Bible-engaged Americans more hopeful, despite suffering trauma and heartache: report By Emily Wood, Christian Post Reporter
The third chapter of American Bible Society’s State of the Bible report released this week reveals that those who read Scripture have more hope than those who are less engaged, and shows how the Bible brings healing to people who are suffering.
The “Hope for the Hurting” chapter released on Wednesday shows how “Scripture Engaged” people over-index for hope though they experience stress at average levels.
“Just because people are in the church, just because they’re deeply engaging in Scripture, that doesn’t mean they get a pass on stress or trauma,” John Farquhar Plake, director of ministry intelligence for American Bible Society, told The Chrisitan Post in an interview.
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“In fact, oftentimes they over-index for experiencing both stress and trauma in their lives,” Plake said. “What’s different and really hopeful for us is, we discovered that those same people who are experiencing really high levels of stress and trauma are also experiencing very high levels of hope, and they have a deep ability to forgive those who have hurt them [if they engage with Scripture]. And that’s really different. It doesn’t mean they have a different experience in life, but they experience life differently.”
The findings from the report come from data collected by ABS in January through surveying over 3,300 Americans nationwide.
“Scripture-engaged people, though they have average levels of stress, they have way above average levels of hope,” Plake explained. “I just think of Jesus talking to His disciples and saying, ‘In this world, you’ll have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.’ There’s a way that God’s Word and God’s presence gives us that allows us to live differently in the midst of the same circumstances, and that is really transformative.”
Plake said that in the midst of stress, trauma and a national increase in stress over the last year, Americans are finding hope in God’s Word.
“Americans are finding comfort in Scripture,” Plake said in a statement. “While being part of the Church doesn’t mean hardships disappear, our study found that when Americans are rooted in Scripture, we are better able to forgive and to cope with trauma or stress. We’re seeing in real-time how the Bible shows us that our story does not end with hurt and pain — we have hope beyond our suffering. As people consistently interact with truth found in the Bible, they see a way forward toward a brighter, more hopeful future.”
