STATE OF THEOLOGY

Last night I posted about a study on American attitudes toward the Bible.

Here's more poll data to consider along the same lines - and it's just as concerning:

Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research ask the same questions of the American public every two years in order to discern trends in opinions regarding theology.

The 2022 results are shocking.

The poll asks a series of theological questions of a sampling of American adults and then teases out stats for Evangelicals to look at in isolation.

For the purposes of this poll, Evangelicals are defined as respondents who "strongly agree" with the following 4 statements: 

• "The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe."
• "It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior."
• "Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin."
• "Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation."

Now keep those statements in mind as I share the results of just one of the questions on the poll. (Because, if you care about such things, ONE is all you can handle.) 

People were asked to agree or disagree with this statement: "Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God."

When the question was asked in 2020, 30% of the Evangelicals AGREED.

Thirty percent!

And how about the same question in 2022?

Currently 43% agree that Jesus might have been a great teacher, but He was not God!

Both numbers are so shocking I am tempted to hope something is askew in the poll's methodology. 

And maybe so.

Still, the numbers are in alignment with my general impression that many American Christians simply don't know - or hold - orthodox Christian beliefs.

So I am tempted to believe in the poll's accuracy.

The other results can be seen at https://thestateoftheology.com/.

But I warn you: your head may explode!