As reported by Churchleaders.com

Results of a new Gallup poll show that only three in ten Americans take the Bible literally as the "actual word of God."

Nearly half of Americans say the Bible is the "inspired" word of God, but it should not be taken literally. About 17 percent say the Bible is simply a book of stories written by men.

In 1980, 40 percent of Americans believed the Bible should be taken literally, with only 27 percent taking it literally in 2001. Forty-six percent of those with less than a high-school level education take the Bible literally; only 16 percent of those with postgraduate educations do. (Noted on July 11,2011).

Correct Thinking About Jesus' Commands Is Not Obedience To Them

Jonathan Parnell writes: In the Introduction to Pastor John Piper's 1979 monograph, Love Your Enemies, he confesses his concern about the hard work of academic reading. He writes:

Every scholarly work on the New Testament is preponderantly an intellectual exercise. The work of thinking which the production of a book like this demands from the author is demanded also from its reader. But because of the nature of the reality with which this work has to do, the necessary preponderance of intellectual work can nevertheless frustrate the goal for which the work is done.

For that reality is and demands far more than thinking. Adolf Schlatter has warned: "Thought can become scholasticism, a mere jangle of words, if the concept replaces the essence, or dogma replaces reality." The reality from which Jesus' command of enemy love springs and the reality at which it aims is not exhausted by correct thinking about the command.

If a book about this command does not ultimately lead beyond mere thinking to an active realization of what the command intends, then that thinking itself, in all its possible technical accuracy, becomes worthless. "Though I understand all mysteries and all knowledge . . . and have not love, I am nothing."

'Love Your Enemies:' Jesus' Love Command in the Synoptic Gospels and the Early Christian Paranesis, a history of the tradition and interpretation of its uses, SNTS, 38, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 3, paragraphing Mr. Parnell's.

What would you do if you were offered 500 million dollars not to read the Bible for a year?

John Piper gave an 18 minute talk a Lausanne on the importance of the Bible. View and listen here:

How Important Is the Bible?

"But to deviate from the truth . . .

. . .  for the sake of some prospect of hope of our own can never be wise, however slight that deviation may be. It is not our judgment of the situation which can show us what is wise, but only the truth of the Word of God. Here alone lies the promise of God's faithfulness and help. It will always be true that the wisest course for the disciple is always to abide solely by the Word of God in all simplicity."

-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, quoted by Eugene Peterson in
A Long Obedience In the Same Direction, page 36.

What the Book teaches matters

John Piper often speaks and writes specifically about the absolute centrality of the Word of God. This week the following was posted at www.desiringgod.org.

This fourth post in the Essential Piper Series again spotlights Piper's teaching on this theme. It comes from his sermon, "Building Our Lives on the Bible."

We are a people of the Book. We know God through the Book. We meet Christ in the Book. We see the cross in the Book. Our faith and love are kindled by the glorious truths of the Book. We have tasted the divine majesty of the Word and are persuaded that the Book is God's inspired and infallible written revelation. Therefore, what the Book teaches matters…

There is no salvation from sin and guilt and condemnation and hell apart from faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; Romans 10:13-17; 1 John 5:12). And there is no other authority besides the Scriptures to show you who Christ is and to give you his Word. So don't leave the Bible, children. Don't leave the Bible, young people. Don't neglect the Bible, dads and moms. Don't ignore the Bible, single people. Under God, the "sacred writings," the Scriptures, are the greatest treasure in the world. They alone make us wise unto salvation through Christ. O don't neglect this Book!

The post stands on its own. However, it is well worth your while to click on "Building Our Lives on the Bible" for the full text of the message.