Bible advocacy

Bible advocacy

The aim of Bible Advocacy as carried on, for example, by a Bible Society, is to enable Christian churches, through various programmes, to maintain their confidence in the Bible and to run programmes in the fields of education, politics, arts and the media to demonstrate that the Bible is credible and relevant to today's world.

The task of Bible advocacy is considered particularly important today in the light of what is perceived to be an increasing anti-Christian spirit at large in Western society, often fostered by secular media and public education. Coupled with what is defined as Biblical illiteracy and the misunderstandings, prejudice or lack of knowledge of biased critics, this anti-Christian spirit tends to lead the public to regard the Bible as "outdated", "mistaken", irrelevant to contemporary society and even 'dangerous', as it may eventually lead to bigotry.

While misuse of the Bible can and does occur, Bible advocacy points out, among other things, how the Bible (Jewish and Christian) stand at the foundation of the best values supported by Western civilization and at the roots of its legal systems.

One related idea, used by Bible advocacy supporters, is the concept of Bible poverty. This concept includes two aspects: one is the demand for Bibles among the poorest communities, since the poor cannot afford to buy one; the other relates to the "Bible-poor" who can afford a Bible but, because they live in a "sophisticated" society where the Bible is often 'written off', they are not being introduced to it. The presupposition behind both concepts is that the Bible, believed to be God's message to the world, is as important as material food since Jesus Himself said: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4)

It was the Bible that shaped, especially, Protestant nations, but its influence is now rapidly declining. There are fewer and fewer people who are familiar with its stories, values and its message and who live according to its wisdom. In fact, the challenge of today's' Bible advocacy is to make the Bible, as it was in the past, the point of reference for everyday life. While the culture of secularism commends important principles that even Christians support, divorcing these principles from the text and dismissing the Bible in general could be considered to be removing the very 'ground under society's own feet', exposing it, and ourselves, unconsciously, to dehumanising forces.

Quotations

"Bible advocacy involves helping those who don't go to church to rethink the way they see the Bible. It's about getting them to realize that it's not just a book for church on Sunday - it's for life on Monday too" [...] The media often promote the idea that the Good Book is about as relevant today as the ration book ... and our own research shows us that ... many people view the Bible negatively. They think it's a dusty old book that's boring, hard to understand and irrelevant to life today. Our job is to try to change that view" (from: David Ashford, "Talk of the North", in: "Word in Action", News for Bible Society Supporters, Winter 2007, p. 9).

External links

* [http://www.biblesociety.com/l3.php?id=331 Bible advocacy activities within the British Bible Society]


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