“Great” Stuff — Survey Finds Most American Christians Are Actually Heretics

Found over on TheFederalist.com .. not sure if it’s great, but it’s a commentary on our society. Click the link to go to the Federalist for the complete article.

 

shutterstock_280367285-998x666Evangelical writer Eric Metaxas remarked on BreakPoint last week that if Americans took a theology exam, their only hope of passing would be if God graded on a curve. He’s right. In knowing both the content of the Bible and the doctrinal foundations of Christianity, we Americans aren’t just at the bottom of our class. We are, as Ross Douthat argues in his book, “Bad Religion,” a nation of heretics.

A survey of 3,000 people conducted by LifeWay Research and commissioned by Ligonier Ministries found that although Americans still overwhelmingly identify as “Christian,” startling percentages of the nation embrace ancient errors condemned by all major Christian traditions. These are not minor points of doctrine, but core ideas that define Christianity itself. The really sad part? Even when we’re denying the divinity of Christ, we can’t keep our story straight. Americans talking about theology sound about as competent as country singers rapping.

A few of the astounding results of the survey —

  • More than half went on to indicate that Jesus is “the first and greatest being created by God,”
  • many Americans don’t understand or even care what the Trinity means
  • sixty-four percent also thought this God accepts the worship of all religions
  • Two-thirds insisted that most people are good by nature
  • Seventy-four percent said the “smallest sins” don’t warrant eternal damnation
  • Two-thirds … said heaven is a place where all people will ultimately be reunited with their loved ones
  • … they see no contradiction between their casual universalism and … that salvation comes through faith in Christ alone
  • Scripture, he says, has become “a museum exhibit, hallowed as a treasure but enigmatic and untouched.”

 

To read the whole article, go to TheFederalist.com.

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