|
|
An Ignorant Belief System An article which appeared last week, "Survey: Americans Don't Know Much About Religion" dated Tuesday, September 28, got my attention. In a survey conducted between May and June of this year, 3,412 people were asked 32 questions dealing with various religious teachings. Let me say to start with that this survey does not necessarily deal with true knowledge of the Bible. But they found that 45% of Roman Catholics did not know that according to their own church dogma, the bread and wine were transformed into the literal body and blood of Christ. Over half of those identified as "Protestants" did not know who started the Reformation Movement. The answer is Martin Luther. About 40% of Jews could not identify the Maimonides as a group who developed some of their greatest rabbis and intellectuals. The first paragraph stated that the survey "found that atheists, agnostics, and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholic in answering questions about major religions, while many respondents could not correctly give the most basic tenets of their own faiths." It is the last part that really got my attention. Most people do not know what their own church teaches. While those not connected to a "church" knew the various teachings of different religious groups. The mantra, "It does matter what you believe as long as you are sincere" means that it does not matter if you really believe anything. This is a far cry from 2 Timothy 2:15, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." We are to know what the word of God teaches. Bible faith means that we believe what the Bible teaches us to believe. We are to believe in God as our creator, Hebrews 11.6; in Jesus as the Son of God, Acts 8.37. We are to believe that Jesus died on the cross, was buried for three days, and was resurrected, 1 Corinthians 15.3,4. We are also to believe that He is now at the right hand of God in heaven above, Acts 2.33, and now reigning in heaven as our Lord and Master, Acts 2.36. In our baptism we come in contact with His blood and our sins are washed away, Acts 2.38; 22.16; Ephesians 1.7. It is in baptism one is added to the body of Christ, Galatians 3.27. One can read Ephesians 4.4-7 to learn that there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. Apparently a lot of folks don't believe any of these things because they don't know anything about these seven 1's. At the same time I was amazed by the following in the above mentioned article: "Atheists and agnostics scored highest, with an average of 21 correct answers, while Jews and Mormons followed with about 20 accurate responses. Protestants overall averaged 16 correct answers, while Catholics followed with a score of about 15." Keep in mind that this was not a Bible quiz, but a survey on different religious teachings by different religious groups. However, this begs the question, "Why would atheist and agnostics score the highest?" Perhaps it is due to their various backgrounds. Atheists and agnostics come from different religions. Some may have been former Jews, Catholics, and Protestants; while Catholics would not have much knowledge of Judaism or Mormonism. But neither group really goes by the word of God. Judaism goes by oral traditions and the teachings of various rabbis. Mormonism goes by the writings of Joseph Smith and different later day prophets. Protestants go by creeds adopted by men and Catholics go by different councils, the Pope, and their own traditions. Atheists and agnostics reject all of the above and go by their own feelings and teachings. In fact, the reason many become atheists and agnostics is because they realize the fallacy of denominationalism. They understand that not everyone is right and you really cannot have conflicting doctrines and still be unified in the body of Christ. Perhaps now more than ever the words of Paul applies, as he approached the people at Mars Hill. "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious (superstitious, KJV); for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you." (Acts 17.22b -23). A lot of our neighbors are in the need of someone proclaiming to them the word of God. -- Dennis Tucker |