Christians: The Blind Leading the Blind

I’m in a lot of various Christian women’s Facebook groups because I enjoy reading the questions of younger believers and seeing the responses of older believers; and contributing from time to time.  In today’s virtual world where in-person connections are generally low-depth- even in and I would argue especially in churches, these groups serve as a place where women can ask the difficult questions of faith and find support and answers. 

I continue to be alarmed, though, as I have noticed patterns over the past year of reading these groups- both the questions AND the answers.  I’m realizing how much modern Christianity is truly just the blind leading the blind.  I rarely see or hear modern-day Christians speak about scripture or mention things they’ve read in the Bible.  I do see questions where a woman may ask, “What does the Bible say about xyz?”- and then various answers that range from complete heresy (made-up ideas that Christians are hearing in our culture but have ZERO Biblical background) to mis-used verses taken out of context to the rare answers that offer genuine Biblically-sound advice. 

When I ask people who call themselves Christians about the Bible- I’m finding a new trend that Christians don’t actually READ the Bible anymore.  We listen to podcasts where other people discuss the Bible (perhaps with or without actual reference to verses), we listen to sermons that have a few Bible verses scattered into a bunch of culturally-led topics that may or may not align with the Bible, we attend churches where we talk to each other about our week at work, our kids’ recent achievements and the weather… but it seems that Christians are getting further and further away from spending time in the Bible themselves.  We rely on other people to spoon feed us ideas (not even fully in context) and then move on with our busy lives and feel good that we spent a moment being “Christian”.  And then we’re astounded, dismayed and discouraged by all the brokenness we see even in our own families, our own schools, our own communities. 

What IF we got back to spending actual time in the Bible?

What IF we not only read a few verses, but sat quietly with God and didn’t close the Bible (or the app) until we got something meaningful out of it? 

What IF we lived our lives according to the foundations we find in the Bible rather than the shouts of what our modern-American culture is dictating to us? 

I’m going to start a series of posts going into depth on various topics that I’m seeing discussed often in our Christian culture; but rarely with a true Biblical context.  Dating, Marriage, Divorce, Sex, Reading the Bible, Serving in the Church, Friendship, etc.  Drop a comment if there’s a topic you’re interested in reading more about – or contributing to a discussion- from a Biblical perspective.