I couldn't believe it! Sitting across the table from me was an intelligent young man who had never heard of Adam and Eve. As our conversation continued, I discovered that he didn't know anything about the Bible. To him, "Jesus Christ" was a swear word. He had no knowledge of Christ's place in time or His reason for coming. I had assumed that at least some of this information was common knowledge to most people; but somehow or another, he had missed it. He was 27 years old with zero knowledge of the Bible! That incident took place in 1977.
Recently I was talking to about 50 children from a local public school. I asked the children (ages 6-8), "How many of you have ever heard of the Bible?" Three hands went up. I thought that perhaps they didn't hear or understand the question, so in a loud, clear voice I asked them again. The same three hands went up. Apparently, they had heard and understood! This time, it wasn't one man who somehow had missed out on biblical information but nearly an entire class of children! What a difference a couple decades can make.
I've discovered too, that age has nothing to do with it either. I shared the foundations for the message of salvation with a 96 year old man who told me, "I've never heard that in my life." It seems like I'm hearing that phrase over and over again these days. I picked up a hitch-hiker, a young man of 17 who told me the same thing. He listened intently and was so impressed with the message.
From my experience, the need to take people back to the "foundations" is being emphasized over and over again. For a clear understanding of God's wonderful plan of redemption, there's no better way!!
