Opus 2024-061: Effect and Cause

I heard a noise at the back door.  My wife had left to fulfill responsibilities at church and I wondered who was coming in.  It was her.  She had forgotten her Bible.  Last week when I was called on, at the last minute, to lead the Wednesday night service, I took my visiting friend along.  When we got there he confessed that he had not brought his Bible.  That is a terrible failure for a King James Only man.  

In reality it is not a surprise.  One reason that many people do not bring a Bible to church is because they don’t find that they need it.  Sometimes that is because they are spoon fed by a Power Point presentation that shows them all the pastor wants them to know in the translation that fits his sermon.  Another reason is that often the preacher says nothing that has to do with the text being used.  I know that I sometimes close my Bible half -way through the sermon because it is obvious that I won’t need it.  

It is a sad statement about the Christian church.  It is sad that pastors work that way.  It is a shame that the laymen put up with it.  There may be no avenue to address it.  If that is the case then bring your Bible.  Open it to the text given or some other useful passage.  Spend the time reading and meditating.  It is likely that listening will do you no good.

homo unius libri