Monday, February 22, 2010

Two Dissimilar Items of Interest

The first item I would like to bring to your attention is this article on the biblical illiteracy of the general "Christian" population especially the youth. I don't understand how people can claim to be God seeking people and not have read what he wrote. I think that part of the problem is that people don't seek truth about anything anymore. If something can't be learned without really trying, it appears that most people don't really think they should learn it. This quote from the article sums it up pretty well.

In general we spend far less time reading anything at all in this culture, much less dense and demanding books like the Bible. Not long ago I met with a student who was struggling in one of my courses. When I asked her what she thought the trouble was, she replied, in a tone suggesting ever so slightly that the fault was mine, "Reading a lot is not a part of my learning style." She went on to inform me that students today learned more by "watching videos, listening to music, and talking to one another." She spoke of the great growth she experienced in youth group (where she no doubt spent a lot of time watching videos, listening to music, and talking with people), but her ignorance of the Bible clearly betrayed the fact that the Christian formation she experienced in her faith community afforded her little to no training in the actual reading of Scripture.

The next is a video by a scientist that did experiments to see what happens to plant when exposed to ever increasing amounts of carbon dioxide. It is definitely worth the watch.