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S prawling among the evangelical churches of America is a vast religious wasteland. Usually it is called by another name, such as “The Faith Class,” “ The Harvesters” or “Men’s Bible Class.” Its common name, which everyone will immedi ately recognize, is “ The Adult Sun day School Class.” In this broad wilderness little of anything valuable grows. What stunt ed vegetation is found there is usually weak moralistic teachings, quarterly- centered truths, unrelated Bible por tions, tacked-on applications and a thousand similar things of little or no worth to the student in “Mr. Jones’ Adult Class.” A strong indictment? Certainly. But to thousands of adults who attend evangelical churches from Maine to California the indictment could be even stronger. Adults are simply not expected to learn in Sunday school— that stopped somewhere in the Junior Department. The most formidable ac cusation, however, is that adults are not learning the facts of the Bible, let alone the principles derived from the facts. Recently, a general Bible knowl edge test was given to the adult class es of a large church in the Midwest. Those taking the test were instructed not to put their names on the test be cause the tester did not want them to feel any additional pressures. The only mark of identification was a blank in which those being tested were asked to “ record the number of years that you have gone to Sunday school regularly in your whole life.”
much of this is accomplished by fine, upstanding members of the adult Sun day school classes. In a recent family interview with a Christian youth counselor, a lad of sixteen placed a finger on his fa ther’s chest and with bitter tears cried, “Dad, you’re a fake! You might be chairman of the board of deacons, but I hear your business dealings over the phone. I know how you cut cor ners and pad the expense account. If this is Christianity, I’ll have none of it!” Of course the home must bear the greater part of the blame, because it is the God-ordained institution for the teaching of ethics, morals and the Bible. However, its right-hand ally, the Sunday school, has a- contribution to this training which it must not fail to make. It, too, is responsible to make every effort to confront each individual with total commitment to Jesus Christ. Of greatest concern and heartbreak is that many Sunday schools, especial ly adult Sunday schools, are a waste of time, effort, money, organization and building. The general level of teaching is shallow, uninteresting and unrelated to life. We might as well admit that many adults are not eager • to come to class and are not actively involved once they get there. Con sequently they spend half the hour either wishing they had remained in bed or mapping out the route for their Sunday afternoon drive in the coun try. What practical, down - to - earth steps can the average adult Sunday
The results of the test were shock ing. “ Our average adult has only a very sketchy knowledge of the facts of the Bible,” said the young man who gave the test, a recent graduate of one of our fine Christian schools. “ If,” he continued, “ we base our faith on the Holy Scriptures, it would seem to me that a knowledge of the basic facts of Scripture is essential to any vital faith at all.” Of the nearly two hundred adults who took the test, less than 7 per cent received a passing grade (60 per cent or higher). The average grade received was 23 per cent! Adults who had registered twenty, thirty and forty years of regular at tendance in Sunday school could not even name Saul as the first king of Israel. Seventy-seven per cent did not know where to find the “ love chapter” of the Bible. Over 80 per cent could not name the prophet who foretold the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem. And the most shocking discovery of all was that almost every adult thought that people in Old Testament days were made right with God because they “ offered sacri fices in the temple” ! If such an ignorance of the facts of the Bible does not confirm the above indictment leveled at adult Sunday school teaching, allow a brief vignette of the moral and ethical standards of adults who have been schooled in Sunday school all their lives. America, that great nation founded on the principles of truth and right, is riddled with graft and cor ruption, cheating and stealing; and
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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