Can The Bible Help Us Today?

"TAKING the Bible as a whole, about 1 percent is worth reading, but the rest is irrelevant and out-of-date. So said one young man. Many would agree with him. Though the Bible continues to be a best-seller worldwide, millions pay scant attention to it and are unfamiliar with its teachings.

In its 1996 Christmas edition, the German newspaper Suddeutshce Zeitung commented that the Bible "has fewer and fewer readers . In the age of the natural sciences and increasing secularization, Biblical accounts appear to many to be strange and difficult to understand." Surveys confirm this report. Some studies reveal that a large number of children do not know exactly who Jesus is. In one survey, fewer than half of the people interviewed could relate the Biblical stores of the prodigal son and the neighborly Samaritan.

The Swiss Evangelical Church publication Reformiertes Forum states that in Switzerland demand for the Bible is not what it use to be. Even among those who have a copy of the Bible, it often just collects dust on the shelf. In Britain the situation is not different. According to one survey, although most people have a Bible, the vast majority hardly ever read it.

On the other hand, millions worldwide feel differently about the Bible. They view it as God's Word and consider it valuable and beneficial. Hence, they read it regularly. One young woman wrote: "I try to read one or two chapters of the Bible each day. I enjoy it very much." Such individuals take careful note of what the Bible teaches, and they try to apply its counsel in their lives. They believe that the Bible can help them in today's troubled world.

What is your opinion? Is the Bible irrelevant in modern times? Or is it valuable and beneficial? Can the Bible help us today?

Next time:The Bible Answers Vital Questions of Our Day

Watchtower, 1999