Today most of us take literacy for granted but in the early days of the church most people couldn’t read or write. Are we better off today because we can read? Yes, but…
The Greek philosopher Plato, who lived in the fourth century before Christ, wrote this about the invention of writing. “This invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding” (“Phaedrus,” 275B).
Ponder it this way. Because we now print the Word of God, bind it in a book, and put it on the shelf, we are tempted to think of God’s Word as a source of information. Looking for some religious information? Got a problem and want a spiritual fix? Find something in the book. But God never intended His Word to be only a source of religious information. “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Since most of the first Christians couldn’t read, they would memorize the Word far more than people do today. That Word in them transformed their lives in ways words on the shelf do not. “These words that I command you this day shall be on your heart” (Deuteronomy 6:6).
“Always (be) prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). Or do we say, “I’ll get back to you as soon as I do some religious research?”
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