The Barna Group ? Survey

[1Timothy115]

The Barna Group ? Survey
http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/260-most-american-christians-do-not-believe-that-satan-or-the-holy-spirit-exis

Most American Christians Do Not Believe that Satan or the Holy Spirit Exist

Four out of ten Christians (40%) strongly agreed that Satan ?is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.?

Although a core teaching of the Christian faith is the divinity and perfection of Jesus Christ, tens of millions of Christians do not accept that teaching. More than one-fifth (22%) strongly agreed that Jesus Christ sinned when He lived on earth, with an additional 17% agreeing somewhat. Holding the opposing view were 9% who disagreed somewhat and 46% who disagreed strongly. Six percent did not have an opinion on this matter.

Overall, 38% strongly agreed and 20% agreed somewhat that the Holy Spirit is ?a symbol of God?s power or presence but is not a living entity.?

?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. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as ?born again.?

Fair use doctrine, codified by the Copyright Act of 1976 as 17 U.S.C.

[John81]

Most professing Christians are not actual Christians.

America is saturated with lost churches and false preachers. As our pastor mentioned today when someone said something about the Catholic church, that today one is likely to find many non-Catholic churches where the Gospel isn't preached. Once solid churches are now watered down and humanist.

When I first came to Christ was very biblically ignorant even though I had spent several years of my childhood in Methodist Sunday School. I did believe Satan was real but my concept of him was totally accurate. Worse, I believed if one was "good" they would go to heaven while "bad people" went to a place called hell...and my understanding of hell wasn't biblical at that time either.

Today, things are even worse. More families fail to read or teach the Scriptures. More churches are false. Schools, the media and society in general are rather openly anti-Christian.

It's little wonder so many professing Christians hold unbiblical views. How many professing Christians think they are Christians because they were "born" Christian, or raised in a Christian family, or because they attend church or for some other unbiblical reason?

[Wilchbla]

Yeah, you can't trust these surveys. They think that a Christians is anyone who claims they are one.

[1Timothy115]

About the Research
This report is based upon telephone interviews conducted by The Barna Group for two surveys among people who described themselves as ?Christian.? A total of 1,871 adults were randomly selected from across the 48 continental states, with the first 873 interviews conducted in January and February, 2008, and the remaining 998 interviews conducted in November 2008.

I was'nt one of the people called for this survey...how about you?

[HappyChristian]

I was'nt one of the people called for this survey...how about you?

I've never met anyone who has been surveyed for things like this, or polled for all of those polls they toss around on the media!

[Alimantado]

First off, 2000 people were polled, so the chances any single person in the US would be one of them is 0.0007%. So not all that surprising that no-one on here knows anyone who was polled.

Also, I'd expect many on here to support the report's conclusions. Quite the opposite to what Wichbla says, the survey concludes that most people who call themselves Christian don't believe in many things the Bible "clearly describes" (see the 'Inconsistencies' section) but that people who are born again do! (See 'How Born Agains Differ' section.) Exactly what John81 claims, in other words.

[MatthewDiscipleOfGod]

Most professing Christians are not actual Christians.

Bingo!

[heartstrings]

Quote:
Most American Christians Do Not Believe............... the Holy Spirit Exist

How could someone as wonderful as the Holy Spirit indwell a person, and that person deny His existence? If the Holy Spirit doesn't indwell you, you're not a Christian.

[robycop3]

I place very little stock in ANY Barna "survey"; they choose their subjects carefully, and not at random.

But unfortunately it's true that many "professing" Christians aren't really Chtistian, and many who are are not well-versed in the Scriptures. while almost every household has at least one Bible in it, how many are actually READ REGULARLY? Not nearly enough!

[holster]

I read a very interesting article on Way of Life site some time ago. In it, David Cloud gave some statistics about an SBC school. The majority of those going in (to be pastors) believed in a literal hell but by the time they came out the no longer believed that. I recall the same to be true concerning the virgin birth. I wish I could find that article again! I'll have to dig into my WayofLife database and try to find it.

[JAHinton]

Going to church, Bible College and even seminary does not make one a Christian no more than sleeping in the garage will make you a car. The Bible teaching on Satan, Holy Spirit, hell, deity of Christ and His sinlessness is clear. Can one be a Christian and call God a liar. If Jesus was not sinless, he died for his own sins and could not have died for ours. We are hopelessly lost and religion is a farce. There is NO such thing as a Christian