I asked a Muslim imam, on my talk radio show, "What's the matter with the world?"

"Not everyone has read the Koran."

Uh...did Osama do what he did because he didn't read the Koran?

Answer:  "Yes.  He hasn't read the Koran.  He has not read it all.  Anyone who reads it would not do wrong things." 

So if someone gets him to read the Koran, he won't kill people like that?  Couldn't it be that he's studied it, but he's ignoring it or, possibly, it just hasn't changed him?

"No," said the imam with a doctorate.  "If he reads it, he will do the right thing.  The Koran would change his heart, because it is from God.  He needs only to read it.  The problem with the world is that people have not read the Koran."

Wow.  Didn't expect that.

...and then I remembered the churches I've been in.  Bible churches, rooted in biblical teaching, teaching the word, teaching the truth about the Bible, teaching in sermons (which was for the teaching part of Sunday morning), "Sunday Schools" (which was for the teaching part of Sunday morning), Revival meetings with guest teachers, Bible studies for mid-week teachings, "Vacation Bible Schools" where we got some teaching about the Bible.  We had "church camp", too, with a different emphasis:  Teaching, yes, but outside.

We were encouraged to listen to the Christian teaching radio station, too, in order to get some solid Bible teaching, and buy books that teach us about the Bible.  And we had three services a week, where we gather to sing and pray (a bit) before everything built up to a teaching.

And yes, I know, teaching is good.  Truth is, I like being taught.  And I've been taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught, and taught.  And taught.

And I owe much to gifted teachers in my life.  I'd write some fan mail, but a lot of them died before I was born.  In high school, a terrific speaker with a brilliant, gifted theological mind, came to be a preacher at our small country church.  Everyone said he was a great Bible teacher.  I loved him.

But I don't remember a single sermon.  Not one.  I do remember he came to play football with me when my parents got divorced.  I still love him.

Once, we attended a Bible Church that prided itself on its "meaty" teaching.  My wife and I loved the people we'd met, and were excited when they announced an "Ol' Time Ice Cream Social"!  We showed up and started, finally, getting to know a family that had just moved down from Canada.  Turns out, Loren was a scientist who had become a believer when --

Wait.  The pastor's tapping a microphone up front.  Then, way-too-loud, out of the P.A. in the gym:  "Is this thing on?...okay...ahem..."

You've gotta be kidding me.

"Please feel free to keep eating your ice cream!  We're glad you're here.  Of course, no gathering is complete without a study of the Word, so we're going to take a look at first John chapter 2 tonight and..."

I feel like my learning has accelerated in the last several years.  I particularly love being taught through experience, in addition to books.  What's more, God makes EVERYTHING interesting.  Belief in Jesus doesn't render everything else "just details", it makes everything deeply fascinating.  There is much to learn, indeed.  Shoes, ships, cabbages, kings.

And yet:  Jesus said children can understand the Kingdom.  And the greatest, smartest, teacher ever didn't back up the Didactic Truck of Knowledge on us -- He told stories.  Some of the stories, a lot of religious, learned folks just couldn't comprehend.  To His disciples, He said, "Follow me," without much teaching build-up.  He had ample time to sermonize, to make sure they understood doctrine thoroughly, but you get the feeling the crucifixion caught many of them by surprise.

The Greatest Teacher Ever.  And honestly -- forgive me, again, if I'm wrong, for I'm no theologian -- but it sure seems like He could've spent a lot more time lecturing.  It sure seems like He could've made SURE that those following Him would, in an academic sense, "get it." 

"But Brant, didn't the early believers 'devote themselves to the apostles' teaching?'"

Well, sure.  And they had to be taught.  Learning was, and is, vital.  But imagine if you were given the teaching, "Love your neighbor."  What would "devoting your life" to that teaching look like?   I now suspect it means having time available to be in my neighbor's kitchen, even at the expense of time in a lecture environment.

In my radio job, I have a "talent coach".  He teaches doing tightly-edited, personable, creative radio, and tells me how to do it.  When I think of devoting myself to his teaching, I don't picture academic settings, focused on parsing his words.  I think of doing the things he wants me to do when I'm on the air.

When I was first a youth minister, though, I figured, "If I just teach about such-and-such, if we just have more time to go over this, if they'd just really listen..."  I thought knowledge would make the difference.  Just knowing more.   But you know what I bet that group remembers?  When I stood out in the snow with the my group of 15 at the community "lock-in", because they all -- every single kid in my high school group -- had to take smoke breaks through the night.  I bet the other youth ministers remember that, too.) 

Teaching them in a lecture environment was pretty easy.  What's more:  I was in control.  Maybe that's why I thought more exposure to the book would whip them into shape.

So the imam's idea seemed silly, but you know?  It had a whiff of familiarity about it.