People Don't Know What They Used To...Why Not?

Since I've been home much of this week with some sort of viral fun, I've had way too much time to watch TV (mostly Andy Griffith, M*A*S*H, Bonanza, etc.). Another show I've been watching is Cash Cab. If you haven't seen it, it's a great show where unsuspecting people get into a New York cab and become contestants, for the duration of their ride, on a TV game show. They have to answer a series of increasingly challenging general knowledge questions for cash prizes.

In an episode I saw just a few minutes ago, the couple in the cab was asked a $100 (most difficult) question that they couldn't answer. In fact, they didn't have any idea at all, so they used what the show calls a "Street Shout-Out" where the cab pulls to the curb and the contestants flag down a passerby and get his/her input. Fortunately for these contestants, the pedestrian they asked knew the answer for them. Though they didn't know enough to be sure whether or not he was right, they took his answer because they didn't have a clue.

The question: "Name one of the four New Testament books known as the gospels."

Now, I know our culture is biblically illiterate, but it was still a shock to my system to see it played out so clearly on this game show. Then the thought occured, it was only a shock because I'm not spending enough time with non-believers to see it more often. If I was doing my part, seeing it played out on TV wouldn't have come as such a shock.

Sure, we can bemoan the fact that people don't know enough about the Bible, OR we can enagage them and create in them a desire to know the word by introducing them to The Word (see John 1:1). (BTW, "John" was the answer they got from the guy on the street. They got their $100.)