Recently I cited a study on "The State of Theology" in the U.S. which showed some disturbing trends regarding American beliefs about what Scripture teaches. I revisited the website this week because I thought some of its information might be useful for my upcoming sermon.
The first time I looked at it, I hadn't paid too much attention to the sponsor of the report - Ligonier Ministries.
That's R.C. Sproul's legacy, so there's a decidedly Calvinist bent to a couple of the questions.
Take for example "Statement #10" with which respondents were asked to agree or disagree:
The study found 21% of Evangelicals responded with "Somewhat Agree" and 37% with "Strongly Agree"!
According to the authors of the study, these folks got the answer right because the statement is true.
Here's their rationale:
"Jesus told Nicodemus that a person must be born again before he can see or enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3–5). Even the faith by which we enter the kingdom is a gift of God, who by His Spirit brings us to new spiritual life so that we can trust in Christ (Eph. 2:1–10). The Spirit, therefore, must give us new life before we can believe (Rom. 8:1–11)."
This is cherry-picking Scripture passages to find support for a purely Calvinist paradigm and they are ignoring all of the other verses which have belief coming before the new birth.
If you look up the cited verses, you might find yourself scratching your head as to how they prove that you must be born again before you can have faith. Apparently, you need to be wearing Calvinist glasses in order to see it.
I was saddened to see only 8% rated their opinion as "Somewhat Disagree" and only 19% said "Strongly Disagree".
People don't understand what the Bible has to say about the Order of Salvation.
You can see the entire study at thestateoftheology.com.
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