As churches throughout the country prepare to get into high gear for their Easter outreach, a report by the Bible Society offers some sobering perspectives on how we need to share the good news today. The study revealed a generation of children with little knowledge of the most important stories forming the basis of Christianity, and parents who often knew little more. The poll of 800 children between the ages of 8 and 15, and 1100 adults found that:
The group said the findings were "symptomatic of the fact that many children indicate they have never read, seen or even heard these stories". However, on the positive side, many of the parents who responded saw the Bible as a source of good values for their children, and 80% of parents polled think it is important to pass on Bible stories to their children.
All this underscores our need to never assume that there is a fundamental grasp of the basic facts of the Gospel story - that Jesus was born, died and rose again - or that these stories are to be found in the Bible.
It was this observation that led to our creating The Third Day - an illustrated graphic depiction of the events of the first Easter, which just uses the words of Luke's Gospel.
If you want to bring the greatest story ever told to the attention of our next generation of teenagers, you could do worse than buying a stack of these books and putting them in the hands of teens at your local school. We're offering HUGE discounts for bulk purchase. Call our team for pricing on 0333 123 0880 or visit our website today.
Tim Thornborough is the founder and Publishing Director of The Good Book Company. He is series editor of Explore Bible-reading notes, the author of The Very Best Bible Stories series, and has contributed to many books published by The Good Book Company and others. Tim is married to Kathy, and they have three adult daughters.
Thomas Seidler
Eastre, Astarte, Astare, Ishtar are all false gods. The timing of the modern event as I recall is also following a pagan one not the biblical Passover (not that we are into Holy Days). The eggs are part of Babylonian mystery religion, the rabbits are all connected with the fertility goddess. The word Easter never occurs in the language of the bible, though once in the KJV this is a poor translation of pasca/passover.
Ask the question, where does "Resurrection Sunday" come from and you might get a different answer?
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t020.html
Of course, such is my love of chocolate that I'll still eat a chocolate egg if you choose to give me one! ;)