Last night at RUSH we asked the kids to turn to a passage in the Bible. It was painful for me to watch them flip and turn and try to figure out what I was talking about. I understand that many teens today have the bible on their phones and can just find what they want in a couple of touches of the screen. I have it on my phone and love it.

BUT if you are an older adult with children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews who want to know about faith I would ask you to make sure these children understand a few simple things.

1. The Bible has two sections – An Old and New Testament. This seems so elemental but it is vital information. Moses and the Law are primary in the Old Testament. Jesus and the Church are essential in the New Testament.

2. The Bible is put together by genre not date. What I mean is that in the Old Testament books are lumped together as history, poetry, major and minor prophets (size description). The New Testament has the Gospels together and the letters of various authors lumped together. It is not put together chronologically.

3. There are 66 total books – 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament. Each book is broken down into chapters and verses for easy reference. These are not inspired by God but added by man to make Bible study much, much easier.

4. Try to memorize the order of the books. This is the most helpful piece of advice for study that anyone can give. It speeds up time finding material. (I repeat them to myself regularly.)

5. Understand there are three great ages in the Bible. The Bible begins with a Patriarchal age that lasts until Moses in Exodus 20. That means the oldest male in the family acted as the priest of the family. Then there is the age of the Law. This lasts from Exodus 20 till Acts 2. This means the law given to Moses was God’s desire for his people and the priests were man’s connection to God. Finally we have the Christian age that last from Acts 2 until heaven and Jesus is our connection to God.

6. Try to give a big Bible overview. How about something like this: God created man and man rebelled. God tried to clean up the mess but man kept rebelling. God made a promise to Abraham. He then gave the law to Moses. God wanted to live in harmony with people and he gave them every chance. They kept rebelling and he finally let them be punished. Eventually he brought them back to their home and reestablished a covenant of grace through Jesus Christ. The Church was formed. God sent his Apostles to teach the Church what it meant to have faith and follow Jesus until Christ’s return.
That is a very simple way to view the Bible (I am sure you can do better)

7. Learn these things yourself. Enough said.

What would you add to my list?

I completely understand that the world is changing and the future will be all digital. I do still hope that people understand the basic format and story of the Bible even in a different form. And from what I saw last night, we are raising a generation of people who claim to follow Jesus who have no idea about the Bible.