Sermon Illustrations on Doctrine — page 2

Worship and Church Growth

Vibrant worship is at the heart of church growth, according to the biggest study of American congregational life ever undertaken. Congregations that are “plugged in” to God in praise also tend to make more room for the Holy Spirit, says the Faith Communities Today (FACT) report released yesterday.

Fifty-six percent of congregations reporting a high commitment to “uplifting inspirational worship” were experiencing growth, compared with only 27 percent of those that gave it a low priority, researchers found.

They also discovered that the increasing use of electronic instruments was accompanied by “a profound shift in the location of religious authority,” with “a radical increase in the authority of the Holy Spirit, and a dramatic decrease in the emphasis in creeds and human reason.” But they were undecided about whether the changes in worship style were “a passing fad or… enduring.”

The worship findings were part of a good news report that concluded most congregations were “vital and alive,” and many making “major contributions” to their communities through outreach programs. Conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Hartford, Conn., the five-year study involved 41 religious groups–including the Assemblies of God, Church of God in Christ, National Baptist Convention U.S.A., and the Southern Baptist Convention.

The positive verdict on the state of health of American congregations came in marked contrast to the most recent report from Christian researcher George Barna. His Barna Research Group “State of the Church” survey released last week found the country to be “spiritually stagnant,” despite an increase in the number of born-again Christians.

The FACT report, funded by the Lily Endowment and participating groups, asked more than 200 questions of over 14,000 of the country’s estimated 325,000 congregations. It found them attempting to maintain “a complex network of worship, educational, fellowship and outreach activities, often in difficult conditions with meager resources,” and concluded that without their “texture… woven into the life of virtually every corner of our society, the culture of the United States would be far less than our best.”

Although megachurches get most media attention, the report found only 10 percent of congregations with more than 1,000 members, while half had fewer than 100 regularly participating adults and a quarter less than 25.

There were some “disturbing” discoveries, though — among them that seminary-trained leadership could have “a negative impact on many basic religious values.” Only 46 percent of seminary educated leaders highly emphasized sexual abstinence, compared with 75 percent of those with Bible college degrees or no ministerial education.

The report also concluded that congregations led by clergy with a seminary education were much less likely to deal openly with conflict and disagreements. It said that the findings suggested the need for “a careful review of the educational process of leadership preparation.”

The research also suggests that, for a growing number of people, their personal needs rather than a sense of neighborhood dominate their search for a church. Among congregations formed since 1990, there is a noticeably higher percentage of members who commute more than 15 minutes to services. For them, “religious community is increasingly less equal to residential community,” said the report.

Why Can't Christians Just Join the Revolution?

Jude 1:3

“We cannot abandon the faith just because we are told that we are now on the wrong side of history.”

________

Why not just join the revolution? This question seems obvious to many people who look at conservative Christians and honestly wonder why we cannot just change our views on homosexuality, same-sex marriage and the entire LGBT constellation of issues.

We are constantly told that we must abandon the clear teachings of the Bible in order to get “on the right side of history.”

It’s not that we don’t understand the argument – we just cannot accept it.

Clearly, many more liberal churches and denominations are not only accepting that argument, they are running away with it. Each of these churches once defined marriage exclusively as the union of a man and a woman, and every one of them once defined human sexuality and gender in agreement with the Bible and with historic Christian teachings.

Now, at least some people seem genuinely perplexed that conservative Christians will not just go along with the program to redefine Christian morality, marriage, and doctrine.

We will not because we cannot. Unlike those who embrace liberal theology, we do not see Christianity as a system of beliefs that we can just change as we see fit. We do not see the Bible as a mere collection of ancient religious writings that can be disregarded or reinterpreted to mean something other than what it says.

Instead, we understand the Bible to be what it claims to be, nothing less than the inspired and inerrant Word of God. We understand Christianity to be grounded in specific truths as revealed by Christ and the Apostles and given to us in the Holy Scriptures. We believe that Christianity is defined by what the Bible calls “the faith once for all delivered to the saints.”

These days, we find ourselves opposed, dismissed and ridiculed for holding to truths that the Christian church has taught for 2,000 years.

The reality is that Christians who define Christianity in terms of historic Christian doctrine and moral teachings do not believe merely that these teachings are true, but that they point to the only way that will produce real and lasting human happiness. We are not merely opposed to same-sex marriage because we believe it to be contrary to Scripture; we believe that anything opposed to Scripture cannot lead to human flourishing.

There can be no question that we are living in the midst of a vast revolution in moral values. We see it, sense it and do not deny it. The more liberal churches and denominations can simply accommodate themselves to this moral revolution and move on. But in so doing they are abandoning, not only the clear teachings of the Bible but also the essence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That Good News promises salvation to anyone who believes in Christ as the crucified and resurrected Lord and who repents of sin. If we misunderstand or misrepresent what sin is, we undercut the work of Christ and our knowledge of the fact that we need a Savior. Furthermore, if we abandon the teachings of the Bible on sexual morality, we confuse the world – and ourselves – about repentance.

The Bible is not merely an inspired book of doctrinal truths. It tells a story of God’s act of creation and of the reality of human sin, of the depth of God’s saving love for us in Christ, and the story of where history is headed. The Bible also warns us against any effort to change that story or to tell it wrongly. Yes, it warns us against the sin of teaching what the Bible calls “another gospel” than the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The current American landscape includes more liberal churches that are doing their best to join the sexual revolution and conservative churches that cannot follow. Simple honesty requires acknowledgment that it is the conservative churches that are teaching what Christianity has taught for two millennia.

We are told that holding to biblical authority and the historic Christian faith will lead to our marginalization.

Perhaps so, but it is the more liberal churches that have been hemorrhaging members by the millions for the last four decades and, even in a secularizing age, it is the most secularized denominations that have suffered the greatest membership losses.

We do understand what is at stake in terms of the human judgment of history, but we are far more concerned about the divine verdict of eternity. We must speak the truth in love and seek to be good neighbors to all, but we cannot abandon the faith just because we are told that we are now on the wrong side of history.

________

This article first appeared in The Courier-Journal, online on Nov. 4, 2015, and in print on Nov. 5, 2015.

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[The original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #21115]

Air Conditioning Hell: How Liberalism Happens

Mark 9:48

Theological liberals do not intend to destroy Christianity, but to save it. As a matter of fact, theological liberalism is motivated by what might be described as an apologetic motivation. The pattern of theological liberalism is all too clear. Theological liberals are absolutely certain that Christianity must be saved ... from itself.

LIBERALISM: SAVING CHRISTIANITY FROM ITSELF

The classic liberals of the early twentieth century, often known as modernists, pointed to a vast intellectual change in the society and asserted that Christianity would have to change or die. As historian William R. Hutchison explains, “The hallmark of modernism is the insistence that theology must adopt a sympathetic attitude toward secular culture and must consciously strive to come to terms with it.”[1]

This coming to terms with secular culture is deeply rooted in the sense of intellectual liberation that began in the Enlightenment. Protestant liberalism can be traced to European sources, but it arrived very early in America — far earlier than most of today’s evangelicals are probably aware. Liberal theology held sway where Unitarianism dominated and in many parts beyond.

Soon after the American Revolution, more organized forms of liberal theology emerged, fueled by a sense of revolution and intellectual liberty. Theologians and preachers began to question the doctrines of orthodox Christianity, claiming that doctrines such as original sin, total depravity, divine sovereignty, and substitutionary atonement violated the moral senses. William Ellery Channing, an influential Unitarian, spoke for many in his generation when he described “the shock given to my moral nature” by the teachings of orthodox Christianity.[2]

Though any number of central beliefs and core doctrines were subjected to liberal revision or outright rejection, the doctrine of hell was often the object of greatest protest and denial.

Considering hell and its related doctrines, Congregationalist pastor Washington Gladden declared: “To teach such a doctrine as this about God is to inflict upon religion a terrible injury and to subvert the very foundations of morality.”[3]

Though hell had been a fixture of Christian theology since the New Testament, it became an odium theologium — a doctrine considered repugnant by the larger culture and now retained and defended only by those who saw themselves as self-consciously orthodox in theological commitment.

Novelist David Lodge dated the final demise of hell to the decade of the 1960s. “At some point in the nineteen-sixties, Hell disappeared. No one could say for certain when this happened. First it was there, then it wasn’t.” University of Chicago historian Martin Marty saw the transition as simple and, by the time it actually occurred, hardly observed. “Hell disappeared. No one noticed,” he asserted.[4]

The liberal theologians and preachers who so conveniently discarded hell did so without denying that the Bible clearly teaches the doctrine. They simply asserted the higher authority of the culture’s sense of morality. In order to save Christianity from the moral and intellectual damage done by the doctrine, hell simply had to go. Many rejected the doctrine with gusto, claiming the mandate to update the faith in a new intellectual age. Others simply let the doctrine go dormant, never to be mentioned in polite company.

What of today’s evangelicals? Though some lampoon the stereotypical “hell-fire and brimstone” preaching of an older evangelical generation, the fact is that most church members may never have heard a sermon on hell — even in an evangelical congregation. Has hell gone dormant among evangelicals as well?

REVISING HELL: A TEST CASE FOR THE SLIDE INTO LIBERALISM

Interestingly, the doctrine of hell serves very well as a test case for the slide into theological liberalism. The pattern of this slide looks something like this.

First, a doctrine simply falls from mention. Over time, it is simply never discussed or presented from the pulpit. Most congregants do not even miss the mention of the doctrine. Those who do become fewer over time. The doctrine is not so much denied as ignored and kept at a distance. Yes, it is admitted, that doctrine has been believed by Christians, but it is no longer a necessary matter of emphasis.

Second, a doctrine is revised and retained in reduced form. There must have been some good reason that Christians historically believed in hell. Some theologians and pastors will then affirm that there is a core affirmation of morality to be preserved, perhaps something like what C. S. Lewis affirmed as “The Tao.”[5] The doctrine is reduced.

Third, a doctrine is subjected to a form of ridicule. Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral, known for his message of “Possibility Thinking,” once described his motivation for theological reformulation in terms of refocusing theology on “generating trust and positive hope.”[6] His method is to point to salvation and the need “to become positive thinkers.”[7] Positive thinking does not emphasize escape from hell, “whatever that means and wherever that is.”[8]

That statement ridicules hell by dismissing it in terms of “whatever that means and wherever it is.” Just don’t worry about hell, Schuller suggests. Though few evangelicals are likely to join in the same form of ridicule, many will invent softer forms of marginalizing the doctrine.

Fourth, a doctrine is reformulated in order to remove its intellectual and moral offensiveness. Evangelicals have subjected the doctrine of hell to this strategy for many years now. Some deny that hell is everlasting, arguing for a form of annihilationism or conditional immortality. Others will deny hell as a state of actual torment. John Wenham simply states, “Unending torment speaks to me of sadism, not justice.”[9] Some argue that God does not send anyone to hell, and that hell is simply the sum total of human decisions made during earthly lives. God is not really a judge who decides, but a referee who makes certain that rules are followed.

Tulsa pastor Ed Gungor recently wrote that “people are not sent to hell, they go there.”[10] In other words, God just respects human freedom to the degree that he will reluctantly let humans determined to go to hell have their wish.

APOLOGIZING FOR HELL: THE NEW EVANGELICAL EVASION

In recent years, a new pattern of evangelical evasion has surfaced. The Protestant liberals and modernists of the twentieth century simply dismissed the doctrine of hell, having already rejected the truthfulness of Scripture. Thus, they did not enter into elaborate attempts to argue that the Bible did not teach the doctrine — they simply dismissed it.

Though this pattern is found among some who would claim to be evangelicals, this is not the most common evangelical pattern of compromise. A new apologetic move is now evident among some theologians and preachers who do affirm the inerrancy of the Bible and the essential truthfulness of the New Testament doctrine of hell. This new move is more subtle, to be sure. In this move the preacher simply says something like this:

“I regret to tell you that the doctrine of hell is taught in the Bible. I believe it. I believe it because it is revealed in the Bible. It is not up for renegotiation. We just have to receive it and believe it. I do believe it. I wish it could be otherwise but it is not.”

Statements like this reveal a very great deal. The authority of the Bible is clearly affirmed. The speaker affirms what the Bible reveals and rejects accommodation. So far, so good. The problem is in how the affirmation is introduced and explained. In an apologetic gesture, the doctrine is essentially lamented.

What does this say about God? What does this imply about God’s truth? Can a truth clearly revealed in the Bible be anything less than good for us? The Bible presents the knowledge of hell just as it presents the knowledge of sin and judgment: these are things we had better know. God reveals these things to us for our good and for our redemption. In this light, the knowledge of these things is grace to us. Apologizing for a doctrine is tantamount to impugning the character of God.

Do we believe that hell is a part of the perfection of God’s justice? If not, we have far greater theological problems than those localized to hell.

Several years ago, someone wisely suggested that a good many modern Christians wanted to “air condition hell.”[11] The effort continues.

Remember that the liberals and the modernists operated out of an apologetic motivation. They wanted to save Christianity as a relevant message in the modern world and to remove the odious obstacle of what were seen as repugnant and unnecessary doctrines. They wanted to save Christianity from itself.

Today, some in movements such as the emerging church commend the same agenda, and for the same reason. Are we embarrassed by the biblical doctrine of hell?

If so, this generation of evangelicals will face no shortage of embarrassments. The current intellectual context allows virtually no respect for Christian affirmations of the exclusivity of the gospel, the true nature of human sin, the Bible’s teachings regarding human sexuality, and any number of other doctrines revealed in the Bible. The lesson of theological liberalism is clear — embarrassment is the gateway drug for theological accommodation and denial.

Be sure of this: it will not stop with the air conditioning of hell.

_______________________________

This essay originally appeared in the January/February 2010 edition of the IX Marks Ministries eJournal.

Footnotes:

1. William R. Hutchison, ed., AMERICAN PROTESTANT THOUGHT IN THE LIBERAL ERA (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1968), p. 4.

2. Gary Dorrien, THE MAKING OF AMERICAN LIBERAL THEOLOGY: IMAGINING PROGRESSIVE RELIGION, 1805-1900 (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2001), p. 18.

3. Dorrien, p, 275.

4. Martin E. Marty, “Hell Disappeared. No One Noticed. A Civic Argument,” Harvard Theological Review, 78 (1985), 381-398.

5. See C. S. Lewis, THE ABOLITION OF MAN (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2001 [1948]).

6. Robert Schuller, MY JOURNEY (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2001), p. 127.

7. Schuller, p. 127-128.

8. Schuller, p. 127-128.

9. John Wenhan, FACING HELL: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (London: Paternoster Press, 1998)., p. 254.

10. Ed Gungor, WHAT BOTHERS ME MOST ABOUT CHRISTIANITY (New York: Howard Books, 2009), p. 196.

11. See “Hell Air Conditioned,” New Oxford Review, 58 (June 3, 1998), p. 4.

What Happened To the Moravians?

Church planting is hot. Few things inspire me more than young adults called to vocational ministry who want to take the Gospel to the hard to reach. The tougher the city to reach, the more they want to go. The harder to reach the people group, the more willing they are to pay the price to take the Gospel to them.

Yet in preparing for our church’s annual global ministries week when we bring in some of the partners we work with around the globe, I gained some new insights about the Moravians, a pietistic Christian sect that made frequent evangelistic visits to America and other nations during the colonial period. Most Christians only know about the Moravians as being instrumental in the conversion of John Wesley when he was returning from America to England as a failed Anglican missionary. The big reason for Wesley’s failure is that even though he was an ordained Anglican clergyman, he was not truly saved.

On the ship home, a terrible storm came upon the Moravians and Wesley. Fearing for his life, he was struck by their calm faith. He knew the Moravians had something he didn’t. Under great conviction, he soon came to personally trust Christ as his Savior and Lord during that famous Bible study on Romans on Aldersgate Street in London.

But what most don’t know is how the Moravians were such a dynamic missionary force in the 1700s and early 1800s. They were bold and courageous. Their zeal and passion for spreading the Gospel was the driving force behind their movement. I got to thinking. What happened? What happened to the Moravians?

So I began to do some research and found there are just over 800,000 Moravians today. How could this dynamic missionary force be so small now? Was it a classic case of embracing liberal theology that killed the missionary zeal? No, it was not.

Nathan Finn, professor of church history at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, says that the Moravians were part of the Pietistic movement within the Protestant church that reacted against the dead orthodoxy among many Lutherans and Calvinists of their day. The Moravians felt what was important was preaching the Gospel for the individual to be saved, or born again. They were so focused on that, they neglected doctrine. So what happened? This dynamic missionary movement lost its zeal because second- and third-generation Moravians didn’t know the basic doctrines of the faith. They didn’t turn from the Gospel to liberalism or unbelief. They just weren’t taught the transforming power of the doctrines of our faith. So the children and grandchildren lost their zeal for taking the Gospel to the world.

Could there be a more sobering warning to the church planting movement of today? What a passion young church planters and missionaries have for reaching the tough-to-reach with the Gospel! Yet where are the basic doctrines of the faith emphasized and taught? Will this movement go the way of the Moravians?

Praise music is great for worship, yet so often it is weak on doctrine -- especially in comparison with classic hymns of faith. Often, Sunday Bible study or Sunday School is confined to children while regular weekly Bible study for adults is evaporating. Small groups that are strong on fellowship and prayer and discussing the pastor’s sermon of the week are seen as the way to go.

Since parents have the major role in discipling their children, how can they do so without being taught key biblical doctrines of the faith? Is it realistic that the church meeting with their children once a week can get this done since so few parents will be trained for the task of spiritual leadership in the home?

Please know, I’m not advocating church as it used to be -- with the structure and methods of yesterday. I am only asking the passionate young church planters and missionaries of today: How is the Spirit of God going to lead you to truly disciple the new followers of Jesus in your care -- to teach them biblical doctrine so that each succeeding generation knows what they believe and why they believe it? Then hopefully the missionary and church planting zeal can continue to prosper with the third and fourth generations to come.

Some thoughts:

1. David Platt’s Secret Church is seeking to address this need, yet how can this type of teaching be incorporated in the local church on an ongoing, weekly basis? One great teacher heard once a year is just skimming the surface of the week-to-week needs in discipleship.

2. What Gen X and Millennial church leaders will step up and develop Bible study material on basic biblical doctrines of the faith in a style and language and methodology that Millennials gel with and are drawn to?

3. How can publishers and ministries incorporate Gen X and millennial writers that use the social networking tools of technology to provide churches -– especially new church plants and missionaries –- tools for teaching the Bible and biblical doctrine to adults, teens and children?

While it’s vital to raise these questions, the answers will come from Spirit-led Gen Xers and Millennials who become just as passionate about discipleship as they are about reaching the unchurched for Christ in tough-to-reach areas. This is my great hope for today’s passionate generation of planters, missionaries and young adult Christians: that 50 years and 100 years from now a few remaining Christians will not wonder, “What happened to the passionate church planters and missionaries of the early 21st century?”

________

Bryant Wright is senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga.,

Heaven, Hell, and A Few Heresies

Luke 10:20

Most Americans believe in heaven, hell and a few old-fashioned heresies. Those are among the findings of a new study of American views about Christian theology from Nashville-based LifeWay Research.

Americans also disagree about mixing religion and politics and about the Bible. And few pay much heed to their pastor’s sermons or see themselves as sinners, according to the online survey of 3,000 Americans commissioned by Orlando-based Ligonier Ministries.

Stephen Nichols, chief academic officer of Ligonier Ministries, said the study was intended to “take the temperature of America’s theological health.” Ligonier founder and chairman R.C. Sproul noted, “What comes screaming through this survey is the pervasive influence of humanism.”

Researchers asked 43 questions about faith, covering topics from sin and salvation to the Bible and the afterlife. They wanted to know how people in the pews -- and people on the street -- understand theology.

Many Americans get the basics right but are often fuzzy on the details, said Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research. “People like to believe in a generic Christian-ish god with cafeteria doctrines,” Stetzer said. “However, when we asked about harder beliefs -- things that the church has [considered] and still considers orthodoxy -- the numbers shift.”

Among the study’s findings:

• Americans say heaven is a real place. But they disagree about who gets in.

Two thirds (67 percent) of Americans believe heaven is a real place, according to the survey. That includes, following standard demographic categories, 9 in 10 Black Protestants (88 percent) and evangelicals (90 percent), three-fourths of Catholics (75 percent) as well as a third of non-Christians (37 percent).

Just under half of Americans (45 percent) say there are many ways to heaven -- which conflicts with traditional views about salvation being linked to faith in Jesus.

Catholics (67 percent) and Mainline Protestants (55 percent) are most likely to say heaven’s gates are wide open, with many ways in. Evangelicals (19 percent) and Black Protestants (33 percent) are more skeptical.

About half of Americans (53 percent) say salvation is in Christ alone. Four in 10 (41 percent) say people who have never heard of Jesus can still get into heaven. And 3 in 10 (30 percent) say people will have a chance to follow God after they die.

• Hell is a real place, too. But you have to be really bad to go there.

About 6 in 10 Americans (61 percent) say hell is real, according to the survey. Black Protestants (86 percent) and Evangelicals (87 percent) are most likely to say hell is a real place. Catholics (66 percent) and Mainline Protestants (55 percent) are less convinced.

Overall, Americans don’t seem too worried about sin or being sent to hell. Two-thirds (67 percent) told researchers that most people are basically good, even though everyone sins a little bit -- an optimistic view of human nature at odds with traditional teaching about human sin.

Fewer than 1 in 5 Americans (18 percent) say even small sins should lead to damnation, while about half (55 percent) say God has a wrathful side.

• When it comes to faith, Americans like a do-it-yourself approach.

Most Americans (71 percent), and in particular Black Protestants (82 percent) and Catholics (87 percent), say people must contribute some effort toward their own salvation, the survey found. Two thirds (64 percent) say in order to find peace with God, people have to take the first step, and then God responds to them with grace.

That sounds right to many people, Stetzer said, especially in our “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” culture. But, he noted, it doesn’t reflect the Christian idea that faith is a response to God’s grace.

Many Americans also don’t mind being disconnected from a local church. About half (52 percent) say worshipping alone or with family is as good as going to church.

About 4 in 5 respondents (82 percent) say their local church has no authority to “declare that I am not a Christian,” according to the survey. More than half (56 percent) believe their pastor’s sermons have no authority in their life, while slightly less than half (45 percent) say the Bible was written for each person to interpret as they choose.

• Americans believe in the Trinity. But the details don’t reflect traditional views of orthodoxy.

About 7 in 10 (71 percent) Americans believe in the Trinity. That’s the idea that one God exists as three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

But few -- even those in evangelical denominations -- seem to grasp the details of how Christians have historically taught the Trinity. More than half of evangelicals (59 percent), for example, say the Holy Spirit is a force -- not a personal being, according to the survey. Ten percent are not sure, while 31 percent agree the Spirit is a person. Overall, two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) say the Holy Spirit is a force.

More than 1 in 7 Americans (15 percent) say the Holy Spirit is less divine than God the Father and Jesus. A third (33 percent) believe God the Father is more divine than Jesus. One in 5 (19 percent) say Jesus was the first creature made by God. All of those run counter to Christian doctrine as found in historic creeds of the church.

• Some Americans like the Bible. Others are skeptical.

About half of Americans (48 percent) believe the Bible is the Word of God, the survey found. Four in 10 (43 percent) say the Bible is 100 percent accurate, while a similar share of Americans (41 percent) say it’s helpful but not literally true.

Evangelicals (76 percent) and Black Protestants (67 percent) are most likely to say the Bible is accurate. Mainline Protestants (50 percent) and Catholics (49 percent) lean toward the Bible being helpful but not literally true.

The Bible is not the only religious text Americans disagree on. About half (54 percent) disagree when asked if the Book of Mormon is a revelation from God. About 10 percent say the Book of Mormon was revealed by God, while another 36 percent say they are not sure.

• Americans disagree about sex, God and politics.

About 4 in 10 (42 percent) Americans -- and more than half (55 percent) of non-Christians -- say churches should remain silent about politics.

Among Christian groups, Catholics (47 percent) and Mainline Protestants (44 percent) want less politics in church. Black Protestants (31 percent) and Evangelicals (26 percent) are less likely to want their church to skip politics.

Less than half (48 percent) of Americans say sex outside of marriage is a sin. Christian groups are split on the topic, the survey found. Mainline Protestants (44 percent) and Catholics (40 percent) don’t see sex outside of marriage as sinful. Three-fourths of Black Protestants (74 percent) and evangelicals (76 percent) believe it is.

The study’s overall results, Nichols said, show churches have a lot of work to do.

“This study demonstrates the stunning gap in theological awareness throughout our nation, in our neighborhoods, and even in the seat next to us at church,” Nichols said.

________

Methodology: A demographically balanced online panel was used for interviewing American adults. Three thousand surveys were completed from Feb. 25 -- March 5, 2014. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error from the online panel does not exceed plus 1.8 percent. Margins of error are higher in subgroups. Slight weights were used to balance religion and gender and remove constant raters.

A Victory of Smallness

I collect sermon illustrations and came across one that had a different angle. Curious, I dug a little deeper and found it was from what used to be the Worldwide Church of God. It is a movement that Herbert Armstrong founded.

Armstrong had some weird ideas. He did not believe in the Trinity. He believed Anglo-Saxons are descendants of Jews - specifically, the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Therefore, Britain and America are literally God’s Chosen People. Because we are the Ten Lost Tribes, we should follow Old Testament kosher laws for food. Church should be on Saturday and all the Old Testament festivals should be followed. Churches that don’t follow this are counterfeit.

We should also tithe like they did, which he interpreted to mean 10% one year, on your gross income, not net. The next year you did that 10% and another 10% to pay to go to their Feast of Tabernacles. It was an awesome meal - at that price it should be.

The next year you did those two tithes and a third one, which was distributed to poor people. Imagine giving 30% of your income to God. Our church budget would never be in the red!

It was an expensive group to belong to, but their commitment level was very high. Armstrong taught that Jesus was coming back in 1975 so you didn’t need a lot of money anyway. 133,000 Americans identified with Armstrong’s sect. His Worldwide Church of God owned $300 million in property and had a college, a radio and TV program and a nationally distributed magazine called “The Plain Truth.”

Then Armstrong died, and something very weird happened, something almost unprecedented. The new leadership studied their Bibles and began to think Armstrong was wrong about a lot of things. Americans weren’t part of the Ten Lost Tribes. Their emphasis on prophecy and the Old Testament was unbalanced.

Over a ten-year period they discarded these teachings and changed to become orthodox Evangelical Christians. It was like Jehovah’s Witnesses deciding to become Baptist.

The results? Their attendance dropped almost two-thirds, to 50,000. Their budget collapsed and they had to sell almost all their property. The magazine and radio and TV programs had to be shut down. The group’s employees went from 1,000 to 40. Sort of what most Americans call abject failure.

Here is what their own website says:

“We acknowledge that many of our doctrines were erroneous. We acknowledge that the organization would not exist without those erroneous doctrines.

“But we do not conclude that Jesus Christ rescued us as a group merely to have us disband. He has bought and paid for this church. It belongs to him, and we have told him that he can have it! If it is of any value to him, he can use it as his instrument, and we are happy to let him lead us.” [1]

To me, this is a great triumph for God. They shrank in numbers and power, but they became true to the gospel. In God’s eyes, that makes them winners.

________

1. https://www.gci.org/aboutus/history

Americans Love God and the Bible But Are Fuzzy On the Details

Americans apparently don’t know much about theology, according to a study released today (Sept. 28). Most say God wrote the Bible. But they’re not sure everything in it is true.

Six in 10 say everyone eventually goes to heaven, but half say only those who believe in Jesus will be saved. And while 7 in 10 say there’s only one true God -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- two-thirds say God accepts worship of all faiths.

Those are among the findings of a survey of American views on Christian theology from LifeWay Research, who conducted the study April 14-20, 2016.

Scott McConnell, executive director of the evangelical research firm, says most Americans still identify as Christians. But they seem to be confused about some of the details of their faith.

For example, he said, about two-thirds of Americans believe Jesus is God while half say Jesus is a being created by God. Those two beliefs don’t seem to match, he said.

“Contradictory and incompatible beliefs are okay for most people,” McConnell said.

The online survey on theology was sponsored by Orlando-based Ligonier Ministries. Researchers asked 47 questions on topics from prayer and the Bible to heaven and hell.

Among the findings:

Americans think God likes all religions.

Two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) say God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Twenty-four percent disagree. Twelve percent are not sure.

Americans of all ages hold this belief, from those 18 to 34 years old (62 percent) to those 50 and older (67 percent). More than half of African-Americans (69 percent), Hispanics (65 percent), whites (63 percent) and Asian-Americans (57 percent) agree.

The one holdout: Americans with evangelical beliefs (48 percent), who are less likely than Americans who don’t have evangelical beliefs (67 percent) to hold this view.

Evangelical believers say hell is for real. Other Americans aren’t so sure.

Eighty-four percent of those who hold evangelical beliefs say hell is a place of eternal judgment, where God sends all people who do not personally trust in Jesus Christ. Only 30 percent of Americans who don’t have evangelical beliefs hold that view.

Overall, fewer than half (40 percent) of Americans say those who don’t believe in Jesus will go to hell.

Many evangelical believers say everybody goes to heaven. They also believe that only those who trust Jesus as their Savior are saved.

Two-thirds of those with evangelical beliefs (64 percent) say heaven is a place where all people will ultimately be reunited with their loved ones.

That’s slightly higher than Americans in general (60 percent).

By definition, all those with evangelical beliefs affirm that only people who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation. Overall, about half of Americans (54 percent) say only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone receive eternal salvation.

Everybody sins but it’s no big deal.

Americans admit they aren’t perfect. But they give each other the benefit of the doubt. Two-thirds (65 percent) agree that everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature. More than half (57 percent) say it would be fair for God to show His wrath against sin. But that wrath seems to be reserved only for the worst sinners.

Three-quarters (74 percent) of Americans disagree with the idea that even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation. That includes almost two-thirds (62 percent) who strongly disagree.

The resurrection really happened. But not everything else in the Bible did.

More than half of Americans (58 percent) say God is the author of the Bible. About half say the Bible alone is the written Word of God (52 percent). Two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) say the biblical accounts of the physical (bodily) resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate. A quarter (23 percent) disagree. Thirteen percent are not sure. Almost all of those with evangelical beliefs (98 percent) agree, as do more than half of Americans who do not hold evangelical beliefs (56 percent).

Fewer than half of Americans (47 percent) say the Bible is 100 percent accurate in all it teaches. Forty-three percent disagree. Ten percent are not sure.

Americans are also split over whether the Bible is literally true. Just under half (44 percent) say the Bible contains helpful myths but isn’t literally true. Forty-five percent disagree. Half of Americans (51 percent) say the Bible was written for each person to interpret as he or she chooses. Forty percent disagree. Nine percent are not sure.

Americans believe in the Trinity. But it’s complicated.

Seven out of 10 Americans (69 percent) agree there is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Six in 10 say Jesus is both divine and human (61 percent).

But they’re fuzzy on the details of the Trinity. More than half (52 percent) say Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God. And 56 percent say the Holy Spirit is a force rather than a person. The Holy Spirit seems to be particularly confusing: A quarter (28 percent) say the Spirit is a divine being but not equal to God the Father and Jesus. Half (51 percent) disagree. Twenty-one percent are not sure.

Americans disagree about sex, abortion, homosexuality and gender.

About half of Americans (49 percent) say sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin. Forty-four percent say it’s not a sin. Seven percent are not sure.

Forty-nine percent say abortion is a sin. Forty percent say it is not. Eleven percent are not sure. Almost 4 in 10 (38 percent) say gender identity is a matter of choice. Half (51 percent) disagree. One in 10 (11 percent) is not sure.

Forty-two percent of Americans say the Bible’s condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn’t apply today. Forty-four percent disagree. Fourteen percent are not sure.

Women (53 percent) are more likely than men (45 percent) to say sex outside of marriage is a sin. Those who are high school grads or less (56 percent) are more likely to agree than those with bachelor’s degrees (44 percent) or graduate degrees (40 percent). Those with evangelical beliefs (91 percent) are more than twice as likely to agree as those who do not have evangelical beliefs (40 percent).

Americans with evangelical beliefs (87 percent) are more likely to say abortion is a sin than other Americans (41 percent). They are also less likely (32 percent) to say gender identity is a choice than other Americans (40 percent).

Personal salvation takes work.

Three-quarters of Americans (77 percent) say people must contribute their own effort for personal salvation. Half of Americans (52 percent) say good deeds help them earn a spot in heaven. Sixty percent agree that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of their sin.

Withholding communion is frowned upon.

Sixty-two percent of churchgoers disagree with the statement, “My local church has the authority to withhold the Lord’s Supper from me and exclude me from the fellowship of the church.” Twenty-nine percent agree. Nine percent are not sure.

Men are more likely to agree (32 percent) than women (27 percent). Churchgoers with household incomes over $100,000 (65 percent) are more likely to disagree than those with incomes less than $25,000 (56 percent).

Those with evangelical beliefs (38 percent) are more likely to say a church can withhold communion or exclude people than churchgoers who do not hold evangelical beliefs (25 percent).

Most Americans don’t buy the prosperity gospel -- especially if they have money.

Two-thirds (63 percent) disagree with the idea that God will always reward true faith with material blessings. A quarter agree. Twelve percent are not sure.

Men (28 percent) are more likely to believe in the prosperity gospel than women (22 percent). Poor Americans -- those with incomes under $25,000 -- are more likely (28 percent) to agree than those with incomes over $100,000 (20 percent).

Those with high school degrees or less (33 percent) are more likely to believe that God blesses the faithful with material blessings than those with graduate degrees (18 percent).

Americans with evangelical beliefs (37 percent) are most likely to agree with the prosperity gospel. Americans who do not hold evangelical beliefs are more skeptical (23 percent).

McConnell said Christian theology is both simple and complicated. Most Americans agree with simple truths like “Jesus arose” and “Jesus saves,” he said, but few believe they need saving or they are not good by nature.

“Basic Christian theology is easy to find on a church’s beliefs webpage, yet most Americans don’t understand how the pieces are related,” he said.

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Methodology: A demographically balanced online panel was used for interviewing American adults. Three thousand surveys were completed from April 14-20. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error from the online panel does not exceed plus or minus two percent. Margins of error are higher in subgroups. Slight weights were used to balance gender, age, ethnicity, income, region and religion.

Those with evangelical beliefs were determined using the National Association of Evangelicals and LifeWay Research evangelical beliefs research definition.

LifeWay Research is a Nashville-based, evangelical research firm that specializes in surveys about faith in culture and matters that affect churches.

Bob Smietana is senior writer for Facts & Trends magazine.

Top 5 Heresies Among American Evangelicals

John 3:16

American evangelicals’ grasp on theology is slipping, and more than half affirmed heretical views of God in 2022’s State of Theology survey, released Monday by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research.

The report references Ligonier founder R.C. Sproul’s teaching that everyone’s a theologian. “However, Dr. Sproul would be quick to add that not everyone is a good theologian,” it read. That caveat applies to Americans in general and evangelicals too.

Overall, adults in the US are moving away from orthodox understandings of God and his Word year after year. More than half of the country (53%) now believes Scripture “is not literally true,” up from 41 percent when the biannual survey began in 2014.

Researchers called the rejection of the divine authorship of the Bible the “clearest and most consistent trend” over the eight years of data.

“This view makes it easy for individuals to accept biblical teaching that they resonate with while simultaneously rejecting any biblical teaching that is out of step with their own personal views or broader cultural values,” the researchers wrote.

It’s clear that US evangelicals (defined by belief and church affiliation) share some core faith convictions. Well over 90 percent agree that God is perfect, God exists in three persons, Jesus’ bodily resurrection is real, and people are made righteous not through works but through faith in him.

But in some areas, even evangelicals responded with significant misunderstandings and were not far off from the trends in society overall.

In the 2022 survey, around a quarter of evangelicals (26%) said the Bible is not literally true, up from 15 percent in 2020. They also became more likely to consider religious belief “a matter of personal opinion” and “not about objective truth”; 38 percent said so in 2022, compared to 23 percent in 2020.

Here are five of the most common mistaken beliefs held by evangelicals in this year’s survey:

1. Jesus isn’t the only way to God.

More than half — 56 percent — of evangelical respondents affirmed that “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam,” up from 42 percent in 2020. And while the question doesn’t include all religions, it indicates a bent toward universalism — believing there are ways to bypass Jesus in our approach to and acceptance by God.

This contradicts orthodox theology found in the Scriptures, in which Jesus affirms that “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

2. Jesus was created by God.

A surprising 73 percent agreed with the statement that “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.”

This is a form of Arianism, a popular heresy that arose in the early fourth century. Those believing it caused such a stir that it led to the gathering of the very first ecumenical council of church leaders. They discussed and denounced these and other unorthodox beliefs as heretical for being contrary to Scripture.

Out of the Council of Nicea came the Nicene Creed, which states in part that Jesus was “not made” but “eternally begotten” and “one in being with the Father,” as found in passages including John 3:16 and John 14:9.

3. Jesus is not God.

Given the above beliefs on Jesus as a created being, it’s not too surprising that 43 percent affirmed that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God,” which is another form of Arian heresy.

This effectively denies the divinity of Christ and his unity with God the Father as an equal member in the Trinity, who is one God in three persons. This has been considered classic orthodox belief since the early church, and is based on many biblical passages — like where Jesus says “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). For this, he gets accused of blasphemy (and threatened with stoning) by religious leaders for claiming to be God.

4. The Holy Spirit is not a personal being.

Speaking of the Trinity, 60 percent of the evangelical survey respondents had some confusion about its third member, believing that “The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.”

To be fair, the Spirit of God is often described as an impersonal force throughout the Bible (sometimes as a dove, a cloud, fire, wind, or water), but these are all just metaphors for the Spirit’s personal presence. The Scriptures clearly affirm that the Spirit is fully God — just like Jesus and the Father, who sent us the Spirit — including the time when Ananias was described as simultaneously lying to the Holy Spirit and to God (Acts 5:3-4).

5. Humans aren’t sinful by nature.

Interestingly, 57 percent also agreed to the statement that “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.” In other words, humans might be capable of committing individual sins, but we do not have sinful natures.

This response indicates that many American evangelicals believe humans are born essentially good, which leans toward a heresy known as Pelagianism. This denies the doctrine of “original sin,” which is based on a number of biblical passages, such as Romans 5:12. Even David acknowledged in the Old Testament that humans were born in sin, saying “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:5).

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Respondents were considered evangelical by belief if they strongly agreed in the Bible as the highest authority; the importance of encouraging non-Christians to trust Jesus as their savior; that his death removed the penalty of sin; and that trust in him alone brings salvation. This four-part definition was adopted by Lifeway and the National Association of Evangelicals in 2015.

While evangelicals were found to be moving away from orthodox beliefs in several of the questions about God, they’ve grown more assured in their stances on cultural and ethical issues.

Among evangelicals, 94 percent believe “sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin” and 91 percent believe abortion is a sin, both the highest levels since the survey began.