Stephen Rowland: What percentage of Christians hold Christian beliefs?
If I proclaimed myself to be a Buddhist, and you asked me a few simple questions about my religion in which I displayed an ignorance of foundational tenets of Buddhism, wouldn’t you have the right to question whether I was really a true Buddhist?
If I said I was Muslim but had no idea what the 5 Pillars of Islam were or had some patently untrue beliefs about the Prophet Muhammad himself, wouldn’t my self-designation as “Muslim” be seriously suspect? I’m afraid a good percentage of Christians are now falling into that category.
Back in April of 2018, the Pew Research Center did a survey which revealed that roughly 70% of Christians believed in the “God of the Judeo-Christian Bible.” The remaining 30% believed in a “higher spiritual power.” About 93% believed that “God loves all people regardless of their faults”; 87% believed God is omniscient (all knowing); and 78% believed that God is omnipotent (all powerful). All three of those are foundational in scripture.
Later in October of that year, Lifeway Research polled 3,000 Christians and discovered some really popular myths that many Christians believe. Fully 69% disagreed that the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation. The fact that all of us are sinners headed to eternal damnation unless God forgives us and changes us through repentance and faith in his son, Jesus Christ, is a foundational tenet. 58% thought that “worshipping alone or with family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church.” It’s actually a biblical command to attend church — “forsake not the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is…” (Hebrews 10:25). Jesus stated that the world would recognize His disciples by “their love one for another.” It’s simply a truism that people who love each other like to spend time with each other.
Well, here in 2022, I think we may have discovered part of what the problem is —— unfortunately it’s many pastors themselves. The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University conducted a survey which revealed a shocking, paltry “37 percent of Christian pastors have a biblical world view.” (American Worldview Inventory 2022 quoted in Christian Headlines, Sept. 1, 2022). A series of questions about basic Christian beliefs resulted in that 37% figure, and it gets worse the farther down the church hierarchy we go — 28% of associate pastors; 13% of teaching pastors; 12% of youth pastors. Perhaps that’s why some Christian’s don’t attend church anymore — they might be learning more by reading their Bibles than listening to some pastors.
Here are some of the patently untrue (by biblical standards) beliefs expressed by many of these pastors: a “good person” can earn salvation; moral truth is subjective; sexual relationships between two unmarried people who believe they love each other is morally acceptable; socialism is preferable to capitalism; reincarnation is a “real possibility”; and the Bible is ambiguous about abortion. Apparently the popular beliefs of modern culture are affecting these pastors more than the other way around.
The authors of that study also noted an interesting correlation between these pastors and their personal lifestyles — these pastors were woefully deficient in “daily Bible reading; prayer; worship; and confession.” That might seem odd for pastors, but apparently it’s because of the hectic “Jack of all trades” lifestyle that many of them lead. Often these pastors are running between handling church finances; being an administrator; counseling members; visiting the sick; organizing charity events; attending/facilitating conferences and meetings; conducting weddings and funerals; overseeing or mentoring church staff; and in small churches with few members, sometimes building maintenance chores or lawn mowing. Often the time necessary for personal prayer, Bible study, and worship is in short supply as a result. Perhaps that is why quite a few pastors are now “plagiarizing” their sermons from online sources.
I remember a journalist at Christianity Today who interviewed a good number of pastors with this question: “How many hours per week does it take to adequately study and prepare for a high quality Sunday morning sermon?” Every one of them answered roughly 40 hours. That’s a full time job in itself. It’s non negotiable.
Perhaps if church members could take up the slack in many of these “pastoral duties” with pastors making the personal commitment to spend hours each day studying scripture, praying, and worshipping God while seeking direction from Him, just maybe their worldviews will become more biblical. Who knows — maybe more people might want to attend.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Stephen Rowland: What percentage of Christians hold Christian beliefs?
