You may have seen the headline published on the Christian Post Website which read “More than half of US adults, 30% of evangelicals believe Jesus isn’t God: study” But the title of this blog post is NOT the title of that article, because I think the most shocking part of the article is not reflected in the headline.
If you read further down in the article, this incredible paragraph should jump out at you…
Some 65% of evangelicals in the study were also found to agree with the statement, “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God,” which theology experts say suggest a dire need for Christians to be taught Christology — the doctrine of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Say what?! If this is accurate, then 65% of “evangelicals”, not the general population, hold to the Arian Heresy! Part of the problem with the way this article was written is that it blends together the result of 2 separate studies: one by Ligioner ministries and one by the Barna group. The Barna group surveyed a sample of the American population in general, while Ligonier sampled those who called themselves “Evangelicals”.
This result is certainly confirmed by my own 19+ years of experience as a christian across multiple protestant denominations. I think I can count on one hand the number of sermons or Bible studies where the doctrine of the Trinity or the deity of Christ were taught or discussed. I had plenty of education about the doctrine of sin, salvation, sanctification, and practical matters of the Christian life, but nothing about these crucial doctrines. And in most evangelical churches, the Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian creeds are unknown! We shouldn’t be surprised by these results.
Today I released Part 4 of my series on the Doctrine of the Trinity and it seems that God in His providence has made this a very timely series indeed. Lets hope that my generation and those younger than me have the attention span to listen!
Apologetics From the Attic 