Spiritual Truths

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This statement is from a recently released report from the Barna Research Group of Ventura, California, after a random but representative survey of the U.S. adult population. Many interesting findings came out of the survey. Three beliefs on which three-quarters of the respondents could agree were the belief in the Trinity concept of God, the belief in an eternal soul, and the belief in the ability of people without intensive training in theology to be able to interpret the Bible.

The most interesting results were the ones which had a direct conflict with their faith. One of the most notable was when 44% agreed with the statement “The Bible, the Koran and the Book of Mormon are all different expressions of the same spiritual truths.”

How many Muslims would agree that their view of God and personal conduct is the same as that of the Christians? If the views of both writings are reflective of the same truths, why are the lifestyles so radically different?

Do most Christians really believe that the Mormon beliefs about God, Jesus, and heaven are the same as their own? What is the explanation for such divergent beliefs being viewed as the same?

Some of the explanation lies within the analysis of the population segments. The segment of those who are 57 or older, only 35% agreed with statement, 36% disagreed, and 29% were not sure. Only 10% of evangelic Christians agreed with the statement.

It becomes very apparent from these statistics that even though self-proclaimed Christians own Bibles, very few really know what is in the Bible. They consider the Bible to be true without actually investigating its content. Younger Christians are even less knowledgeable about the holy writings. In my ministry, I have the opportunity to see many people who profess to be Christians. They know that the guidance or training I will offer is from the Bible and have no problem with that approach. I seen many of these people actually astonished at what they learn about who God is and the life God offers to them through His grace.

It is very “American” to be Christian. Even many recent immigrants to the U.S. want to adopt the Western culture way by adopting the lifestyle, including the religion of Christianity. As Americans boast of being inclusive and tolerant of all beliefs and lifestyles, they have actually begun to adopt those beliefs even when they are contradictory to the faith that they claim.

George Barna concludes “Over the past 20 years we have seen the nation’s theological views slowly become less aligned with the Bible. Americans still revere the Bible and like to think of themselves as Bible-believing people, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Christians have increasingly been adopting spiritual views that come from Islam, Wicca, secular humanism, the eastern religions and other sources. Because we remain a largely Bible-illiterate society, few are alarmed or even aware of the slide toward syncretism - a belief system that blindly combines beliefs from many different faith perspectives.”

What will be the legacy of their faith? What a wake-up call to Christians!! What an opportunity to find out what their faith and the book which they call the “Holy Bible” really teaches!