**EDWARD D. ANDREWS** (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 140 books. Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).

BIBLE SCHOLARS WHAT GOOD IS SCHOLARSHIP WITHOUT CHURCHGOERS?

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO CHRISTIANITY
AND WHO IS TO BLAME?

Who is at fault for this? It is more than the individual accountability of the person. It is also the pastor’s fault, it is the church board’s fault, and it is the church’s fault for allowing and even promoting such an atmosphere.

What is expected out of Christians, they will do. If the pastor and the church have low expectations, well you will get law results. Deep Bible study is no guarantee that spiritual maturity will result. However, a lack thereof is a guarantee that spiritual immaturity will result. 95% of all Christians are biblically illiterate. Whose fault is that? Is it the Bible translation companies that make their translations on a 6th-grade level? Is it the church leaders who pick out Bible study booklets written on a 6th-8th grade level with cartoon pictures? Is it the church for not expecting church members to prepare for Christian meetings?

WHEN BRINGING SOME ONE
INTO THE FAITH

The Following three are needed, and none of the three can be missing.

Knowledge
Belief
Obedience

To become a well-grounded Christian, one must

obtain a real, broad knowledge of Bible truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4),
put faith in the things we have learned (Hebrews 11:6),
repent of your sins (Acts 17:30-31), and
turn around in your course of life. (Acts 3:19);
then our love for God should move us to dedicate ourselves to Christ. (Matt. 16:24; 22:37)
finally, baptism (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-10; Acts 8:36)

If one is missing the knowledge department, he cannot believe in something he has no real in-depth knowledge of; therefore, he will not be fully obedient.

My recommendation is to ponder what it is exactly that has contributed to this problem. Quit whining about it and do something about it.

Without mentioning any names, I have watched a Facebook friend, a young fellow (28-35 maybe), extremely educated, who has spent the past 30 days posting one philosophical mind-blowing book after another. He seems a person who has views or theories on profound questions in ethics, metaphysics, logic, and reason. He is deeply versed in philosophy.

I would love to say, how many souls have you saved with those books? How are those books make you a better evangelist, apologist, to proclaim, to teach, and to make disciples? William Lane Craig is one of the deepest thinkers I know, and yet his books, while deep, are written so your average churchgoer can benefit from them. His Reasonable Faith ministry is geared toward saving souls. It has been extremely successful. He can speak to a church and lower his vocabulary or bring them up to his vocabulary with qualifiers and parentheticals, or he can debate an atheist physicist at Oxford University about the existence of God.

So, one can be at the level of a William Lane Craig but it cannot just be for the sake of the knowledge itself. What scares me most is that some of the most organized “cults” as some like to call them are viewed as more Christian than the so-called true Christians. Do you know why “Christians” leave true Christianity for Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and Seventh Day Adventists? They want rules. They want structure. They want high expectations. They want guidance and directions. Why are these three groups better morally in their dress, speech, and actions? Why are their divorce rates lower? Why do they not gamble, lie, cheat, and steal? Why do they occupy themselves with entertainment that does not violate Bible principles? Why do they have fewer drunkards? Why do they have fewer anger issues? Why are fewer of them in prison? This is what needs to be worried about and solutions need to be pondered at how you get the Titanic of Christianity turned away from the iceberg before it is too late.

Things I Have Not Even Mentioned

80% of all church growth is biological (they are born into Christianity). Most others are because a Christian moved into the area. 1% of church growth is because of evangelism.
85% of all Christianity is liberal-moderate
The majority of those claiming to be Christian are charismatics, a false form of Christianity.
False Christianity, Catholicism is the majority of those claiming to be Christian.
There are 41,000 different denominations that claim to be Christian. They all believe differently. Even if we take just one, say the Baptists. There are 66 varieties of the Baptist denomination. They all believe differently. Even if we just take one Baptist church with 500 members, the pastors will believe differently and all the members will believe differently.
Jesus asked, ‘when I return will I really find the faith?’