their education.  One of these is the adaptation of the syndicated television Jeopardy! game show for use to these students.  He has category titles such as Nature, Movies, Sports, Football, and HipHop, allowing for his participative groups to contribute thoughtful answers from a knowledge base they currently possess. . . from their life lived on the streets and the 'hood.  He even has a "Final Jeopardy!" question (sans the well known show's musical number so many know the world over) to end each game, worth more points (no dollars behind the locked walls of a county youth camp) than the regular questions.  One of them was "In what year did the stock market crash that led to the Great Depression happen?"  Interesting to see these educationally challenged students reach for textbooks to eagerly search and find the answer. . . 1929.  The winning group erupted in glee!

Mr. Banks also has some language and thinking prompts to start the day he writes on the board each morning.  One of these was entitled "Number Phrases."  Written on the white dry erase board were these three clues to each phrase: "12 s of the Z," "7 D S," and "9 L of the C."  Of course these were 12 signs of the Zodiac, 7 Deadly Sins, and 9 Lives of the Cat.  Guess which one of these three was the most difficult to solve for these students?  Seven Deadly Sins.  They had honestly never heard the term, though they had heard of the Nine Lives phrase and had heard of the Zodiac.  And of course they didn't know that Sins, or Sin caused death.  There you are. . . 

But before we cast a condemning glance to these incarcerated, educationally challenged youth, let's consider some more evidence I've recently come across concerning the larger culture.  Looking at the United States, the general literacy rate in the District of Columbia - where adults read at or below basic levels is 61 per cent.  In Utah, it's 33 per cent.  California is at 46 per cent.  

• 43% of American adults function at or below basic literacy levels – making them incapable of meaningful Bible reading.

• People who are functionally illiterate process information differently than people who are literate – they require story telling and dialog, not exposition, to understand and retain information.

• Only 54% of Protestant adults read the Bible each week.

• 65% of adults who identified themselves as Bible readers have never read the entire New Testament.

The above statistics are courtesy of Faith Comes by Hearing, whose Internet site is here: http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/    The link for this particular set of statistics, and more besides, is here: http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/pastors-support-materials  Click on "Did You Know?" for the details.  Fascinating stuff. 

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There's good news regarding this predicament: the Good News.  The Faith Comes by Hearing folks have developed an Internet site, http://www.bible.is, which has audio Bibles in hundreds of languages for innumerable people groups.  Russian, Arabic, Korean, Tagalog. . . you name it, they have an audio Bible for you to listen to and read along in, via a home computer, MP3 player, or even by using your cell phone.  Bible sticks for the computer literate to use while on the go. . . and military Bible sticks for the U. S. Armed Forces as well.  The English language versions of the Bible - of which there are scores of - are available here also.  Some of the materials developed through them are free. . . others are of a nominal cost.  The English Standard Version I've been listening to lately is well enunciated and read with different voice actors - my favorite avocation which soon, God willing, will become my vocation - to great effect.  Theatrical and memorable audio recordings through these folks.  Well worth your time while at home, at play, or in the car on a commute. . . no more excuses to not get into the Word of God on a regular, even daily basis. 

The English version of the audio Bible I described above is FREE!  This includes both Old and New Testaments.  Simply go to    http://www.bible.is/audiodownloader?dl=1&DAMID=ENGESVN2DA and follow the three easy steps they give.  You'll need to make an account first. . . scroll down to the bottom of the page to click on the blue button to create your user account.  Once an account is made, you may then download the Bible version of your choice for FREE.  

Bottom line: there's now no excuse for people with Internet access - 85 per cent of all Americans - to not read (and hear) the Bible in a version they connect with and understand easily.  I've given the links already to the places on the Internet which provide the Antidote to our Biblical Illiteracy.  Now we need to simply  Read (hear). the. Bible. everyday.  There.  I said it.  I'm talking to me more than I'm talking to you. 

Willing to join me on my journey?  My pastor has challenged our church congregation to read and hear through the New Testament in a 40 day period, reading/hearing about seven chapters a day on average. Let me know if you are joining me on this journey.  I'd love to hear from my readers via the Comments feature.