If you’ve been following the presidential primaries, you may have noticed that Mike Huckabee often refers to Bible stories in his speeches. What you may not know is that when he does that, most people in the U.S. have no idea what he’s talking about!
A recent story done by National Public Radio took several Biblical allusions from Huckabee speeches and went in search of people who could identify them. Most could not, which wouldn’t surprise you if you knew that 50% of Americans (and that includes Christians) can’t name any of the four Gospels, or know that Genesis is the first book of the Bible. But it should surprise you to learn that every person they asked had been raised in a Christian home and gone to Sunday School.
Want to see how you’d do on the quiz? Here are the four quotes. Do you know the Bible story each one comes from? I'll put the answers in the first comment to this post. In fact, why not add a comment yourself and let us know your score!
1. "It's the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loaves feed a crowd of 5,000 people."
2. "Sometimes," the former Arkansas governor told his supporters, "one small smooth stone is even more effective than a whole lot of armor."
3. "We've also seen that the widow's mite has more effectiveness than all the gold in the world."
4. "It's almost like when the prophet was looking for a king. He came down, looked through all of Jesse's sons, went through a whole bunch of them, and said, 'Is this all you got?'"
I hope you did well.
Why does this matter? Well, consider this: Huckabee has a message he is trying to get out to people. He is using Bible stories as a way to get it across. But people will never get the message if they don’t know the stories. In the same way, God has a message that He is trying to get out to people, including you. God uses Bible stories to help get the message across. But if you don’t know the stories, do you think you’ll understand the message?
Have you read your Bible lately? I highly recommend it. After all, Someone is trying to communicate with you.
8 comments:
The first is the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 in Matthew 14:13-21.
The second is David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17.
The third is the widow who's two small coins were more significant than the large amounts given by the rich. Luke 21:1-4
The fourth is from 1 Samuel 16:1-13 where the prophet Samuel is searching for the person to anoint as the next King of Israel and finally comes to David.
Huckabee scares me.
I should probably add that I'm writing about this only because it serves as a window into how dechurched/unchurced our society is now, and a reminder to those of us in the Church to pay attention to the stories. Please don't take it as a political endorsement of Huckabee in any way.
I wasn't, was just making the comment.
I read your post and once again agree with it. Thanks for your insight.
I apologize for seeming that way. (I endorse Dr. Paul personally)
Wow! Preach it! Great post! We as committed followers of Jesus Christ need to dive in that Word daily.
I had a perfect score, but I attribute it not to my own daily Bible reading (about which I am not as diligent as I should be), but to hearing these stories through faithful attention by the church to the lectionary in preaching, in the readings at worship, and through Sunday School when I was little.
Uh, the bible is a ridiculous work of fiction, just like any other book with crazy, wacked out stories and impossible things.
Why not read the Little Engine that Could? I find it even more inspiring.
Americans are looking more and more insane to the rest of the world by actually having this crap around in the 21st century. I'm almost ashamed to live next to them. Luckily, insanity doesn't tend to migrate north.
Dear Anonymous Northern Neighbor
I'm sorry you feel that way.
One of the values that followers of Jesus are called to live out, and struggle to do well, is to treat others with love and respect. Are you also committed to those values? If so, I'd be interested to hear what tradition - religious, philosophical or otherwise - you have found helpful in supporting you as you try to live them out.
Tim
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