About 3 out of 10 American teens say they read the Bible at least once a week, while a slightly higher number—35 percent—say they never read the Bible. That leaves about another third of teens who read the Bible at least occasionally. So, Bible readers outnumber nonreaders by almost 2 to 1.

But do the (presumably) more biblically minded teens have more biblically based values? Another set of statistics seems troubling in this regard: Only 8 percent of American teens say music piracy (which the Bible and U.S. law both say is stealing) is morally wrong, and a full 80 percent of teens who say they have bought religious "praise" music in the last six months say they've also engaged in some sort of music piracy during that time.

In James 1:25 God encourages us to live faithfully according to His ways: "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does" (Statistics compiled by Ted Olsen and posted June 25, 2004, on Christianity Today online).