The new U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, released the other day by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, finds that although 86 percent of us believe in God or a higher power, we do not know our own traditions or those of neighbors across the street or across the globe. Among 3,412 adults surveyed, only 2 percent correctly answered at least 29 of 32 questions on the Bible, major religious figures, beliefs and practices. The average score was 16 correct (50 percent).
The statistic that concerned me the most were that Basic Bible eludes us. Just 55 percent of all respondents knew the Golden Rule is not one of the Ten Commandments; 45 percent could name all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The Second most concerning issue that was revealed was that the top scoring groups were atheists/agnostics, Jews and Mormons. These tiny groups, adding up to less than 7 percent of Americans scored particularly well on world religion and U.S. Constitutional questions. It is unclear why, although highly educated people overall did best on the quiz, say researchers. (You can read the full results of this survey at the following webpage: https://www.jconline.com/article/20100928/NEWS09/100928007/1001/NEWS)
This recent survey seems to verify another survey that was conducted several years ago by a Gallup Poll. This Gallup Poll reported the considerable ignorance among U.S. teens about the Bible. Fewer than half the 1,002 youths polled knew that Jesus turned water into wine at the Cana wedding, and nearly two-thirds could not identify a quote from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount or the relation of the road to Damascus to the apostle Paul’s conversion. About one-in-ten thought Moses was one of Jesus’ 12 apostles.
There is a great ignorance of God’s Word today. What happens when God’s people become ignorant of the Word of the Lord? The Bible tells us in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” In the context of Hosea 4:1-5, the Hebrews were not faithful, they did not show kindness, they had no knowledge of God in the land, there was swearing, deception, stealing and adultery, murder and revenge murders. Their sins even had an impact on creation; the land animals and the fish disappeared. Even the religious leaders were evil.
Do these sins sound familiar? It sounds like we are reading a page from today’s newspaper. Many wonder why we have all these problems in our society today. People can blame these social ills on lack of education, the government, some political party, lack of jobs, lack of money, bad genetics or something else, but it boils down to one thing, and that is a lack of knowledge and obeying the Word of God.
Paul reminded Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Peter encouraged in 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
The only way to turn our families, communities and nations around is turning back to God and His Word. Do not be destroyed for a lack of knowledge; study God’s Word daily, and assemble each first day of the week with the saints so that you can come to have a better knowledge of the Lord’s way for your life. Visit a church of Christ in your community.
