Sep 28, 2010

                Earlier this year the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted a nationwide survey (www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/28/pew-forum-religious-knowlege-survery)  that measured, based on the answers given, how much Americans knew about religious history and the Bible. There were 32 questions asked. The average score was 16. That’s a flat out failing grade on any test at any level.

                The research numbers also showed that Atheists (those who don’t believe God exists), Agnostics (those who aren’t sure that God exists and really don’t care), Jews and Mormons had the highest scores averaging almost 21 of 30. Those of the Catholic faith fared the worst with an average score of just over 14.5. Other Christian faiths scored in the 16 answer range.

                This is the first survey of this kind so it’s hard to draw vary many conclusions about any trends that may be taking place. But many in the religious world, including myself believe that it does point to a disturbing trend. As I interact with Christians in Bible classes, personal studies and through sermons it is painfully obvious that in general we don’t know as much about Scripture or our own religious history as we have in the past.

                The argument could certainly be made that we really don’t need to know our faith history in order to understand God’s word. While that is true, it’s also true that if we don’t understand what has shaped our faith, why some of the differences exist between us and other faith communities and some of the places our forefathers fell we have set ourselves up for continued failure.

                But no Christian could argue that of all people in the world we should be the most familiar with the Word of God. From basics like knowing how many books are contained in Scripture and being able to name them in order to a fundamental understanding of what each section of the Bible addresses, we should “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet 3:15, NIV).

                Someone once asked an audience, “If you were to lose your eyesight and sense of hearing today, what could you recall of the Word of God?” The answer to that penetrating question just may give us a clue about where understanding what God wants of us is in our list of priorities. Whether or not you commit specific passages of Scripture to memory really isn’t the issue. But being able to point people that are curious, interested or even poking fun, to the right place to answer them is critical.

                I hope that if the Pew Research Center were to call one of us we’d be able to score better than 50%. But more than that, I pray that we are being well enough equipped to be able to show our children, our neighbors, our friends and co-workers what God has done for all mankind and how they too can share in that amazing gift of grace.

Lessons Learned

I don’t know why but I continue to be amazed at the lessons God teaches us through what most would consider everyday life activities. I’ve been reminded of a lot of those over the last few weeks.


As I was driving to Montgomery, Alabama a couple of weeks ago I drove through about four very heavy rain showers. I could see them in the distance as I drove on dry pavement then…all of a sudden they were just dumping the rain. One minute it’s dry, the next it’s wet and then it’s dry again. I can’t help but hear the words of Jesus, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mt 5:45-46).

I’m learning in the game of golf that if you’ll swing the club so it hits the ball, the club does the work and sends the ball in the direction you want it to go. But when I try to hit a ball hard I will usually send it off in a direction that is not good for my score. The spiritual lesson is pretty simple…when I try to keep control of the events in my life they usually end up pretty badly. But when I step out of the picture and allow God to do the work it ends up just exactly right every time. David understood that concept and captured it well when he wrote, “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers…” (Psalm 141:3-4).

The battery in Sue’s car died the other morning. Actually, it died sometime between the time she stopped the car and got in it the next morning to go to work. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a new battery then had to struggle with just exactly how to get the old one out and the new one in. Once I figured out the trick and hooked up the new one, the car started just as easily as if it were still brand new. One little piece of that machinery didn’t work and it shut the whole thing down! It seems to me that our lives are very much like that too. When we allow our faith in God to grow weak, when we fail to provide our spirit with the right amount of input the rest of our life is miserable and unworkable too. It’s important to remember that, “In Him (God) we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28a).

There are thousands of lessons taught in our presence every day. If we will only take the time to watch and listen with eyes and ears tuned to our Savior we’ll be blessed with every one of them.