A new survey released by Ligonier Ministries, founded by the late theologian R.C. Sproul, revealed the shocking results of the absence of sound theology preached from American pulpits: most Christians believe some awful things about God, including that Jesus is a created being and God accepts the worship of all religions.
“The State of Theology survey highlights the urgent need for courageous ministry that faithfully teaches the historic Christian faith,” said Chris Larson, Ligonier Ministries’ president. “It’s never been popular to talk about mankind’s sinfulness or the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ, but at a time when a darkened world needs the light of the Gospel, it’s disheartening to see many within the evangelical church confused about what the Bible teaches. We hope this survey provides local churches with a little more insight into what people in our neighborhoods and in our pews actually believe.”
The survey, conducted by LifeWay Research, polled a sample of 3,000 American evangelicals. Respondents were asked to agree or disagree with 34 theological statements regarding core, non-negotiable Christian doctrine.
When asked if “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam,” a startling 51 percent agreed with the statement, up from 49% in Ligonier’s 2016 edition of the survey.
“The Bible is clear that the Gospel is the only way of salvation, and God will not accept the worship of other faiths. It is only through Jesus Christ and by His Spirit that we are able to worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John 4:24),” the researchers noted.
Equally startling is the percentage of evangelicals who believe that, though He is the “first and greatest”, Jesus Christ is a being createdby God.
“These results show the pressing need for Christians to be taught Christology, especially as the outcome has gotten worse since 2016. There is a general lack of teaching today on the person of Christ, a doctrine for which the early church fought so hard,” Ligonier Ministries lamented.
The survey results also demonstrate a regressive trend from year to year, especially with statements such as “The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true,” which has seen a steady increase of “agree” answers since the 2014 survey.
Date published: 21/10/2018
Written by: Alyssa Duvall
Article source: hellochristian.com
