Basic Comprehension

My first post on this blog must explain its title.

If there is one thing missing in the world I know, it's Basic Comprehension. When I try to understand my own job, it is not there. When I deal with undergrads in physics, it is not there. More importantly though, when Christians read the Bible, it is not there. Most alarmingly, when I hear pastors preach, it is not there. And most sadly, when the world speaks about Christianity, it is certainly not there.

I don't know if I expect too much, but why do we find it so hard to read a sentence and take it for what it says? Why can't we read a paragraph and grasp the flow of it? This is a basic skill. Is it because the Bible is a religious text that we feel at liberty to read into it and extrapolate, and abandon all requisites of logic and cogency? More importantly, what can we do about it?

Don't let me get started on preachers, the world, and the undergrads... I'll save them for another day.

But for now this is my first little rant: what ever happened to Basic Comprehension?