As I strive to remain steadfastly committed to God, Family, and Life, it helps all of us to periodically assess how well we are doing in keeping the faith, and in remaining committed to our faith. Every couple of years, Lifeway Research takes the pulse of U.S. churchgoers through a survey. I found some profound survey results published by Lifeway Research, in September 2020. The results stated “Americans Hold Complex, Conflicting Religious Beliefs, According to Latest State of Theology Study”. I am quoting statistics from their article. I strongly encourage readers to check it out for more trends.
The Numbers
The most profound point of the 2020 survey was “For 54% of Americans, theological beliefs are not a matter of objective truth, but rather belong in the category of subjective personal opinion” (Emphasis added).
The statistics show that many continue to fall away from traditional theology. I would like to focus on the statistics related to the trinity. Seventy-two percent believe in the trinity, but among these believers, many ideas about the trinity contradict the doctrine.
1) Holy Spirit – A Force?
59% of those who believe in the trinity believe the Holy Spirit is a Force but is not a personal being and 19% of these, believe the Holy Spirit can tell them to do something that is forbidden in the Bible.
My response: I wrote an article on this topic a few months ago (July 2018). Who among us would feel comfortable to be called a ‘thing’, or an ‘it’ ? It is actually a little offensive. The Holy Spirit, a person, surely feels the slight when His person-hood is ignored.
2) Jesus was created?
55% of those who believe in the Trinity believe Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God.
My response: Perhaps a few of these people may have put too much focus on how the survey question was phrased, or the listener did not think through the question. For instance, if you glance at this sign you may see nothing wrong:
(A longer glance will reveal a word repetition). Jesus is the Son from the Father (John 1:14). The Son/Father phrasing makes it difficult for some humans to understand that Jesus is the Word and was not a created being. Indeed, he was not created. Jesus existed in the beginning as the Word (John 1:1; John 8:58), and the Word was God.
3) Only a teacher?
52% of the 72% – Say Jesus was a great teacher, but not God. In spite of this trend, 66% believe the biblical accounts of Jesus’ resurrection are completely accurate (It’s weird that people believe Jesus was resurrected, but concurrently believe he was not God)!
Response: The gospel of John is a great book to show that Jesus is God. In the Old Testament, God spoke on multiple occasions and used the phrase “I AM”. Jews understood the Hebrew word equivalent for ‘I am’ is “YHWH” (Yahweh). In John, Jesus uses the I AM phrase seven times. For each I AM usage, there is a corresponding sign (miracle) which confirms that attribute of his deity.
