Posted on 10/18/2016 3:08:25 PM PDT by Brookhaven
Evangelicals Didn’t Even Study for This Test
...this year, LifeWay used more stringent criteria for evangelical faith, as defined by some group called the National Association of Evangelicals. Only participants who called the Bible their highest authority, said personal evangelism is important, and indicated that trusting in Jesus’ death on the cross is the only way of salvation, were labeled “evangelical.” They totaled 586 survey-takers.
Everyone expected them to perform better than most Americans. No one expected them to perform worse. Seven in ten evangelicals—more than the population at large—said that Jesus was the first being God created. Fifty-six percent agreed that “the Holy Spirit is a divine force but not a personal being.” They also saw a huge increase in evangelicals (28 percent, up from 9 percent) who indicated that the Third Person of the Trinity is not equal with God the Father or Jesus, a direct contradiction of orthodox Christianity.
As before, it’s really the contradictory answers, not the outright heresies, that should most concern us. By definition, the evangelicals in this survey believed that “only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.” Yet nearly half agreed that “God accepts the worship of all religions including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.”
Former Newsday religion reporter Kenneth Briggs recently told Religion News Service that the faith he finds in “mega-type churches” is a “Bible-less,” “alternative version of Christianity.” Scripture, he says, has become “a museum exhibit, hallowed as a treasure but enigmatic and untouched.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
Every Christian is a Heretic with regard to some specific version of Christianity.
It’s the predicted “great falling away” from the truth.
You kind of cant be one unless you are.
That’s the whole point.
I blame Joel Osteen and “The Profit-Driven Church”.
Good grief...
Joel Osteen comes from a long line of religious hucksters. He is not unique or alone in his guilt.
In the mid-20th Century, it was the likes of Oral Roberts and others.
Sounds like a case of “holier than thou”.
I’m not surprised by the findings. I’ve been criticized by some fellow Christians because I attended a Church of Christ congregation for several years. Told they are too legalistic, etc. What I found to be true is this denomination emphasizes on Scripture. We didn’t attend church to be entertained to make us “feel” good. We attended to honor Jesus Christ. I am also confounded by the # of Christians who are not students of Scripture. They have been going to Church for decades, but have no real knowledge of the Gospel. I admit, that we are all sinners and reminded that Jesus paid the price of sin for us. I often feel that I’m not worthy to worship this great God, but that’s Satan whispering in my ear. But shouldn’t we as God’s children yearn to know more about our Father which he conveniently put into 66 books called the Bible?
The churches need to do a better job teaching the congregation and they also need to start sending the congregation into the neighborhoods to spread the gospel instead of sending a few missionaries to other parts of the world.
“... Fifty-six percent agreed that “the Holy Spirit is a divine force but not a personal being.”
Like the Jehovah’s who come aknocking at my door - they all deny the Most Holy Trinity, rather; they believe only in the Dynamic Duo ~ I believe over the years I have converted more Jehovas than Jehovas have converted devout Catholics!
Whatever...
Mary had a little lamb...
And we killed him.
Not surprising. I’ve spoken with many people who claim to love Jesus and claim to be Christian and when I ask them a few probing questions their replies are way off base and not biblically based.
I’ve seen a pattern many times over the years when talking or attempting to witness to two people or friends. Often the person initially hostile to Christianity or a discussion about the truth of the Bible is after some time more sympathetic and appears closer to a correct understanding than the person who claimed to be a Christian. The person who claimed to be Christian gets hostile if not downright angry and possibly demonically influenced.
So, you put store in the views of the people who killed Jesus?
I could be wrong, but I looked through Bishop Barron’s coffe-table book CATHOLICISM, I didn’t find any mention of the Trinity.
Here’s the greatest modern book on the Trinity: http://tinyurl.com/mindofthemaker
Pray for a Bible Revival in the Church houses!
I assume my mother was raised Southern Baptist, I don’t know.
What I do know is that we kids went to Southern Baptist churches once, and often twice a week until we were old enough to leave home.
She went to church with us, so it was a surprise how upset she got with me, to the extent of tears coming into her eyes, when I assured her the Holy Trinity is God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, not God, Jesus, and Mary.
How she could sit through years of sermons and remain misinformed only lends credence to Obama’s insistence that he was unaffected by sitting for 27 years in Wright’s pew.
We must live in a coherent, orderly culture while in our moral bodies in order to better comprehend truth, and therefore I heartily endorse such for Christian groups. Modest, un-obnoxious clothing, clean language, hard work - all bolster the Christian ethic.
Perhaps, but there is a basic core of beliefs required to be considered a Christian. I don't know if this article means that, though, and I'm too lazy to read it..
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