Jeopardy
Since the television game show, Jeopardy, is basically a televised trivia game, I thought that I would begin this with a little trivia. I’m old enough to remember that there was a host on the show before Alex Trebek.
Art Fleming was the man’s name. I remember seeing him on my parents’ old black and white television. I also listened to him occasionally toward the end of his career as a broadcaster on KMOX radio in St. Louis.
About the only time I see the program now is when it is on in some waiting room, restaurant, hospital room in which I am visiting, etc. Since I’m not a regular viewer, I missed the show that recently made the news in some areas. It did, however, pop up on something I was reading online.
The incident that made the news had to do with a quotation from the Bible. Here’s the statement which was read by Mayim Bialik (one of the current hosts):
“Matthew 6:9 says, ‘Our Father, which art in heaven,’ This ‘be thy name.’”
This question and the reaction that followed did not make the news because one of the contestants set some sort of record for the quickest response in the long history of the show. Neither did the reason have to do with some really “off the wall” response.
The three contestants obviously knew a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff. They would not have been on the show otherwise. In fact, according to what I read, one of them was on a five-game winning streak and ultimately won the game that night.
The reason that this made the news is that not one of the three contestants even tried to guess. Not one of them knew that the “this” in that scripture was “hallowed.”
I’m thinking that the word “jeopardy” is much more than the name of a game show. It is even more than a word to describe certain situations in which we may find ourselves. I’m thinking that this could be one more of many indications that the time may be long past when citizens of the United States could accurately refer to our country as “a Christian nation.”
One reason for that opinion should be obvious to those who are paying attention to some of the things which are going on around us. It is becoming more and more acceptable to promote and celebrate what the Bible condemns. That is especially true in the area of morality.
Another reason for that opinion is that it is apparently true that, along with the fact that people do not care what the Bible says, many do not know what it says. It only took a very few minutes of “online research” to come up with the following:
- This headline is from a study done by the Pew Research Center in October of 2019 (before Covid had any impact — In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace
- According to other studies I’ve looked at online, the number of people who report that they attend any sort of religious service (including Buddhist,Hindu Islam, etc.) at least once a week is somewhere around 30%. One study reported that the number of people who identify themselves in any way as Christian was as low as 17%. Most of the studies I looked at reported that the percentage of people who never attend a religious service is equal to – or in some cases greater than – the percentage that attend at least once a week.
A study in 2020 conducted by The Barna Group produced the following statistics about citizens of our nation and the frequency of their/our Bible reading:
- Daily 9%
- Four or more times a week 3%
- Once a week 9%
- Several times 10%
- Once a month 9%
- Once a year 11%
- Three or four times a year 8%
- Never 34%
There are some serious indications that we would do well to consider the following quote from our nation’s second president, John Adams:
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.
It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
I am not among those who seek to apply God’s promises to the Jews during the time when the Old Testament was being written with how He views the United States today. With that being said, I do believe that an application could be made today concerning this statement from God:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4:6)
“Jeopardy” is more than a game show. It can describe everything from the condition of an entire nation and/or civilization to our eternal souls. Some comedian observed years ago that the reason that older people start reading the Bible more often is that they are “cramming” for their final exam. There could be some truth in that, but we don’t need to delay our study of God’s Word and being guided by it. If it is not already ongoing, it needs to start today.
AUTHOR: Jim Faughn