Turns out, young Christians may be the most engaged Bible readers in generations.
From Christianity Today.
Practicing Christian millennials are bucking a trend.
Overall, this generation is less likely to read or trust the Bible than any other. More than half (55%) are “Bible-neutral” or “Bible-skeptical,” compared to 45 percent of teens, 51 percent of Gen-Xers, 40 percent of Boomers, and 40 percent of Elders.
Yet Christian youth who go to church and care about their faith may know the Bible better than older Christians. Practicing millennials are more likely to believe the Bible came from God and read it multiple times a week than any other generation (87%), according to a six-year American Bible Society (ABS) and Barna Group study of Bible engagement in the United States.
(The report surveyed millennials, which it defined as those born between 1984 and 1998. Gen-Xers were born between 1965 and 1983, Boomers were born from 1946 to 1964, and Elders were born before 1946. Teens were those ages 13 to 17 in 2015.Practicing describes those who identify as Christian, say their faith is important in their lives, and have been to church within the past month.)
In fact, the way practicing Christian millennials engage with the Bible looks a lot like the way their parents and grandparents do.
Americans of all ages are growing more skeptical about the Bible, according to the study. More than 1 in 5 (22%) said they were skeptical of the Bible’s claims in 2016, more than double the 10 percent who were skeptical in 2011.
While three-quarters of Americans believe that Jesus literally rose from the dead (a finding ABS and Barna call “remarkable”), fewer believe that a historical Daniel survived the lions’ den (65%), that Moses actually parted the Red Sea (64%), or that David literally killed Goliath with his slingshot (63%).
Millennials are the most skeptical of all. Overall, four of five adults consider the Bible a holy book (81%), and that number shrinks with age. Elders (88%) and Boomers (87%) are more likely than Gen-Xers (79%) and millennials (71%) to believe the Bible is holy.
The biggest gap appears between millennials and their grandparents. Millennials are twice as likely (23%) as Elders (11%) to say the Bible is “just another book of teachings written by men.” Elders, meanwhile, are twice as likely (31%) as millennials (16%) to say the Bible is the actual word of God.