Posted on 10/23/2018 11:25:09 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
American evangelicals are “deeply confused” about some core doctrines of the Christian faith—and the fourth-century heretic Arius would be pleased, according to a new survey.
For the third time, Ligonier Ministries has examined the State of Theology in the United States, conducted by LifeWay Research and based on interviews with 3,000 Americans. The survey, also conducted in 2014 and 2016, offers a detailed look at the favorite heresies of evangelicals and of Americans at large.
Ligonier wanted to know what Americans “believe about God, salvation, ethics, and the Bible.”
“Overall, US adults appear to have a superficial attachment to well-known Christian beliefs,” stated the ministry. “For example, a majority agreed that Jesus died on the cross for sin and that he rose from the dead.
“However, they rejected the Bible’s teaching on (1) the gravity of man’s sin, (2) the importance of the church’s gathering together for worship, and (3) the Holy Spirit,” stated Ligonier. For example:
Ligonier cites relativism for such a “casual outlook.” In the survey, 6 in 10 Americans agree that “religious belief is a matter of personal opinion [and] not about objective truth”—and 1 in 3 evangelicals (32%) say the same.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
I would call your person, beings. When we speak of people, your version says that will necessarily include God and the Holy Spirit. People is the plural of person.
"Being" is problematical anyway. A rock is a "being" (it exists), but it is not a "person" (according to the way theologians and philosophers use the word) because it has no rational nature.
Jesus was a person before he became incarnate.
I'm going to go pound my head against a different stone wall now, for a change.
I'm going to go pound my head against a different stone wall now, for a change.
No, Jesus was a person the whole time He was on Earth. He was God in human form.
Sin is a state of being: the wages of sin is death. We all inherited sin and death.
Infants are sinners; infants are mortal. It has nothing to do with a specific, sinful deed.
Confusion is caused by contradiction and error in the bible.
The Holy Scriptures are inspired, infallible, inerrant, contrary to your opinion. Translations from them into another language are not inspired and can have errors in grammar and/or interpretation. Your analysis of God's Plan of Salvation is incomplete, and so is your description of how "the institutional church" interpret it. That's why there many such denominations differing in doctrine, let alone hundreds of independent unaffiliated assemblies.
If you are saved through the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, there is no judgment . . .
Your screed misses on this, also, completely.
"But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (Rom. 14:10 AV)
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body,
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10 AV).
After the end of a believer's physical life, he/she will undergo judgment.
It looks like you need to take up Bible study more thoroughly with someone who knows how to disciple a baby Christian and can point you in the right direction before you get into more criticism matters.
Again, I would say that more appropriately, the Trinity is God in three Beings or Entities. We say Persons, but neither that, nor Beings, nor the Trinity, are mentioned as such in the Bible. Persons are people, but we try to make it convenient to just call them persons, which I believe negates their true form.
The Holy Spirit is not a human; the Holy Spirit is a person.
Similarly, the Father is not male; the Father is masculine.
C. S. Lewis is one lay philosopher who understood these things (better than many modern, so-called theologians).
Wrong, Noob!
Confusion is caused by contradiction and error in MISINTERPRETATIONS of the [B]ible.
TXnMA
If you haven't already encountered this, recognize that when The Son came to earth He set aside His co-equal status and placed himself in the position of being subservient to The Father, as a Son should be. But when He finished His earthly tasks as a servant of the Father and returned to Heaven, He resumed His former prerogatives as co-equal status. The Three are always in agreement, but some of their distinguishing functions and manifestations are different, indicating their Personality.
The scriptures recording His earthly ministry of fulfilling the Law Covenant refer to this period in which His subservience was a necessary feature. Don't confuse them with other passages in which He is not subservient, but rather co-equal with separate functional aspects.
I hope this viewpoint helps smooth out your perplexity.
or better yet "I Am"
Jesus is still alive...along with His body....
I feel, to be an honest Christian (of any denomination), one must accept that major tenets of Christianity are Mysteries ... and simply can't be "understood" or explained with our mere mortal brains... although, its real fun to try!
Not necessarily. Before God created, He Was. Space, time, and mass were artifacts of creation, and without them there was no possibility of a body, yet He Was. He, the Three Persons, exist separately from the Created. Though Jesus was God in a human body, when He arose, His body was spiritual, not subject to physical laws as yours and mine are.
Umm, yes the Holy Spirit is a person, equal to and one with Jesus, who is a person, and God the Father, who is a person. All are one in Essence, but also "God in three persons." (as the hymn, "Holy, holy, holy" says).
The whole doctrine of the trinity is that God is one, in 3 persons. (Not human persons, yes, except for Jesus, but "persons" none-the-less.) The very concept of personhood is derived from the Christian understanding of the 3 persons of the holy trinity, God.
This is basic Christian orthodoxy, which all Christian groups have accepted since AD 381.
If you don't accept it, you're simply not an orthodox Christian.
No, Christianity has accepted that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are to be called the Trinity.
The idea of God and the Holy Ghost being people is a much newer invention.
Neither calling them people or the Trinity are stated as such in anyones Bible translation.
So you're a Modalist, Sabellianist, Oneness Pentecostal?
You do realize calling God three people, three forms, or three beings, is effectively the same from your perspective, right? My problem is with calling God and the Holy Spirit people.
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