Academic

Survey Says ... WHAT?!?!?!

By Tim Zinnecker

Do you believe:

1) that absolute moral truth exists?
2) the Bible is completely accurate in all of the principles it teaches?
3) Satan is a real being or force, not merely symbolic?
4) a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works?
5) Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth?
6) God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today?

If you answered ?yes? to each question, you have a Biblical worldview, as defined by a recent study.  The study found that less than 1/2 of 1% of American adults age 18-23, and less than 10% of all American adults, hold this view.

Those numbers don?t shock me.  (They do concern me, though, as a parent of two young children.)

But here are two numbers that do: 47% of ?born again Christians? believe that it is impossible to earn your way into heaven through good works / behavior, and 62% of the same group believe that Jesus lived a sinless life.  The survey defines a ?born again Christian? as a person who has ?made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is important in their life today and that they are sure they will go to Heaven after they die only because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior.?  What shocks me (as one who falls within the definition) is that over half of all born-again Christians believe they will go to Heaven ?only because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior? and yet believe that it is possible to ?earn? a ticket to heaven through good works / behavior.  Isn?t there a disconnect between those two views?  And why would anyone make a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and accept Him as savior if they believed that Jesus was not sinless?  Yet almost 40% of born-again Christians do.

Shocking. 

And disappointing.

See story here.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on March 11, 2009 (boomark / email).