I've already pointed out the LifeWay Research study commissioned by Ligonier Ministries on the state of theology in the U.S. In that first examination, I looked at the question of whether or not the church has any right to determine the condition of your soul. An overwhelming 81% said it did not. Jesus and the Scriptures suggested otherwise.
More disturbing (disturbing, but not surprising) to me is the findings that show how we've tamed God in America. Two out of three see the Holy Spirit as a force, not a person. Twenty percent believe that Jesus is a creature created by God. Less than 50% believe God breathed Scripture. Forty-four percent disagree with the claim that God the Father is more divine than Jesus.
We live, then, in an interesting society. Commanded by the Bill of Rights to allow equal rights to all religions, we conclude equal validity for all religions. Twisting "tolerance" into meaning "embrace all beliefs (except, of course, disagreement about what I believe)", we've removed grounds for anything approaching truth. And being willfully ignorant of who God is, we end up with a personalized deity of our own choosing. "God to me" is the god of this age. Like issues of "gender" and "marriage" and so many other things, we yank out the word, twist it to our own use, then reinsert it. "Do I believe in God? Sure!", never admitting that the "God" I am claiming to believe in is not the same God of the Bible. "I put my faith in Christ!" we hear asserted all around, from the Mormons to the Jehovah's Witnesses to the Progressives around the corner, never recognizing that the "Christ" in whom they place their faith is not the Christ of the Bible.
Having shaped God into our own image, we will now stand against biblical Christianity. That whole "Trinity" thing? Yeah, we're not buying it. It has been settled in the Church since the question was first addressed, but fortunately we've figured out that it is no longer the case. We have personal fashions and personal electronics and personal tastes in entertainment, and now we have our own personal god and if you suggest anything about the veracity of that god, we will have you taken out of the city and stoned, at least virtually. Because, in the end, we are god. We get to say who god is. We get to set aside what God said about Himself and give Him our own spin. We sound like a religious society, but don't look under the hood. It's running on fumes ... fumes and no engine. And no amount of good political representation will solve that.
4 comments:
One question. All your examples are to the negative (ie the wrong view). I am confused about the last one, do you believe God the Father was more divine than Jesus.
One other point, I know a lot of people that claim Christianity as their faith, but haven't been in a church in many years. Also, unless I am mistaken, this is a random survey of 3000 Americans. In that framework these results don't surprise me at all. Now if we intentionally surveyed regular church attenders, I think these results would be significantly different. Don't get me wrong, we wouldn't be at 100% in all areas, but you wouldn't find key Theological issues so pervasive.
Finally, thanks for bringing this study to my attention. I find it interesting.
"Forty-four percent disagree with the claim that God the Father is more divine than Jesus."
That only 44% disagree is the issue, because in no Christian sense could God the Father be more divine than God the Son.
And while your point about asking 3,000 Americans in general (although further demographics were also ascertained) the question is how well the Church is getting out its message. How well is it standing for the faith? Is it defending the hope within us? Not very well. It also demonstrates what we all should know--America is not a Christian nation. That's why I conclude what I did. People are classifying themselves as "Christians" while holding horribly non-Christian positions and someone ought to mention it.
Thanks for clarifying. I totally agree.
Stan I appreciate the way you present doctrinal truth from day to day. How well is the Church is getting out its message? Not very well. Here is a suggestion. The church needs to understand that to build a church you make disciples who know Biblical doctrine. You don’t ignore major doctrines, employ worldly marketing skills and present some kind of expression of the gospel to build a church. You may find one member attracted to sound doctrine but you can find a hundred more members who want to allow all sorts of beliefs to be tolerated. When pastors accommodate the majority, there is doctrinal sloppiness and miasma of beliefs.
Paul says that an elder is to be "holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict" (Titus 1:9). Since elders (also called overseers and pastors) are to care about doctrine, it should be in their interest to make their elder's meetings more than just business meetings about the more mundane things or merely vision meetings about new ideas. I know we must do some of that. Visionless churches are dying churches, of course. But pastors should work hard to perfect what they believe. They should put the months of study and discussion into various doctrinal positions so that they become familiar with them and are ready to teach them. After coming to one mind on a doctrine, they should meet with the men, and then the whole church, to transmit and teach what they have learned.
Some thoughts from Worldview Weekend.
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