It Doesn't Take All That!

Much has been said and written about the so-called "dumbing-down" of the American mind. What it means is, in comparison to other developed countries of the world, and even compared to where this country was just a few decades ago, the standard of teaching and learning has been lowered to a nearly catastrophic level. Because many modern Americans have come to the conclusion that they do not need to know "all that" in order to lead prosperous lives in this country, many institutions of learning, in order to get and keep students and, thus, keep their jobs, have had to stop insisting that students struggle, study, reach, and, in some cases, even read. According to Dr. Doug Soderstrom, Ph.D., a retired professor of psychology who is a prolific writer extensively published, this has led to a very determined standoff between the remaining few teachers willing to maintain standards versus a generation or two of students who are nearly unwilling to learn, students who have "apparently gone on strike" with an attitude of "I dare you to force me to learn!" The result: The fact that leniency (a lowering of academic standards in our country) has won out at the expense of quality education in that of our high schools as well as that of our colleges. "Consequently, our country is slowly but surely becoming "a nation of near retards," a collective group of individuals who have become so absurdly self-absorbed and disinterested in acquiring knowledge that we, as a nation, are slowly but surely losing touch with the reality of what is actually going on in the world!"

Sadly, their cry of "it doesn't take all that!" is almost true. We have developed into a nation dependant on servants. If we have enough money, we can buy almost anything we need. We can get someone to do it for us. A prominent businessman once told me, "I don't need brains. Brains are cheap. I have enough money to buy all the brains I need." He went on to explain that he did not need to know law. If he had enough money he could pay a lawyer to give him all the legal advice he needed. He did not need to know science. There were scientists aplenty who, for a price, could tell him anything he needed to know in that field. And, according to him, the same was true for math, and medicine, and history, and even government and politics. "And," he added, "You don't have to be smart to have money!" So, like far too many of us in this culture today, he had decided that the pursuit of material possessions was far more important than the pursuit of knowledge.

The problem is that this attitude so prevalent in our culture has bled over into our churches. Jesus warned us that the worship of Mammon, the focus on the material, would lead us to a disdain for God and the fatal neglect of our very souls. He also warned us that we must not, cannot live on bread alone, merely material sustenance, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. If this is true, then why is there in our churches such a shameful disregard for Christian Education? Why are so few of us dedicated to systematic Bible study? Why is the Sunday morning ministry we oft call Sunday School, the least participated in ministry of our church? Why do so few churches even have a discipleship training ministry? The answer is the affinity of the cultural determination to remain ignorant has bled over into our church: "It doesn't take all that!"

Most of us, if asked, "Why are you a Baptist?" or, "What's the difference between Baptist and Methodist, or Mormons, for that matter?" could not answer properly. What makes Christ and Christianity different from other expressions of faith? Can you defend your faith? Not only is it true that some of us know very little about the realities of the world, it is also true that some of us know very little about what we say we believe or why we believe it. Along with the dumbing-down of the American mind has come the dumbing-down of the level of knowledge church members have of our Lord Jesus Christ in particular and the Christian Faith in general. The proper answer to the question, "Why are you a Baptist?" is not, "Because my family is Baptist."

If you are one who believes, "It doesn't take all that," stop and ask yourself, would you know Jesus if you met Him on the street? Would you be able to recognize Him by what you know about Him, or would you have to rely on what you have seen in popular but erroneous 15th century art depicting Him. The revelation of who He is lies pressed between the pages of the Holy Bible, obtained by dedicated and consistent Bible study, not in Leonardo da Vinci's highly inaccurate painting of the last supper or in Michelangelo's statue "The Pieta." To really know Jesus, it does take all that, and more.