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 ...
You can’t.
re: “That is not a “person. That is a Spirit.”
You can only lie to a person. You can only grieve a person. Only a person can speak, have a will, teach, convict, or intercede for someone.
re: “Please show us in your Bible translation of choice where the Holy Spirit is ever called or considered a “person.”
See my previous post with the Scriptural references. Read them carefully. The Holy Spirit is treated and spoken of as a person.
I’m getting most of these answers right, thanks to those nuns back in grade school.
Exactly........ignorance of knowing scripture is many a down fall into false teachings and grave errors.
Narrow is the way.....and few who find it.
If you don’t study your Bible you won’t know what to believe.
Amen! Brother.
The Word of God is very clear in making the Holy Spirit a person..... to deny that would actually be to deny the Trinity, which is one of the unique and greatest doctrines of the Christian faith.
The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit has all the attributes of personality and is not merely an impersonal force. In John chapters 14, 15, and 16, for example, Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as “He”. Jesus also referred to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter or the Counselor (John 14:16 and 15:26). This title conveys the ideas of advising, exhorting, comforting, strengthening, interceding, and encouraging.
In addition, the Bible makes it clear that the Holy Spirit is God Himself. In Acts 5:1-4 a man who lied to the Holy Spirit is said to have lied to God. The Holy Spirit is also described in the Bible as having the characteristics of God and doing God’s work. He convicts people of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11) and gives new life to those who trust in Jesus (John 3:8).
That He is the third Person of the Holy Trinity is made clear by His inclusion with the Father and the Son in such Bible passages as Matthew 28:19. Here the apostles are commanded to baptize those who receive the Gospel “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon people, anointing them for a specific task or purpose (Exodus 31:1-5; Numbers 24:2). In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit dwells within all believers (1 Corinthians 6:19), assures them that they are children of God (Romans 8:16), enables them to live the Christian life (Romans 8:9, 12-15), and gifts them for Christian service (1 Corinthians, chapter 12).
It sounds like they used a pretty loose definition for who they label as "Evangelical". I presume they would also categorize some Christians this way even if they don't specifically identify as that (i.e., Evangelical Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, etc.).
The qualifications for a person are that they have
1. A mind - able to think and act upon their thinking
2. their own will - self identity
3. and emotions - able to react cognitively
As personal human beings we all have these qualities all of these are qualities. Another quality of being personal is that one has life. A person is identified as a self-conscious being, cognizant of its own existence and the existence of others who also have a self-identity. A will indicates the ability to think, to reason, a choice to act, having desire these are things we associate with self consciousness which is exclusive to Persons. All of these qualities the Holy Spirit has, just as the Son and Father. We find the Holy Spirit is the executive of the Father. He is co-creator of the universe, The author of divine Scripture, the generator of Christ’s humanity, the regenerator of the believer and the distributor of eternal life, for He also eternally exists.
The Holy Spirit is identified as a Person by John, using in the Greek the masculine ekeinos in Jn.16:13. The Holy Spirit is presented as a personal being with a self-identity different from both the Father, and the Son. As the Father and Jesus make this distinction when speaking of Him. He the Holy Spirit says “Separate Barnabas and Saul to me;” He also is identified as “I” in Acts 13:2.
Over the past few years the definition of Evangelical has changed considerably I think as there are churches who state they are but are not.
Amen
These findings are very sad. And you're right, the definition of who is and who isn't an evangelical Christian has changed over the years. Rob Bell, Jen Hatmaker and Andy Stanley still call themselves Evangelicals.
This is, of course, not to say that there needs to be a more concerted effort from pastors and teachers to ensure church members are taught the main doctrines of Christianity. Perhaps surveys like this can be used to spur believers to study Scripture and to be able to articulate to others what it truly means to be a Christian.
And further more when did anyone ever call an impersonal force like gravity a spirit. You don’t hear about a spirit of gravity. You do year about evil spirits and those are actual thinking beings not just a mindless evil force. To call the Holy Spirit a force is to both deny what the Word says about Him and all use of the word spirit.
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“Confusion is caused by contradiction and error in the bible.”
I suppose you’re the one who is going to do one better than God and fix all those “errors” in his Word?
Really, you can lie to God and have God be a “Him” that transcends all humanity and the universe.
God is God. He’s not a “person,” either. Just because you see yourself as a person, it doesn’t mean God is.
Please tell us where in the Bible God or the Holy Spirit are people and not “God” or the “Spirit.”
Well personally -
I have issues with most so called “churches”. They almost always end up focusing on the internal politics or some level of minutiae rather than the Gospel. So I’m a Bible reader (listener on my 1hr daily transit) and not a church goer.
The Trinity has always confused me since I was a Kid. I understand the idea and theory, but I struggle with the whole 3 separate = 1 idea. Especially when some verses seem to indicate strongly that the Son is subservient to the Father. I accept it on faith and faith alone - because otherwise it makes my head hurt.
A person also has a physical body.
God does not have this, nor does the Holy Spirit.
By the way, what you described as a “person” in your three points is also true of animals.
God and the Holy Spirit are both masculine, not because they are human persons, but because their masculinity transcends being a human.
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