The American Bible Society's latest "State of the Bible" report shows that individuals who do not merely read the Bible, but actually engage with Scripture, have more hope and a greater sense of meaning, purpose, and forgiveness.
"We tend to talk about Scripture engagement in three big buckets or categories," Dr. John Plake, officer of ministry insights and innovation at the American Bible Society, recently told "Washington Watch."
In the last three years, the report has shown that Scripture-engaged individuals have sustained higher rates of life satisfaction, mental and physical health, and close social relationships.
"We talk about people who are Scripture-engaged, and what that means is they're consistently interacting with the Bible, and they're allowing it to influence their day-to-day lives," Dr. Plake continued. "That's where we want everybody to be."
Those are the people, he said, who are experiencing the best life.
But while the number of Scripture-engaged people has not changed significantly in the last year, the number of those who have moved towards reading the Bible has.
"I was encouraged this year to see that while the numbers of Scripture-engaged Americans haven't gone up much in America, the group right below them -- what we call the movable middle or Bible test drivers -- this group of people has grown rather significantly over the last year," Dr. Plake relayed. "There are 76 million American adults who are open to the Bible. They're curious about what the Bible says, and often, they just don't know where to start."
He called that an opportunity for those who know God and His Word to help their neighbors find what they are looking for and to help them experience God "just like we have experienced Him."
