Theologian Dr. Michael Youssef, pastor of the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, joined CBN to discuss the “dangers” of Christians not understanding the Old Testament. “Get ‘unhitched’ from the Old Testament?” he asked, echoing a phrase spoken by mega pastor Andy Stanley, who has more recently been embattled by claims that he has softened his stance on homosexuality. In 2018, Stanley faced criticism for telling his congregants, “Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.” He later tried to clarify his comments, telling Relevant, “Well, I never suggested we ‘unhitch’ from a passage of Scripture or a specific biblical imperative . . . . Again, I was preaching through Acts 15 where Peter, James, and Paul recommended the first-century church unhitch (my word, I’m open to an alternative) the law of Moses from the Gospel being preached to the Gentiles in Antioch.” Youssef stated that “unhitching” the Old Testament and New Testament would “be like saying, ‘I love this big, beautiful, tall building, but the foundation is not really necessary. Let’s get rid of it.’ You get rid of the foundation, the building will not stand for very long. And I often say if you understand the Bible … if you understand the unity of that book, it is one book — not two books.”

 Youssef described the American Bible Society’s recent poll that showed only nine percent of Americans read their Bible daily as “grieving to me.” “And we are surprised at what’s happening in our culture and our society? Are we surprised when we have neglected the measuring stick? … In fact, when they were forming the [biblical] canon — the word ‘canon’ actually is an Arabic word, believe it or not, and it comes from the [phrase] ‘measuring stick.’… How do we know what is right and what is wrong and what is deceptive and what is false and what is right and what’s truth, unless we have that measuring stick?” he asked. He likened the Old Testament to a house without a roof, with the New Testament completing the construction as that missing roof. Youssef has written a new book, How to Read the Bible (as If Your Life Depends on It), to help combat the illiteracy he is seeing. He called knowing the Bible “invaluable.” “Above all,” he said, “the Bible reveals to us something so precious, so special. It’s invaluable. You can’t put a value on it, and that is the revelation of the character of God. Unless you know the character of God, you will not understand some of the events and the things that are happening [in this life].” 

Biblical illiteracy hasn’t gone unnoticed amongst other ministries either. Answers in Genesis (AIG) noted a study in which only 10% of Americans had a Biblical worldview. “And the biblical teachings that the study considered part of a ‘biblical worldview’ were the most basic of biblical beliefs, such as the personhood of the Holy Spirit or the existence of Satan. This study is a sad testament to the state of the American church,” wrote Avery Foley of AIG. Foley stated that teaching the whole Bible and not just Bible stories is necessary to combat biblical illiteracy. Foley also warned against assuming those who have been raised in the church know the fundamentals. Foley also encouraged questions. “Christianity is a reasoned faith with answers to the skeptical questions of our day. Encourage your young people to ask questions. If you don’t know the answer, tell them that and promise to follow up—and then do! You’ll both learn something!”