A bulletin crossed my desk years ago. It contained this clip ~ “Twenty four years in the First Grade. That is how long it would take to pass if public schools met only as often as Sunday School, and if no Bible classes were missed!”
The Word of God, according to a 2012 survey (Rankin), revealed that only 19% of “churchgoers” read the Bible daily. As many as 25% stated they read the Bible a few times each week. A staggering 14% indicated they read the Bible once a week. Then 22% confessed to reading the Word of God “once a month or a few times each month.”
Several months ago, brother Jack Wall, brother Dale Vann and I had a long discussion about our Bible class curriculum. So much of “our literature” has to be proofed to make sure it is scriptural, and so much of the instruction has to be “weeded out,” and then the price of ready-made material is atrocious. We decided to write our own material. In asking around, I contacted Gary Summers, who responded by saying, “We’ve done that!”
The elders looked over that material, ordered it, and we are now implementing Bible material that covers the Bible in 5½ years! This means our very young kids could cover the Old and New Testaments twice before High School graduation.
The late brother Eldred Stevens once observed that if a person spent 20 minutes a day on any given subject for a period of 20 years, that at that time, he would be considered an “authority” in that field. The Bible furnishes us completely unto every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17), the Bible is the Truth that can set us free (John 8:32; 17:17), and the Word of the Lord is pure and righteous (Psalm 119:140; Proverbs 30:5-6). Let us never forget the value of God’s Word and that His Word will be the final standard of judgment for all mankind (John 12:48). By the way, the Supreme Court is not the final authority! That august body will one day stand before the real Supreme Court!
Every parent and grandparent should think seriously about our opening statement! How do your children (grandchildren) do in attending Bible classes? If they only make it to about half of those classes, that would mean it would require 48 years to finish the First Grade! What if public schools met only as often as our Bible classes? Do you realize that the majority of youth in this nation would not live long enough to enter Junior High School? Let’s get serious about studying the Bible!
