If reading the Bible is a necessary means toward faithful discipleship, then Christians of the modern fundamentalist persuasion can only conclude that Hell is very likely full of most of their Christian ancestors since they were illiterate.
Too bad they lived in the wrong century, right? This brings to mind Augustine of Hippo asserting that pagan philosophers are in Hell because they didn’t know Christ.
But let’s not disturb the peace within that can only come from the Spirit with our accusations of cognitive dissonance. We wouldn’t want to reveal what can only be concluded if regular Bible reading truly is a key component of Christian living — the vast majority of Christians having lived these two millennia are very likely inferior to literate 21st-century Christians with more biblical knowledge.
Again, the vast majority of our Christian ancestors were simply out of luck. For one reason or another, God made Heaven nearly inaccessible, according to his sovereign will.
Motives reveal their true thoughts
I can hear this objection now: “There were some good illiterate Christians in the past who did what they could. God wouldn’t deprive them of salvation.”
As long as translating the Bible in every language (including indigenous ones) is a priority, not to mention widespread literacy and greater biblical access, then these evangelists make their true thoughts known. One of those thoughts must be that an illiterate Christian, or a Christian without access to a Bible through no fault of his own, remains an inferior Christian.
He can never be as good of a Christian as another residing near a Barnes & Noble or with access to an internet speed capable of downloading a free Bible app or with enough money to sleep in a hotel room equipped with a free Gideon Bible.
God didn’t care about our ancestors
This emphasis on Bible reading as a means toward greater discipleship was an impracticality to most Christians. If what these fundamentalists say is true, that regular study of the Bible is a necessity, then he didn’t bother providing the means necessary to make that a reality for nearly two millennia. In other words, fundamentalists, including those of the grace-alone persuasion, can only conclude that God failed to provide for the vast majority of Christians who have ever lived.
Bible-thumping feudal serfs?
Think about it. Is the existence of any evangelistic impetus possible vis-a-vis a written text in a society lacking the technology to produce Bibles on a mass scale to an illiterate population?
Unfortunately, there was no Barnes & Noble in the Middle Ages. Barnes & Noble could not be a business in an age where the technology to produce its product didn’t exist. The printing press wasn’t a reality until the mid-15th century.
Besides, wouldn’t there need to be demand from a large customer base? Would the illiterate townsfolk frequent a Barnes & Noble? Buy a Nook maybe? Perhaps the illiterate serfs would visit for the expensive coffee.
Despite the advent of the printing press, humanity had to wait a little while longer for widespread literacy. History shows the rise of literacy in western Europe (especially Paris and London) during the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries. Widespread literacy in the United States would follow thanks to public education.
What about the rest of the world? Much of its inhabitants still had to wait a little while longer.
We must obey … uh, if God helps
These Bible-believing fundamentalists ascribing to a form of Christianity unknown throughout most of Christian history, a form of religion only possible in the modern world, can only conclude the following:
- Most of the Christians who have ever lived were much more inferior spiritually in comparison to modern, literate Christians holding greater biblical knowledge;
- God didn’t bother to get his printed word distributed on a mass scale until well into the next millennium after Christ;
- If Bible reading is a necessary means toward faithful discipleship then God didn’t care to make faithful discipleship a possibility for nearly all the Christians who have ever lived;
- These poor souls have a greater chance of becoming expert swimmers in the eternal Lake of Fire, or perhaps even members of the All-American — er, I mean — All-Hell Swim Team.