His is the last of a three part blog on why we should start new churches in churched areas.
While there are many Christian resources in North America, most of the North American population no longer has a biblical worldview or understanding. There is some who question if they ever did. Instead, their religious ideas tend to be distorted reflections of biblical truths. (For More on Church Planting Follow This Guy: http://www.edstetzer.com/ )
Shockingly only HALF of Protestant Pastors have a Biblical Worldview.
A Christian worldview could be described as believing absolute moral truth exists, based on the truths found in scripture. These truths could be considered as coming from these six core beliefs:
- The accuracy of biblical teaching
- The sinless nature of Jesus
- The literal existence of Satan
- The Omnipotence and omniscience of God
- Salvation by grace alone
- The perusal responsibility to evangelize the world
In short there is Biblical illiteracy. They either people don’t know the scripture, or refuse to believe it.
Below you will find more statistical research done by George Barn about Worldview. Read on if interested; I’ve taken it from http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/21-transformation/252-barna-survey-
National Results
Overall, the current research revealed that only 9% of all American adults have a biblical worldview. Among the sixty subgroups of respondents that the survey explored was one defined by those who said they have made a personal to commitment to Jesus Christ that is important in their life today and that they are certain that they will go to Heaven after they die only because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior. Labeled “born again Christians,” the study discovered that they were twice as likely as the average adult to possess a biblical worldview. However, that meant that even among born again Christians, less than one out of every five (19%) had such an outlook on life.
The same questions were asked of respondents in national surveys by Barn in 1995, 2000 and 2005. The results indicate that the percentage of adults with a biblical worldview, as defined above, has remained unchanged for more than a decade. The numbers show that 7% had such a worldview in 1995, compared to 10% in 2000, 11% in 2005, and 9% now. Even among born again adults, the statistics have remained flat: 18% in 1995, 22% in 2000, 21% in 2005, and 19% today.
Components of Worldview Thinking
Varying numbers of Americans embrace the different aspects of biblical worldview thinking. The survey found that:
- One-third of all adults (34%) believe that moral truth is absolute and unaffected by the circumstances. Slightly less than half of the born again adults (46%) believe in absolute moral truth.
- Half of all adults firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches. That proportion includes the four-fifths of born again adults (79%) who concur.
- Just one-quarter of adults (27%) are convinced that Satan is a real force. Even a minority of born again adults (40%) adopt that perspective.
- Similarly, only one-quarter of adults (28%) believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior. Not quite half of all born again Christians (47%) strongly reject the notion of earning salvation through their deeds.
- A minority of American adults (40%) are persuaded that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life while He was on earth. Slightly less than two-thirds of the born again segment (62%) strongly believes that He was sinless.
- Seven out of ten adults (70%) say that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe who still rules it today. That includes the 93% of born again adults who hold that conviction.
