With Bible illiteracy plaguing Christians in areas even where Scriptures are in abundance, one bishop is urging churches to use hits by bands such as U2 and the Beatles to help their congregants connect with the teachings contained in the Bible.
"For many people the language of the Bible has become inaccessible," says the Rt. Rev. Nick Baines, bishop of Croydon in South London, “and yet pop song writers can make a connection with people because their language is fresh.”
"They are able to open our imagination to a way of thinking about God that we've become deaf to in church language.”
In his latest book, Finding Faith, Baines argues that Christian themed pop music can convey deep theological concepts in a way that is more accessible to the younger generation.
"Songs get more into the soul than simply reading an ancient book,” he told the Telegraph.
But Baines emphasizes that while some songs can get people closer to understanding the Bible’s messages and themes, they are limited and, of course, cannot replace Bible reading.
“My point is that many people are disconnected from the Bible and don’t even begin to read or hear it,” the bishop told The Christian Post. “Songs are not an alternative to the Bible, but connect with people in ways that can open them up to what the Bible is all about.”
Baines hopes that songs such as U2’s “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For” will awaken people to God and lead them to want to engage themselves in Bible reading at a time when the number of people who read the Bible has declined dramatically in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
In the United States, fewer than half the 1,002 youths polled by the Gallup organization in 2005 knew that Jesus turned water into wine at the Cana wedding, and nearly two-thirds couldn't identify a quote from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount or the relation of the road to Damascus to the Apostle Paul's conversion. About one-in-ten thought Moses was one of Jesus' 12 apostles.
“The Bible is an amazing collection of books that we've allowed to become banal," Baines commented.
"For many people it is a closed book and asking them to read it is a lost cause, which is a tragedy,” he told the Telegraph.
Music, meanwhile, is influential in challenging people to think of some of life's big questions, Baines added.
"I have read the Bible through many times and I have enjoyed art all over the world,” the bishop reported. “But it was a simple song from [Bruce] Cockburn's early period that gave me the words to hang all this together and provide me with a vocabulary for connecting the bigness of the universe with the smallness of men in a language of worship."
Finding Faith has been backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, who described the book as "profound and challenging."
Artists highlighted for exploring Christian themes in their music include Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and John Lennon, who famously claimed the Beatles were bigger than Jesus.
Christian Post reporter Eric Young in Washington contributed to this article.
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Hey, I have a great idea. Why not READ THE BIBLE. Wow, that's brilliant. We are so ignorant because we refuse to study God's word or rely on ignorant preachers and teachers who teach we are Israel and can take their promises from them or that tell us if we wear pants and cut our hair we are going to hell. Give me a break. We in this age of grace are saved by the cross and what was done for us. Believe that and study your Bible. If we would do that, you wouldn't have this problem. When you are dead in trespasses and sins, only knowledge of the gospel will make you alive. Entertainment does not give you God's Word to work in you that believe. It's just dead works with no faith which is an abomination in the eyes of God.
I use an Audio Bible for when I am commuting everyday. I have gotten so far through his WORD this way.
With Bible illiteracy plaguing Christians .... the article begins ......
HA HA! Had to put my smiley face on just reading the introduction of this article. Hold the presses - stop right there - don't go any futher! I realize that among Christians, there are "babes" feeding off the milk of His Word, and there are some who are enjoying the meat of His Word - but are there really some who call themselves "Christian", while being ignorant of His Word? I must be missing something here ...... !
tpique1 you don't really need to preach to us, we already get it....but thnx anyway
"COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE YE SEPARATE SAITH THE LORD AND TOUCH NOT THE UNCLEAN (Christians were to avoid all unholy contact with a vain and polluted world.- Barnes) THING AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU."
JAMES 4:4:
YE ADULTERERS AND ADULTERESSES, KNOW YE NOT THAT THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE WORLD IS ENMITY WITH GOD? WHOEVER THEREFORE WILL BE A FRIEND OF THE WORLD IS THE ENEMY OF GOD.
JOHN 3:19:
AND THIS IS THE CONDEMNATION, THAT LIGHT IS COME INTO THE WORLD, AND MEN LOVED DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT, BECAUSE THEIR DEEDS WERE EVIL.
1 TIMOTHY 4:1:
NOW THE SPIRIT SPEAKETH EXPRESSLY, THAT IN THE LATTER TIMES SOME SHALL DEPART FROM THE FAITH, GIVING HEED TO SEDUCING SPIRITS, AND DOCTRINES OF DEVILS...
How about "like a virgin" when it comes to teaching abstinence?
Recommendations such as these should no longer surprise us; many of these liberal bishops have fallen by the wayside. Much prayer!
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away (2Timothy 3:5).
Cool! Let's just all listen to Tupac too. And all the other worldly dope using artists, then get together and read the Bible. Oh, the word "sanctification" means nothing too!