Also, we live in a world where people constantly try to twist the scripture and misquote it to mislead people about what the Bible says. Often I’ll catch them and can say, “No, that’s not what it says. It says…” If you don’t know the scripture, someone can change a word on you and therefore change a whole meaning and confuse you or others.

Also, when ministering to others, it helps to share the Bible with them. They’ll listen to you say it, but sometimes the moment you actually pull out a Bible and start flipping pages they put up their guards and refuse to listen or either use your page-turning time against you by talking and starting into a different topic or distract you from finding it.

After memorizing my poetry, I did a 2 hour stand-up performance where people paid to get in and stayed the whole time, and enjoyed it. But it’d be really hard to get someone to stand there and listen to me while I read 15 minutes of poetry off of paper. The same as you’re not going to watch a movie if the actors have not memorized their lines, and are reading it off of a paper script. Let’s be frank, that’s not going to fly! In fact, that actor is not going to even get the part, regardless of how much they complain they’re not being treated fairly because they have a memorizing disability. If you have a memorizing disability, then I’m sure the Lord has gifted you for some other area of ministry that doesn’t require it. But don’t let me catch you singing along word for word with your favorite song.

It almost seems like the Devil’s argument to try to discourage people from memorizing scripture. The real problem is that enough people don’t read it in the first place. If you find someone willing to memorize it, for Christ’s sake, don’t discourage them. And if you do discourage them, then you should be encouraging them to carry their Bibles around with them everywhere they go, even to the bathroom. You wouldn’t tell a samurai to go without his sword, would you?

I’m not very good at scripture memorization and I’m working on it, but I’ve met people in Bible studies who have a wonderful grasp of scripture and hermeneutics but seem to miss the simple message of love and grace. I believe scripture memorization is important, but it should not be an end-all-be-all measure of spirituality.

Believers are not uniform. It is right to encourage all believers to grow in the grace, knowledge and love of Jesus. Not all will be able to do all things equally. But that is no excuse to fail to encourage all to grow to the fullest extent possible. And while praise can be misused, the parable of the talents demonstrates that faithfulness in effort is to be praised. One would have to conclude that not encouraging believers to try would be as condemned as the servant who failed to try.

As used by the Psalmist, “heart” refers to the seat of the emotions… where we make decisions… ie., “our want to.” In that sense, hiding God’s Word in our heart makes perfect sense. Memorization of Scripture “hides” the Word in the “heart” of the believer. This is proven by the ongoing life results that follow as children as well as adults are challenged by and live out the principles of Scripture that they have “hidden” in their “hearts.”

If one finds rewards problematic, the most simple solution is to eliminate the rewards. Rewards are not a uniform component to all approaches to encouraging the memorization of Scripture. Recognition, by certificate, public recognition, scholarships, plaques and even financial gifts are regularly used to lift up and celebrate significant commitment and contribution to work as varied as evangelism, social ministry, music ministry, youth ministry, congregational life, etc. It is equally legitimate to use the same measures as a means by which to motivate people to memorize Scripture. The results of that memorization of Scripture are arguably equal if not superior to the concrete results of the ministries enumerated. The results of those ministries are under girded by and would be contracted by the absence of Scripture hidden in the heart of the Believer.

It is arguable that memorization is a historical spiritual discipline. For the Bible that Jesus read was the one He hid in His heart. It is the Bible that He quoted when debating with Satan. It is the Bible he quoted when preaching on the Mountain top. It is the Bible that He cited when He acted to heal on the Sabbath, forgive the sin of sinners and even when He gave his life on the Cross. It was Scripture hidden in the heart of the Apostles that was cited as foundational for their evangelical and social outreach. In a oral world, Scripture hidden in the heart of the Believer was a critical to effective ministry. We no longer live in a world where we must try to grasp the truth of Scripture via stained glass windows. We are not restricted to a priest reading Scripture in a foreign language. Our is the delightful heritage of Gutenberg as Scripture has been made accessible to even the individual level. Scripture was foundational to the Reformation. It is foundational to any reformation of life or society. No reformation of either will proceed without it.

Memorization of Scripture does not take place in isolation from the community of faith. Few Believers retreat to the equivalent of Walden’s pond to immerse themselves in Scripture. Yet as with John the Baptist, Paul, the Apostle John and even our Lord Jesus, such isolated and intense study of Scripture might be most effective in providing a broad and substantial foundation for effective ministry. In the context of the local congregation, there is a place for individual to arrive at his/her own conclusions as to the truth and implications of Scripture. As with Paul’s grasp of grace in evangelizing Gentiles unrestrained by Jewish traditions of food, etc., such individual conclusions drawn from Scripture are not uncommonly the means by which the Gospel is advanced.

As far as the video provided, it brings to mind a particular pastor of some many years experience who used extreme language to express his displeasure with what he saw as inadequacies in our nation. If memory serves, the President was a member of that church. He rightly rejected such statements. Oddly there were those who came to the defense of that pastor and sought to excuse his remarks.

In conclusion, 30 years of personal experience at the local congregational level in ministry with both adults and children has demonstrated the immediate and long term positive results of a consistent emphasis on the memorization of Scripture. These benefits are notable in congregational life and the work of ministry in evangelism, worship, benevolence and social action. Memorizing of Scripture is immediately accessible, easily implemented and offers demonstrated effectiveness in building the local congregation through evangelism, worship, benevolence and social work.

Of course there are ways to help our students learn the scriptures without making some of those errors. Of course Christians need to know scripture. I’m not saying that we don’t.

Also, oral tradition tended to be more concerned with narratives, not individual verses.

There might be more important things, but there are also less important things, too.

I actually don’t think your #5 is true. The way I understand church history, memorizing Scripture (aka oral tradition) was pretty key for large portions of human history. I agree with you that there isn’t a mandate to memorize Scripture. But, clearly, many of the phrases and sayings of Jesus were repeated/memorized then recorded as exhibited throughout the epistles.

How about 7 reasons to get rid of games in YM?

I really enjoyed this post. I agree with what you have to say about Bible memorization and the competitive nature it has taken in some churches today. I’m with you in that I was never great at memorizing things. Never have been, never will be…and that doesn’t bother me. Some people are geared for it and some aren’t. Simple as that.

I have seen that certain students are given more praise and respect for being able to memorize more scripture than others. That is not how it should be.

The major point that I agree with is that “Memorization does not equal maturity or discipleship.” I’ve been in youth ministry for about 6 years now and I’ve had too many encounters with people who think that because they know more scripture than others, that that makes them more mature or a better disciple. That’s crap!

Lastly, I got the humor of the anti-Obama preacher! haha.

- paulg

I saw this for the first time last spring, and I’m here to tell you, it was mighty powerful stuff. One young woman was struggling with the gossip culture at her school; she found a passage on gossip. Another young woman had decided not to be confirmed because she didn’t believe in God; she memorized an entire chapter of Esther who was, as she explained it, “a strong woman in a book of the Bible that doesn’t talk about God.”

I absolutely agree with your posting, but I have also now seen that there are other ways for youth to memorize Scripture besides competitively.