Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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(Today’s Book Installment)
Living in the Kingdom of God
Chapter 5 – Things Coming Together
The time is ripe for widespread dissemination and adoption of the kingdom of God – in place of church – as a way of life for those who believe in Christ. Here are four factors that have brought us to this point. You’ll recognize the first two from the preceding chapters.
1 – Increasing Access to the Scriptures
In the 2nd century, there was no Bible as we know it. What would come to be called the Old Testament existed only in multiple scrolls. What would become the New Testament only existed in sub-collections (such as, “The Gospels” or “The Letters of Paul”) recorded on codices (primitive versions of the modern book).
Only by the 4th century were the Old and New Testaments brought together in a single codex.
And only by the 16th century were Bibles widely and aggressively translated into the various languages of the common man.
In our century, over 90% of the world’s population has access to the Bible, or at least portions of it, in a language they understand. That’s how long it’s taken to overcome the curse of Babel.
Simultaneously, the current global literacy rate is roughly 90% – up from roughly 10% in antiquity.
And across that same period of time, the cost of the Bible has shrunk from the equivalent of two year’s pay to that of just one hour of work! And if you’re downloading to a smartphone, the cost is essentially zero.
Never has humanity been less dependent on an institution to know what the Bible says.
2 – Increasing Fragmentation of the Institutional Church
The more the institutional church divides, the closer it gets to the focus of the kingdom of God – which is the nuclear family. Of course, we do not have to rely on this factor alone, for, by itself, it would take too long to get us to the kingdom focus. But this phenomenon does add to the effect of the other factors.
3 – Decreasing Satisfaction with the Institutional Church
Per Google AI:
“Public satisfaction and confidence in the institutional church have dropped to historic lows, driven by a combination of generational shifts, high-profile scandals, and a growing disconnect between traditional structures and contemporary cultural values.”
Confirming this description, weekly church attendance declined from 39% in the 20th century to 19% in the 21st.
Hidden beneath this data is even more dissatisfaction with church. Specifically, about half of the 19% who continued attending church during this period only did so by switching congregations in the hope of improving their church experience.
4 – Decreasing Cost of Communications
It almost goes without saying that the cost of communications in the age of technology has been decreasing at phenomenal rates.
I can operate this website and write downloadable pdf books for only several hundred dollars a year. And it’s instantly accessible around the world.
Holding church services involves serious costs. Communicating the principles of the kingdom of God can be born entirely by an individual writer.
The Combined Effect
This is a very good century for a book about “living in the kingdom of God.”
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