Jordan - Zechariah 2

"I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.  Then I asked, 'Where are you going?' He answered me, 'To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.'" (v. 1-2)

Jerusalem is to be rebuilt to hold the multitudes of people who know and glorify God.  Look, even an angel is measuring it with a tape measure!  Please count us in!

Oh, but seriously, we Christians talk a whole heck of a lot about this God, but what do we really know?  A survey was in the news today that claims that agnostics/atheists know more about religion than any other group.   Wow.  Are we Christians dumb or lazy?  Can we really say our faith is strong when we know little about the details and next to nothing about the alternatives?

Ok, so survey results can always be manipulated to generate a good story.  Especially when some questions are more "trivial pursuit" than "pursuit of salvation."  But one of the main findings of the survey was this:

Data from the survey indicate that educational attainment – how much schooling an individual has completed – is the single best predictor of religious knowledge. College graduates get nearly eight more questions right on average than do people with a high school education or less. Having taken a religion course in college is also strongly associated with higher religious knowledge. 

Other factors linked with religious knowledge include reading Scripture at least once a week and talking about religion with friends and family. People who say they frequently talk about religion with friends and family get an average of roughly two more questions right than those who say they rarely or never discuss religion.

Whatever others think of this survey, it is clear to me that to truly be connected to our faith, we need to continue to struggle with what we know and learn more about what we do not.  Otherwise, we aren't marching to Zion, we are merely walking the plumb line, hoping to fall on the right side whenever the time comes.