Why America Is Having Societal Problems

1 in 3 'Christians' say 'Jesus sinned'
Barna poll shows adults develop their own beliefs

By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Comments By Tiger

Half of Americans who call themselves "Christian" don't believe Satan exists and fully one-third are confident that Jesus sinned while on Earth, according to a new Barna Group poll.

Tiger Insert -------

Satan:

Job 1:6

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.Job 1:5-7 (in Context) Job 1 (Whole Chapter)

Job 1:7

And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.Job 1:6-8 (in Context) Job 1 (Whole Chapter)

Jesus without sin:

Hebrews 4:15

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 4:14-16 (in Context) Hebrews 4 (Whole Chapter)

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Another 40 percent say they do not have a responsibility to share their Christian faith with others, and 25 percent "dismiss the idea that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches," the organization reports.

Tiger Insert -------
Responsibility to share:

Matthew 28 (Theologians call this, "The Great Commission")
16Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
17And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Biblical accuracy:

Much has been written and documented on this subject. Historians, Archaeologists, Mathematicians, and even legal scholars have all argued for biblical authenticity. The Bible has been called the most "verified" book in existence.

Dr. Peter Stoner, former chairman of the departments of mathematics, astronomy, and engineering at Pasadena College (Calif.), worked with 600 students for several years applying the "principle of probability" to the biblical prophecies of the Messiah's coming. They chose just 8 from the many available and came to the conclusion that the chances of all 8 being fulfilled in the lifetime of one man is 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

BTW, these 8 can be verified historically. In the over 120 prophecies concerning just the Messiah in the Old Testament, all came to be true in the New Testament (separated by centuries) and many of these can be verified with history and archaeology. The mathematical chances of this happening is incalculable!

Although one must have faith (as with all religions) the Bible is probably the most authenticated book of all time.
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Pollster George Barna said the results have huge implications.

"Americans are increasingly comfortable picking and choosing what they deem to be helpful and accurate theological views and have become comfortable discarding the rest of the teachings in the Bible," he said.

"Growing numbers of people now serve as their own theologian-in-residence," he continued.

"One consequence is that Americans are embracing an unpredictable and contradictory body of beliefs." The results are a dramatic departure from the nation's foundings, when leaders held prayer meetings in the halls of Congress and attributed to Almighty God the victory in the Revolutionary War. Barna noted the millions of people who describe themselves as Christian and believe Jesus sinned, or those who say they will experience eternal salvation because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior, "but also believe that a person can do enough good works to earn eternal salvation."

Tiger - again, the Bible is very clear on this and one can cite dozens of Bible verses. "Works" alone is insufficient. One must have an overriding (not weak) faith (complete heart and mind belief), one must follow Gods Law (the Ten Commandments), one must persevere in correcting his inevitable wrongdoing (as all of us humans do), and yes, the Bible says we will be judged by our "good works". Differing Christian sects emphasise different ones and some items not mentioned (Baptism, for example). In the end of the argument, the guide is the Bible and not the traditions of men, or the words of Tiger!

Barna's private, non-partisan, for-profit research group in Ventura, Calif., has been studying cultural trends since 1984. For this study, the organization randomly sampled 1,004 adults across the continental U.S. The study has a margin of error of 3.2 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. For the study, "born-again Christians" were defined as people who said they had made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that was still important in their life today and who also indicated they believed that when they die they will go to heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.

The results highlight the significant shift in beliefs held by Americans, the study said. "For much of America's history, the assumption was that if you were born in America, you would affiliate with the Christian faith," the report said. Now however, "half of all adults now contend that Christianity is just one of many options that Americans choose from and that a huge majority of adults pick and choose what they believe rather than adopt a church or denomination's slate of beliefs."

Fifty percent of Americans believe Christianity no longer has a lock on people's hearts. Two-thirds of evangelical Christians (64 percent) and three out of every five Hispanics (60 percent) embraced that position, making them the groups most convinced of the shift in America's default faith. In contrast, the poll showed the importance of belief was growing along with the number of options about what to believe. "By an overwhelming margin – 74 percent to 23 percent – adults agreed that their religious faith was becoming even more important to them than it used to be as a source of objective and reliable moral guidance." Forty percent of respondents who do not affiliate with Christianity confirmed the increasing influence of their beliefs.

The result "underscored the fact that people no longer look to denominations or churches to offer a slate of theological views that the individual adopts in its entirety," the report said.

By a margin of 71 percent to 26 percent adults "noted that they are personally more likely to develop their own set of religious beliefs than to accept a comprehensive set of beliefs taught by a particular church," the report said. Nearly two-thirds of "born again Christians" adopted that stance. "In the past, when most people determined their theological and moral points of view, the alternatives from which they chose were exclusively of Christian options - e.g., the Methodist point of view, the Baptist perspective, Catholic teaching, and so forth," Barna noted.

"Today, Americans are more likely to pit a variety of non-Christian options against various Christian-based views. This has resulted in an abundance of unique worldviews based on personal combinations of theology drawn from a smattering of world religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam as well as secularism."

... The Bible says that the "Word" of Christ (God) "became flesh" meaning Christ is the fulfillment of biblical record and prophecy (among other things). You either accept this or you don't. Christianity always gives you a choice (free will). You have the choice to believe or not. No one is forcing you. At the end of all things there will be only two types of people in the world; believers and non-believers. It's up to you to decide which side you're on. - Tiger

The Observer