New study shows that reading the Bible increases hope

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A recent study has shown that reading Scripture on a regular basis can substantially improve people’s sense of hope, Christianity Today (CT) reports. The study was conducted by the American Bible Society (ABS) with help from Harvard University’s Human Flourishing Program.

The study polled over 1,000 American adults in two surveys carried out six months apart, CT said. The findings revealed that those who read the Bible regularly were 33 points more hopeful than those who only read Scripture sporadically.

Speaking to CBN Healthy Living about the study, John Plake of ABS said: “In the midst of a pandemic and this sort of once in a century disruption we’ve been experiencing in America, we were interested to know, how does the Bible help people? We were extremely heartened to realize that in the midst of languishing and the struggle that the nation’s been in, people who are deeply connected to the Bible and to the Christian community are remarkably resilient.”

The study found that, on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the most hopeful, those who read Scripture three or four times per year scored 42; people who read the Bible once a month scored 59; those who read it weekly scored 66; and who read the Bible several times a week scored 75, CT reports.

Notably, the study found that those who never read the Bible were slightly more hopeful than those who rarely read it, CT reports. However, those who never read the Bible were about 5 points less hopeful than those who read it once a month.

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