Posted on 08/30/2020 8:52:05 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
More than half of American adults, including 30% of evangelicals, say Jesus isn’t God but most agree He was a great teacher, according to results from the 2020 State of Theology survey.
Even though the Bible and traditional teachings of the Christian Church hold that Jesus truly existed as both man and God, among the key findings of the biennial State of Theology survey from Ligonier Ministries conducted with LifeWay Research, is that 52% of American adults believe that Jesus was a great teacher and nothing more.
And nearly a third of evangelicals also support that view, a preliminary release on the findings of the study said Thursday. The complete report on the survey, conducted March 10 to 18 among 3,002 U.S. adults including 630 professing evangelicals, is expected to be released on Sept. 8.
"Statistics like these from the State of Theology survey can give us quite a shock, but they also shed light on the concerns that many American Christians and churches have expressed for decades. As the culture around us increasingly abandons its moral compass, professing evangelicals are sadly drifting away from God's absolute standard in Scripture,” Stephen Nichols, chief academic officer of Ligonier Ministries and president of Reformation Bible College, said in a statement.
“It's clear that the church does not have the luxury of idly standing by. This is a time for Christians to study Scripture diligently, engage confidently with people in our culture, and witness fearlessly to the identity and saving work of Jesus Christ in the Gospel."
For the study, evangelicals were defined as people who strongly agreed with the following four statements: the Bible is the highest authority for what I believe; it is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior; Jesus Christ's death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin; and only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God's free gift of eternal salvation.
Some 65% of evangelicals in the study were also found to agree with the statement, "Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God," which theology experts say suggest a dire need for Christians to be taught Christology — the doctrine of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Findings of an earlier Barna study this year also showed that only 51% of Americans consider God to be "all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect and just creator of the universe who still rules the world today.” In 1991, 73% of Americans believed that to be true.
Some 44% respondents in this survey agreed that since Jesus was both man and God when He walked the earth, He committed sins like any other person. Only 41% held the biblical perspective that Jesus was both man and God and remained sinless.
“The spiritual noise in our culture over the last few decades has confused and misled hundreds of millions of people," Barna said at the time. "The message to churches, Christian leaders, and Christian educators is clear: we can no longer assume that people have a solid grasp of even the most basic biblical principles."
It’s probably been the case for a long time. Just that right now it’s out in the open.
Our Lord DID say that salvation was a narrow path, after all.
If Our Lord was teaching something that wasn’t true, then He could not have been a “great teacher.”
So, at least 30% of all Evangelicals are not Christian. Nor are they Evangelicals. They are heretics and apostates.
Indeed. Those with ears, let them hear.
Someone who fails to believe such a fundamental tenet of Christianity is not a Christian. At best, he is a theist; at worst, dishonest.
And everyone gets a mansion when they die.
Believing isn’t knowing.
As long as God made Jesus the sole means of salvation it’s a distinction without a difference if he is actually God or was just given the power over our salvation by God. Either way you need Jesus.
Jesus said, in Luke 18:8....When the Lord returns will He find faith on the Earth”?
So He knew what it would be like, just like He knew who Judas was when He took him into the group.
True.
It’s just that there are a lot of people in the past who would claim to believe that Jesus is Lord with their mouths, but did not really believe that God raised Him from the dead.
The difference between then and now is that it’s more obvious who is and isn’t.
No Christian denies the Trinity. Anyone who claims to be a Christian and denies the Holy Trinity is not a Christian but, an apostate. Period.
In the latter days...
Before Abraham..
Thats about all I have to say.
RE: As long as God made Jesus the sole means of salvation it’s a distinction without a difference if he is actually God or was just given the power over our salvation by God. Either way you need Jesus.
If Jesus were merely a good man as some claim and as many in this survey believe, then He had a sin nature and was not perfect. In that case, His death and resurrection would have no power to save anyone.
These people don’t know the Bible, or they don’t believe it. Some day they will be very surprised.
ok when you hear people talking abput the fake christians, think back to these people
C’mon man. Three persons in one substance, and Jesus Christ is true God and true man. It’s all in the Nicene Creed. Orthodox Christianity 101.
RE: Three persons in one substance, and Jesus Christ is true God and true man. It’s all in the Nicene Creed. Orthodox Christianity 101.
Unfortunately, they don’t teach the Fundamentals of the Faith in many churches anymore. It’s always about the music and feeling good and getting a spiritual high.
No, that’s not what I am saying. If everything else is true about Jesus (virgin birth, without sin, etc), but he isn’t “technically” God, but instead was just given dominion by God over our salvation. It changes nothing. In the end you still need Jesus to be saved. The fact that he is sitting at the right hand of God and isn’t God himself isn’t pertinent to salvation.
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.
