Are You Smarter About the Bible?

God has given us His Word, and we can praise Him because He gives us power and direction as we spend time absorbing His truth into our consciousness.   Psalm 119 states:
12 Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees. 13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.   Verses 12 & 14 refer to the relationship of worship, verse 13 tells us we can confess God's Word and be encouraged - that would include praying in accordance with His Word.    And verse 15, highlights an essential element of learning and applying God's Word - meditation, which includes being able to see how the Scriptures apply to us.    So, let's take a few moments to give God the praise for His Word.

2nd Timothy 3 says:
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

GSN — formerly known as the Game Show Network — announced this past Wednesday at an advertisers meeting that comedian and game show host Jeff Foxworthy will be the new host of a Bible-based trivia show, “The American Bible Challenge.”

The new show will select contestants based on their backgrounds, and all of the winnings will go towards faith-based charities, according to The Washington Post.

Foxworthy said, “I am excited to be hosting a show about the best-selling book of all time...It will be interesting to find out what people really know, and an opportunity to present the Bible in a fun and entertaining way.”

I am all over this concept, because I believe it will bring the Bible and a knowledge of it to a varied audience. But, you have to ask the question, "how would I do?"   When you consider that the Center for Bible Engagement, an arm of Back to the Bible, found Christians simply do not read the Bible enough. The Center’s study found that only one-third of Americans read the Bible every week, and even fewer, 13.9 percent, do so on most days of the week.  According to the CIA World Factbook, 76.8 percent of the U.S. population is Christian.   And when you consider found that only about 2/3 of self-identified Christians said Genesis was the first book of the Bible, we know we have a long way to go.

Dr. Arnie Cole, Back to the Bible CEO told The Christian Post: "The one thing we've found through all of our studies is that nothing, not small group or church attendance, helps a person grow spiritually like the Bible."

I believe that Bible knowledge is great - being able to reference Scriptures and even quote a few, but there's more:  as we meditate on God's Word, pray Scripture, and seek to apply it in our lives, we become strengthened in our walk and equipped to live out His Word.     The American Bible Society says that 82 percent of Americans say that they rely on something other than the Bible to cope with trauma, and six percent say they rely on nothing at all.   We have to view the Scriptures as sufficient for dealing with the issues and circumstances in our lives.