Page 128 - Yahwehs Book

Use It or Lose It!

In 2013 the American Bible Society commissioned the Barna Group to conduct a survey. The focus
of the survey was American’s attitudes and actions relating to the Bible. The results were published
under the title The State of the Bible, 2013. The report reveals a tremendous disparity between what
people say, and what they actually do, when it comes to the Bible. For example, although 88% of
American adults reported that their household contained a Bible, and on average there were 4.4
Bibles per household, only half of those surveyed were characterized as Bible readers. This
designation was itself rather generous considering that among the 50% of American adults
characterized as Bible readers, 9% said they read the bible no more than 3 to 4 times a year, and an
additional 7% read it on average once a month.

The Barna Group survey reported that 47% of Americans STRONGLY AGREE that the Bible
contains EVERYTHING a person needs to know to live a meaningful life. Additionally, more than
half of adults (56%) believe the Bible has too little influence in U.S. society today. Nevertheless,
only 13% of those surveyed said they read the Bible daily. Another 20% stated that they are weekly
Bible readers.

It may sound impressive to hear that a full third of American adults read their Bibles either daily, or
weekly, but it should be kept in mind that among religiously minded people there is a tendency to
dramatically overstate their actual participation in spiritual activity. As a case in point, among those
deemed to be “Bible readers,” the survey reported that 13% could not identify the Bible version they
read and 39% (more than a third) of those who identified themselves as practicing Protestants could
not name the first five books of the Bible. The survey also reported that 58% of Americans wrongly
thought that John the Baptist was one of the twelve apostles. (Protestants did no better than Catholics
on this question.) These facts reveal a very low level of familiarity with the Scriptures among a
significant number of people identified as Bible readers.

Not surprisingly, the survey reported that the number one frustration relating to the Bible was not
having enough time to read it. The complete survey can be viewed at the following link.

http://www.americanbible.org/uploads/content/State%20of%20the%20Bible%20Report%202013
.pdf