Thank you for the question on knowing the Scriptures, “How is it that people can attend church for years and still know little about what is in the Bible and have scant understanding of the Bible?”
Here are some reasons how or why a person who attends church and yet has a limited understanding of the Scriptures:
- That person attends Sunday Service out of duty or obligation. The result is a closed mind as that person drifts or is distracted while in the service. It is boring and s/he can’t wait until the service is concluded.
- That person skips Sunday School or Bible Study classes. He is not present for a more thorough study of the Word.
- That person doesn’t believe the Bible is historical but fables so he questions or rejects anything that is taught in the church. S/he has no desire to retain any knowledge about the Bible.
- That person motive is seeking something or someone else rather than God. S/he may be looking for a life companion or attends because of him or her.
- That person has not experience a spiritual transformation or new birth in Jesus Christ. He is a fleshly man without the ability to appropriate the truths into his life.
- That local church that s/he attends preaches/teaches topical subject without teaching systematic or Biblical books. The pastor doesn’t preach through a Biblical book or doctrinal topics. Thus the person is unable to grasp the full council of God.
As one reads the Parable of the Sower, one can gain insight into the life of a person. Mark 4 says this, “He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”…
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown” (NIV).
SUMMARY: It is not attendance at the church service, but the heart attitude in the service.
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