Posted on 10/08/2020 8:09:57 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Over four in 10 American Christians believe the Bible is “ambiguous” on abortion, according to the Cultural Research Center of Arizona Christian University.
The findings, released Tuesday, are part of the CRC's American Worldview Inventory 2020 survey.
Conducted by CRC Director of Research George Barna, a noted evangelical pollster, the report found that 44% of respondents said they believe the Bible “is ambiguous in its teaching about abortion,” while 34% said “abortion is morally acceptable if it spares the mother from financial or emotional discomfort or hardship.”
Barna said in a statement that the findings on opinions about abortion were part of a broader departure from “biblical truth” by self-identified American Christians.
“The irony of the reshaping of the spiritual landscape in America is that it represents a post-Christian reformation driven by people seeking to retain a Christian identity,” said Barna.
“Unfortunately, the theology of this reformation is being driven by American culture rather than biblical truth.”
The report also found that 34% of self-identified Christians reject the idea that marriage is defined as being between one man and one woman and that 40% accept lying as morally acceptable if it advances personal interests or protect one’s reputation.
Data for the CRC report drew from a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted in January, with an approximate margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
There has been much debate over whether the Bible prohibits abortion.
The apologetics website Got Questions explains that “there are numerous teachings in Scripture that make it abundantly clear what God’s view of abortion is.”
“Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that God knows us before He forms us in the womb. Psalm 139:13-16 speaks of God’s active role in our creation and formation in the womb,” stated the site.
“Exodus 21:22-25 prescribes the same penalty—death—for someone who causes the death of a baby in the womb as for someone who commits murder. This clearly indicates that God considers a baby in the womb to be just as much of a human being as a full-grown adult.”
Pro-abortion advocates, such as Joyce Arthur of the Pro-Choice Action Network, have argued that “the Bible clearly states that life and personhood begins with ‘breath.’” This argument has appeared on abortion clinic websites and promotional materials in response to religious objections to abortion.
“The Hebrew word for human being or living soul is nephesh, which is also the word for ‘breathing.’ Nephesh occurs over 700 times in the Bible as the identifying factor in human life,” Arthur wrote in a piece first published in 1989.
“Obviously, fetuses do not [breathe] and therefore cannot be considered as human beings according to the Bible.”
Since March, the CRC has been releasing reports from the American Worldview Inventory 2020, focusing on different worldview topics and how self-identified Christians perceive them.
For example, a report released on Aug. 19 found that 98% of respondents said they “prefer socialism over capitalism” and did not subscribe to a biblical worldview.
By contrast, 83% of those who hold a biblical worldview responded that they supported “capitalism over socialism” and also a “limited view of the size and scope of government.”
Another report, released in June, found that 39% said they agreed with the statement “human life is sacred,” while 69% of respondents said people were “basically good.” The researchers noted that it was a decline of "14 percentage points from 83% of Americans in the past 30 years." They hailed it as a "possible bright spot" in the study, showing that fewer people were believing a non-biblical view of humanity.
The findings also revealed that 56% of Americans believe that "human beings are created by God, and made in His image, but are fallen and in need of redemption."
IOW 40% of Christians aren’t.
Over 4 in ten Christians are familiar with what the Bible says?
Nope. No sale.
Ambiguous? Really? Exodus 20:13: Thou Shall Not Kill
Exodus 20:13 "Thou shalt not kill."
My version of scripture does not expand on that to say: "Thou shalt not kill unless killing the innocent will spare you from financial or emotional discomfort or hardship."
God was not ambiguous at all to Solomon on participating in religion whose rites included sacrificing babies. Clear to me that they avoid real study of the Bible.
the silver lining is it is only 40% who are Christian in name only. That means there is still a faithful, praying remnant to stay the Hand of Judgement that will surely come our way.
PRAY for this country! Your freedom depends on it!
Joseph Goebbels, a Hitler guy, said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” I would add that if it is the Democrats telling the lie, the media won’t challenge it.
RE: Exodus 20:13: Thou Shall Not Kill
No use quoting this verse. Pro-Choicers deny that the fetus is human.
Probably more correctly would be “Thou shalt not murder”. Killing is part of wars, capital punishment for heinous crimes and in the case of self defense.
I don’t know who Barna is polling...but they ain’t Christians!
The New Testament is actually the liturgical (read in church services) book of the first centuries with Revelation added later. That is why Constantine ordered them for his biggest churches to be reading from the same book according to the daily lectionary or calendar. Other church documents were used for teaching converts and managing the parishes, like the Didache, are more direct and proscribe all forms of killing from abortion, to infanticide, to euthanasia and other forms of murder.
No honest Christian believes that abortion is anything short of murder.
Sadly, there are a ton of fake Christians, and together with Atheists they are doing all they can to destroy organized religion across the Globe.
What’s the chapter and verse(s) that explains abortion; not esoteric stuff but in plain language.
Golly! Thou shalt not kill, I guess can be a bit ambiguous, can’t it? Four words that they can’t handle.
“Exodus 21:22-25 prescribes the same penalty—death—for someone who causes the death of a baby in the womb as for someone who commits murder. This clearly indicates that God considers a baby in the womb to be just as much of a human being as a full-grown adult.”
And to add to that, if you read the entire passage, even if the baby is born prematurely but otherwise healthy as the result of harm inflicted on the mother, the offender is still penalized. That should tell you how much God values the life of a baby.
Cafeteria Christians . . . that’s all they are.
I’ve noticed it’s pretty ambiguous on internet porn too.
Doesn’t even mention mobile phones either.
RE: Exodus 21:22-25 prescribes the same penalty—death—for someone who causes the death of a baby in the womb as for someone who commits murder.
______________________________________
Here’s what it says:
Exodus 21:22-25
New International Version
22 “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
First, the poll is probably nonsense like most polls. The “Chrisitans” they sampled probably do not read the bible, and go to churches which allow gay people to be ministers and have Superbowl parties when that is going on instead of services to keep their attendance up.
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