A few months ago I hesitated and did not post the results of a Barna study that found just 37% of 1000 Christian pastors surveyed held a biblical worldview because I wanted to see a breakdown of more of the data.
The Christian Post provided an update this week with the following findings (my bullet points)
1.) At least a third of senior pastors in the United States believe one can earn a place in Heaven by simply being a good person, according to a nationwide survey.2.) one-third or more of senior pastors surveyed also believe the Holy Spirit is not a person but rather “a symbol of God’s power."3.) Others said that moral truth is subjective; sexual relations between two unmarried people who love each other is “morally acceptable" and biblical teaching on abortion is “ambiguous.”4.) At least a third of those surveyed also said they believe “socialism is preferable to capitalism and that allowing property ownership facilitates economic injustice,”...5.)...39% of Evangelical pastors surveyed said there is no absolute moral truth and that “each individual must determine their own truth.”6.) Roughly the same percentage (38%) said human life is sacred, while 37% said having faith, in general, is more important than in what — or more specifically, Whom — one has faith.7.) three in 10 Evangelical pastors (30%) do not believe that their salvation is based on having confessed their sins and accepting Jesus Christ as their savior.
How is this possible?
George Barna, CRC's director of research, said the results could be linked to another trend he observed in the data.“While studying the spiritual behavioral patterns of pastors, it became evident that a large share of them do not have a regular spiritual routine,” Barna said. “There was a correlation between possessing biblical beliefs and a consistent regimen of Bible reading, prayer, worship and confession.“In some of the denominational groupings, a majority of pastors do not engage in those foundational spiritual practices on a regular basis,” he added. “Yet, among the pastors who have the most consistently biblical beliefs, there is also a daily routine that incorporates all of those disciplines.”
While my first reaction to this information is anger directed at those errant pastors, the data indirectly shows that pewsitters are not keeping up their daily foundational spiritual routines, otherwise they would be forcing those false teachers out.
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I imagine it's not just "evangelical" pastors and pew sitters, and in formerly mainstream denominations, and in Catholic parishes, it may be even worse.
ReplyDeleteI have read that, when Athanasius was exiled from his bishopric, large numbers of his flock refused to commune with the non-orthodox replacements. We need their insight and determination.
The dying mainstream denominations must hold a higher percentage of unorthodox pastors. Why else are they dying?
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