A recent survey found that mormons know more about the Bible than catholics, or other protestant religions. Interesting huh? This survey also found that atheists and agnostics know more about major world religions than those of other faiths.
Is this surprising? I’m not sure if it is, but I do find it very interesting. Many times, our church is accused of not even believing in the Bible at all. But, we are encouraged as members of the church to read, and know all works of scripture. Books that we believe are scripture include both the Bible and the Book of Mormon along with the Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. We have long since proclaimed that the Book of Mormon is not an addition to the Bible, but rather a second witness of Christ. Or in other words, another book of scripture that testifies, along with the Bible, that Christ was the Savior of the world.
Right now in our Sunday School hour, we are studying the New Testament. In 2010, we studied the Old Testament. I think that many things that can contribute to this added knowledge include the fact that we are encouraged to study the scriptures daily on our own, and as a family. We are expected to attend church every week. In those weekly meetings, we do study the Bible. As a missionary, I wanted to know the Bible even better than ever. It was a common ground in sharing the gospel with others that did not yet know about the Book of Mormon. I have a testimony that the Bible is the word of God.
While the beliefs of atheists and agnostics differ from my own personal point of view, I can respect the fact that they have possibly done more research than me on world religions. I don’t know how I would fare in a study like this one. As latter-day saints, we believe that knowledge is power. It is the one thing that we will take with us from this life. I think that as a whole, we may be lacking in our knowledge of other religions. I think it could only help us in sharing the gospel with others if we ourselves knew a little about what other faiths already believe.
While I’m proud of the fact that mormons seem to know a lot about the Bible, I definitely think that we can stand to work a little harder in studying the gospel we already believe in, but also learning about the beliefs of other world religions.
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