Culture Watch has rapidly become one of my favorite blogs. Written by Douglas Groothuis, professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary, it is a source of clear thinking and perceptive insights from someone who “has been in a bad mood since 1998″ by his own admission.

His recent post The Greatest Danger Facing the Church Today is a reprint of his last column for Moody Monthly. He says,

I believe that, more than anything else, the church is imperiled by its own failure to teach, to believe, and to live out the great truths of the Christian faith in a way that pleases God. This is true not only of theologically liberal congregations—which essentially abandoned the Bible long ago—but also of too many evangelical churches and institutions.”

Now, neither Dr Groothuis nor I have canvassed all the churches in the United States and Canada, but I take this to be a fairly safe generalization. Too many churches neglect the teaching of the word of God and, sadly, those that do teach it often fail to teach it effectively. What is even worse, however, is that the majority of professing Christians do not demonstrate much interest in learning even the basic, fundamental truths of our incredibly rich and deep faith.

Why some churches fail to teach biblical truth makes no sense to me. A great number, of course, do not believe the Bible to be God’s revelation to mankind and thus diminish its value. But even those that do profess to hold the Bible in high regard ignore biblical instruciton. Perhaps they are more interested in teaching “practical truth” that pew-dwellers can translate into better marriages, increased happiness, or more disciplined children. Some churches are pursuing purposes or philosophies or something else that tickles their ears for awhile. What they are not doing is pursuing the knowledge of God.

Other churches are very committed to teaching God’s truth but do so in an ineffective fashion. Adhering to the secular model of education – a knowing person gives information to an unknowing person – such congregations have numerous programs, Sunday School classes, Bible studies, and conferences. What is too often ignored – if not always ignored – is the model Jesus provided, a manner of discipling that demonstrates what we are only beginning to understand about how the brain learns.

Teaching churches often fail to develop an overall goal and corresponding plan to move believers from Point A in their knowledge to Point B. Lacking adequate and clear categories to assimilate additional information, a lot of very good teaching is forgotten because it is not taught in a brain-based manner or connected to other truths taught previously. Failing to plan, they fail. Other churches that emphasize teaching fail to train teachers sufficiently, with the result that students become bored and assume that the Bible itself is boring. As Haddon Robinson says, “it is a sin to bore people with the word of God.”

The most troubling problem for me, though, is the apparent lack of interest on the part of most professing Christians, and especially the men. Classes or conferences on doctrinal truths, Bible surveys, or methodical Bible study generate few students. For a host of reasons, becoming a serious student of the Bible strikes people as unimportant and tedious.

I am frustrated that so many men can name all the nicknames for MLB teams but are completely baffled when asked to name the Minor Prophets. Or even the Major Prophets. They know the ins and outs of the stock market but complain that teaching about the Melchizedekian priesthood is beyond their intellect. They spend hours figuring out who to draft and who to play in their fantasy football league but cannot find time for their own Bible reading or – God forbid! – men’s Bible study.

The Bible has a term for such people: fools.

Paul says that he was a fool for Christ’s sake (1 Co 4.10) but Paul was not a fool. A fool, especially in the Old Testament, was a person who lived as though there was no God. Such individuals might say they believe in God and might show up at the temple for the required feasts and sacrifices, but their lives betrayed their foolishness. They were not fools for God, they were just fools. Today they are Christian fools: their beliefs are correct, but their lives declare that there is no God.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” – Pr 1.7

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” – Ps 14.1, 53.1

Why men in particular choose to invest their time, energy, and life in things that will either desert them (Pr 23.4-5), be given to an idiot (Ecc 2.18-19), or eventually perish (Jas 5.1-3) escapes me. Have they simply failed to think through the choices they make? Do they really not believe what the Bible teaches about priorities? (Certainly I have been as guilty as anyone in gathering and hoarding the world’s goods, but I have not failed to seek the truth or thought for a minute that such things were really important. That doesn’t make me better than others, only more hypocritical.)

I do not know what it will take to convince men to pursue Christ and the knowledge of God. Perhaps it will take something similar to the disaster that struck New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama over the last week. For me, however, it is painful to watch people ignore the greatest source of wealth and riches that God has made available to us.


2 Cor 1:13