Simultaneity

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April 25, 2006

Disconnected Numbers

I was reading an article today that contained some numbers about what people, who self-identified as Christians believe.

96% believe in the resurrection of Christ

Huh? That means that 4% don't believe that Christ rose from the dead, so they believe they are worshiping a God who is dead. Paul address this in 1 Corinthians 15:13-14 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

50% believe in ghost

This one I can see as there are passages in the Bible that talk about demons and familiar spirits.

27% believe in astrology as a means to make decisions

This is another one that puzzles me. The Bible expressly forbids divination and placing faith in something other than God.

21% believe in reincarnation (that they were someone else in a past life)

Several Bible passages seem to indicate a single life - specifically, Hebrews 9:27 says that man is destined to die once.

I guess I'm not really surprised by these numbers since most polls indicate that Christians don't read their Bible regularly. I think things like this go a long way to showing why many Christians are ineffective at sharing their faith - if you don't know what you believe how can you share it.

In that same vain, at times, I wonder why some people claim to be Christian. If you don't read the Bible, if you don't believe Christ rose from the dead, and if you believe in other non-Christian beliefs, why claim to be Christian? Mind you, I am talking about Christian essentials, like Christ being God's Son, the Bible being the word of God. There are, of course, non-essentials to the Christian belief where we can disagree, but still be in the same ball park (i.e. When the rapture takes place in relation to the tribulation, if tithing should be taught in the church, structure of church government, method of baptism).

I guess this is the same for other religions - Are there Buddhist that don't meditate? Are there Hindu's that don't believe in reincarnation or Muslims that do?

I suppose that there are since I know there are Muslims that don't follow the 5 pillars of the Islam faith, mainly prayer and fasting. But my point is the same, what's the point in claiming a particular faith if you don't believe its essentials?

Posted by Jesse at April 25, 2006 11:14 AM

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Posted by: Bruce at June 5, 2006 4:16 AM

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