Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Posted on 04/24/2011 6:54:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
One in four born-again Christians hold universalist thoughts when it comes to salvation, according to a new Barna analysis of trend data.
Twenty-five percent of born-again Christians said all people are eventually saved or accepted by God. A similar proportion, 26 percent, said a person’s religion does not matter because all faiths teach the same lessons.
And an even higher proportion, 40 percent, of born-again Christians said they believe Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
Barna defined universalism as the belief that all human beings will eventually be saved after death. The California-based research and polling firm defines born-again Christians as people who have made “a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today, and who believe they will go to heaven after death because they confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.
According to the Barna analysis, 43 percent of Americans in general agreed with the statement “It doesn’t matter what religious faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons,” while 54 percent disagreed.
The report on what Americans believe about universalism and pluralism comes at a time when not only evangelicals, but even prominent secular media, are debating the Christian teachings on salvation and the idea of universalism due to Pastor Rob Bell’s book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.
Last week, Time magazine released its Easter Week feature with a cover story on Bell’s controversial views contained in his new book.
For many evangelicals, the idea of Christians holding universalist ideas is particularly disturbing because it nullifies the need for Christ to die on the cross and the message of Jesus that he is the only way, truth and life.
Various research firms have reported different data on the prevalence of universalist beliefs among born-again believers and more specifically, evangelicals.
A 2008 Pew Forum survey revealed that 57 percent of evangelicals agreed with the idea that other religions than their own can lead to eternal life. After tweaking the definition of "evangelical," however, LifeWay Research, found that only two out of 10 evangelicals agreed with the statement that eternal life can be obtained through religions other than Christianity.
While universalism is nothing new, some believe cultural trends are placing pressure on Christians and their beliefs.
Don Carson, research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, said at The Gospel Coalition’s national conference last week that many are feeling pressure from the culture "to find universalism attractive."
"There are pressures in our culture to reduce the truth content of Scripture and then simply dismiss people by saying that they're intolerant or narrow-minded ... or bigoted without actually engaging the truth question at all. And that is really sad and in the long haul, horribly dangerous."
Barna’s analysis on beliefs regarding universalism and pluralism is based on data from telephone interviews conducted in the OmniPollSM and from Barna Group’s theolographic TM database from 2005 through 2011.
I strongly doubt the "born-again" label used by Barna for these alleged Christians.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." - John 14:6
Universalists aren’t Christians. They’re Universalists.
Because the majority of Christians don’t know the Bible they proclaim to believe, and/or there are some religions that generate “christians” based on false doctrine.
I was a church member for 20 years before I was “born again”
Baptist Ping.
Seems to me that the muslims worship satan. After all, their mahdi sure sounds like satan.
Somebody is going to be in for a shocking experience.
Scripture warned of us the “falling away”.
A lot of “born-again Christians” do not know the Bible.
Anyone can believe Jesus lived and died, they can even believe the “rose again” part, it’s the “why” that makes us Christian.
Non-Universalist ping
While this statement is true and we proclaim Jesus is Lord there is also any equally opposite misinterpretation of why Jesus came, died and was resurrected. The heresy of Lordship Salvation, teaches that salvation is a thing we can never be sure of, that G*d's gift, a free gift, which we cannot earn can be taken away, that G*d plays word games and uses semantics to dangle everlasting life in front of us and can take it away from us based on his whim. That G*d is history's best lawyer, that a gift is not really a gift, it's more of the same, it's more a bonus plan for a life well lived. That through works and joining the proper church and doing meaningless rituals, observing holidays and thinking correctly we can earn G*d's favor.
It's a snare of the devil to over complicate the Gospel, to revel in our own personal enlightenment and gain haughty thoughts of how the rest of the heathens are wrong and are going to hell, and how we are not, because we think right, do the right things, bow and curtsy in church, only gossip about people who we think deserve it and have a cursory understanding of the Word, mostly because some priest or pastor fills in the the blanks for us. Equally heretical doctrines of everlasting hell is a torment for man, purgatory, transubstantiation are medieval era lies and misinterpretations and have led to misery and confusion for millions of Christians for 1700 years. With the proper holistic view of the New Testament and study of ancient texts and less tortured translations of the Bible free of poltical and denominational biases we can see the Gospel come to life, how G*d wished fellowship with us and wants us to once again eat from the Tree of Life.
It's not what you can do but has been done for you. HE IS RISEN!
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
You say that like it’s a good think. I find your flipness shocking.
These are self-identified “born again” heretics. Jesus said it best, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see....”
On this morning where we celebrate Christ’s triumph over sin and death, it is disheartening that so many choose to focus on His hypothetical failures.
Christ is risen. He has won. Jesus Saves. Why not go out and spread THAT Good Word.,
When people come to our church from other church contexts, and I find out how much they don’t know of scripture, I want to hunt down their former pastors or teachers and slap them. There is a great big bunch of church leaders who are not feeding their people.
As a practicing Catholic, I’ve battled verbally evangelical christians on many occasions. I’ve been called a Mary worshipper etc.
Perhaps I misunderstand - are you claiming that the doctrine of eternal hell is a “misinterpretation” of the Scriptures?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.