The Bible is the indisputable bestselling book of all time. The over 5 billion Bibles sold makes that fact clear. What has also become clear is that ownership isn’t synonymous with readership. In many ways, the current digital age makes Bible reading easier and more accessible than it’s ever been, and yet studies consistently point to the reality that fewer people are reading the Bible today than ever before.
Why is that?
For one, we live in an increasingly skeptical age. In 2016, Barna conducted a study on Bible trends in America. Included in its findings was this quote from David Kinnaman, director of the project, “With each passing year, the percent of Americans who believe that the Bible is ‘just another book written by men’ increases.”
In many ways, Kinnaman’s quote tells the story. In an age when all opinions are increasingly treated as equally valid, a trend showing the less Bible reading should come as no surprise. It isn’t necessarily that people today think less of the Bible or of Jesus than they did a decade ago, it may simply mean people today think more of the Koran, the Torah, and the Book of Mormon, etc.
Few would dispute the fact that students today–of all ages–are being instructed to take less by faith and more by experience, and this behavior leads to problems taking the Bible at its word.
It also doesn’t help that we live in an increasingly illiterate age. It isn’t that more people today are unable to read–far from it. Today’s onslaught of social media, texting, and interactive apps nearly make the ability to read a necessity for survival. At the same time, fewer people choose to read books today than ever before. The Bible isn’t the only book collecting dust on the shelf. Bookstores are closing in record numbers (and not simply because of the blip on the reading radar known as ebooks).
According to The Washington Post, a 2015 study revealed that only 43 percent of adults finished reading only one literary work over the course of the previous year. This statistic was the lowest since 1982 when the annual survey began. Libraries–reporting fewer readers–are by necessity getting creative about how to draw patrons in with non-book resources. Teachers are relying more heavily on interactive instructional material. No doubt daily Bible reading becomes a bigger obstacle for non-readers in a non-reading age.
It’s also true that we live in an increasingly distracted age. In the year 2000, the average human attention span was 12 seconds. By the year 2013, the average attention span dropped to 8 seconds. (Interesting to note: the average attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds.)
The aforementioned tidal wave of social media options and interactive apps likely add to life’s distractions, but so, too, does the reality that we are busier than we’ve ever been. Students are given heavier workloads than ever before, and the work day no longer ends at 5:00 pm. Holidays, vacations, services, and celebrations are no longer sacred. In the rat race to get ahead, we do more, say more, finish more, work more … and rest less. We simply do not disconnect for any reason.
This type of constant activity and connectivity means we open fewer books, and that certainly means we spend less time reading our Bibles. With an 8-second attention span, reading and meditating are nearly futile.
The good news? Researchers remain convinced that the Bible isn’t going anywhere any time soon. People still purchase Bibles at similar rates to a decade ago, and the Bible continues to be translated and published in new languages that are easy to read and understand. Additionally–with the advent of the Internet and all that comes with it–more Bible teaching and Biblical instruction are available at the touch of a button.
Most importantly–the Bible itself says, “Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). Leaders today have an enormous opportunity to re-introduce the impact of consistent, daily Bible reading in everyday life. With bigger and more frequent tragedies happening on a personal, national, and global scale, reading the Bible–not just owning it–is critically important.
To own it is only half the battle. To read it? That is something else altogether more important.
~ Christian Patriot Daily
