What Is the Worldview of Americans, of Evangelicals?

What is the worldview of Americans and of evangelicals? Dr. Stephen Nichols joins us today here on the Christian worldview radio program, where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to share the good news that all people can be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host of the program, and our website is thechristianworldview.org. Well, thank you for joining us this weekend on the Christian worldview as we talk about what is the worldview of Americans and of evangelicals.

Ligonier, the preaching and teaching ministry founded by Dr. R.C. Sproul, who went to be home with the Lord last year, conducts the state of theology survey. Every two years to gauge the religious beliefs of a cross-section of our society. The 2018 survey was recently released where people were asked to respond to 34 statements, such as, Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature. Or, The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths, but is not literally true. But just to give you a little preview, 52%, over half of evangelicals, agreed that people are good by nature, and 53% of millennials agreed that the Bible is not literally true. The responses to these statements and others in the survey are tragic, but not surprising.

So how is that the case? Well, Dr. Stephen Nichols, the chief academic officer for Ligonier Ministries, joins us today in the Christian worldview to dive into the findings of the survey, how the general society and even evangelicals have formed such a non-biblical worldview, and how the church and individual Christians should respond. Let's get to the first segment of the interview with Dr. Stephen Nichols. We're going to get into today the Ligonier State of Theology survey. Ligonier Ministries, founded by Dr. Sproul, has done this survey several times over the years to get an idea of what people believe, what Christians believe about theology. And I just want to start out by playing a sound bite just to give listeners a taste of the types of questions that are asked. And this one has to do with, do you believe in God? This was done in Seattle.

These are just man-on-the-street interviews that they did. Here's that question. Do you believe there is a God?

Yes, I do. I believe in a creator of sorts. God is just one name. I don't necessarily believe in God. I believe in a higher being, I guess. What's He believe about? I believe that He's there to take care of us and to help us, and if it's not that in your life, you're not going to go very far. Whoever it is has a lot of control over us in our lives.

I don't really know. There's too much stuff in this world that we just can't know. God is the supreme creator.

To me, it's probably someone that I look to for advice and guidance, mostly. Now, not surprisingly, Steve, people are all over the place on their answers to such a kind of a fundamental question, do you believe there is a God? Just give us some context on this Ligonier State of Theology survey as to what it is and why Ligonier does it. Yeah, we started this back in 2014. This is actually the third time we've administered it, so we're trying to do it every two years to not only get a snapshot of results now, but also over time build up a longitudinal study and longitudinal data.

So we did it in 2014, 2016, 2018. And the idea here is, and we talk about religion, we talk about Americans and their belief in God or whatever cultural Christianity means, this is a 34-question theological survey that has really deep dives into matters of theology. So we're sort of getting past the surface here of some sort of surface-y Christianity, surface-y belief of God, and getting into deep theological beliefs.

This is that first rule of speech, you know, know your audience. And so the idea here is, what are we dealing with? What does the general American population believe on key theological and even ethical issues? And then also, through some of the demographic data, being able to look at evangelicals, so we're asking the question, well, what is believed within the church? So we're looking at both that theological beliefs of Americans, whether we're in the church or outside of the church. So for the purposes of the survey, what is the definition of an evangelical?

Well, yeah, that's great. So first of all, there's just over 20% of them in the survey. We did the survey in conjunction with LifeWay Resources, which is a trusted research arm. We surveyed 3002 people and just put that in a perspective, many of these Gallup national polls are 1000 people.

So this is a great, very sizable sample that's going to yield significant results of that 680. So, you know, just over that 20% mark are self-identified as evangelicals. Now, we also have the final four questions of the 34 questions are supplied by the National Association of Evangelicals. And there's been this sort of historic what's called the quadrilateral fourfold understanding of what it means to be an evangelical.

And those final four statements get at that. So it's not just a self-identifying label. It's also a litmus test of beliefs for that label, evangelical. We'll probably get into them as I go through some of the survey questions. But in a bullet point fashion, what were those four basic points of an evangelical?

Sure. So the first one is a belief in the authority of Scripture. The second one is the necessity of conversion to be converted and the necessity of a new birth.

You must be born again, right? That's so evangelical, the gospel. Thirdly, the substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross. So now we have a theological substance to the gospel. And then fourthly, the idea that the gospel must be shared, that it is incumbent upon us to actually evangelize and to witness. So that's a way of getting at what it means to be an evangelical.

The website where you can find all these statements and questions and answers and statistics is thestateoftheology.com. We're talking today with Dr. Stephen Nichols on the Christian worldview. He's the president of Reformation Bible College. And our topic is what is the worldview of Americans and of evangelicals as we look at Ligonier's most recent survey. Now, let's talk about evangelicals, some of their beliefs from this survey. But before we do, I would like to play a soundbite of a question about sin to a general audience.

And then we'll get into how evangelicals respond to a similar question. How would you define what sin is? Do you believe there is such a thing as sin? Yeah, I think, you know, things that harm the people around you for your own benefit are sinful, you know. There's no hierarchy of bad or wrong to me.

It's all wrong. But by the same token, just let she be judged because we're all fallible. I don't think by nature man is sinful.

And this is just me. I'm not too familiar with exactly what the Bible says about sin, to be perfectly honest with you. But I don't think by nature man is sinful. So I would say no, basically, to that question. If you have the answer, I would like to know. Interesting way he ended that particular answer. If you have the answer, I would like to know. Well, let's get into how the evangelical audience answered that question about sin and some other issues that I think are somewhat surprising.

Listeners, you'd be surprised. I'm going to give three different statements with the evangelical response. Statement number 11, they were asked, everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature. 52% of evangelicals agree with that statement, that everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.

Let me give two more before I follow up with a question. Statement number 30, religious belief is a matter of personal opinion. It is not about objective truth. Evangelicals, 32, nearly a third of evangelicals agree with that statement.

One more, statement number 3 in the survey. God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The finding from the survey was 51% of evangelicals agree with that, while 42% disagree. Now, these statements are clearly in contradiction of scripture. You could just go chapter and verse that contradicts what these three statements are, and yet a high percentage of evangelicals are very confused or get the wrong answer here.

What explains this kind of response from professing evangelicals? Well, it shows that we really do not suffer from an abundance of theological awareness in the church. We lack a theological awareness in the church.

Let's think this through. If we're saying we're good by nature, what is the need for the gospel? What are we saying Christ died to accomplish if we're good by nature? In order to truly understand this gospel, this evangel that we proclaim, we need to see ourselves as sinners. I think that's a difficult thing for the general population of America to see.

That's why we see so many of the general population saying, sure, we're good by nature. But to see evangelicals say that means we're just totally impacted by the culture we live in, not by the word of God. When you get to that third statement you mentioned, which is basically a question about pluralism, this is chilling. If we go to the general population, over two-thirds of Americans are pluralists.

That probably shouldn't surprise us. We just live in this age of tolerance, and who wants to say when religion's wrong? But for there to be a simple majority of evangelicals who affirm pluralism is chilling. And what this should signal to us is the need to be more careful, more thorough, more explicit about teaching theology within the church, and just the basics of the gospel even within the church. Dr. Stephen Nichols is with us today on the Christian worldview, talking about what is the worldview of Americans and of evangelicals based on the most recent state of theology survey done by Ligonier Ministries, of which he is the chief academic officer. He's also the president of Reformation Bible College.

Their website is reformationbiblecollege.org. Just a couple more, pull a few things out from the survey, let's get moved from evangelicals into the broader population of just U.S. adults. It says in the survey, an alarming 69% of people disagree that even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation, with 58% strongly disagreeing. The statement was, number 12 on the survey was, even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation.

The finding is that only 23% of people agree with that versus 69% disagree. Now, I think this is an interesting question because when you explain the gospel to someone, when you get to who God is, and he's holy, and he's the creator, then you move into who man is, and man is sinful and separated from God. I think the worldview today says, well, yeah, I've sinned, I've done a few sins, I've done this or that wrong, but it seems like disproportionate punishment for a God to punish me in eternity, in hell for eternity, because I sinned a couple times. So my question for you, Steve, is how to explain this truth about God's just judgment in what we deserve, even if we had just sinned one time in our life, which no one of course does, but even over one sin, how is that just to explain that to someone today?

Okay, that's an interesting question. I think it's a very important one for the mind of our day to be able to answer that question about God judging people to hell. Dr. Stephen Nichols is our guest today on the Christian worldview from Ligonier Ministries. We're talking about the state of theology survey from Ligonier that they recently did. When we return from this break, we'll get into the second segment with Dr. Nichols. Stay tuned, much more coming up today on the Christian worldview.

I'm David Wheaton. Social justice is a gospel issue. This has become the mantra of many evangelicals. Rectifying perceived inequities of race, gender, sexuality, poverty, immigration, amongst others, is considered a top priority. But what exactly is social justice? Is working for social justice a biblical mandate, an application of the gospel? Kel Bisner has written an insightful booklet entitled Social Justice, How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel. Also included in this revised 44 page booklet is a copy of the just released statement on social justice in the gospel. You can order the social justice booklet for a donation of any amount to the Christian worldview. Go to thechristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331.

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Monthly partners can choose to receive resources throughout the year. Call 1-888-646-2233 or go to thechristianworldview.org. Thank you for your support. Thank you for joining us today on the Christian worldview radio program. Before we get back to the interview with Dr. Stephen Nichols of Ligonier Ministries about their state of theology survey, just want to remind you that you should have received or you'll be soon receiving the Christian worldview annual print letter and resource guide that should be mailed this week. We actually received ours, so I know it's on the way and so take a look at that. Hope you enjoy that letter and be sure to take advantage of some of the resources from our store that we offer for Christmas gifts this year. And we have some of them on the in the letter in the resource form of the letter, but we have all of them on our website, thechristianworldview.org. And so you can take advantage of that and you can also take advantage for you podcasters out there who download the program of our new element called Short Takes. And you can just get that by subscribing to our free podcast. Well, today in the program, Dr. Stephen Nichols is joining us from Ligonier Ministries to talk about their state of theology survey.

And let's get back to the second segment of the interview with Dr. Nichols. So my question for you, Steve, is how to explain this truth about God's just judgment in what we deserve, even if we had just sinned one time in our life, which no one, of course, does. But even over one sin, how is that just to explain that to someone today? You know, I think for one thing, it just shows us how far we are removed from a true view of who God is. If we have this view of God that somehow comes from our own making or is sort of a bottom up, you can understand the response to this question.

It's almost like this is just the absolute injustice that there could be some standard that would be so high that would have such a punishment for the smallest sin. But that only works if we come at who God is based on who we think God should be or how we think God should act. If we come at this from what God says about himself and who God says he is, if you just read through the Psalms, you come to grips with who God is. And you get a sense that the Psalmist is fully aware that God is both ready to crush us.

He has that strong, omnipotent right arm. He is able to crush us, but that God must crush us because he is pure and just and holy. And you come out from the Psalms recognizing that, but for Christ, my sacrifice, my perfect sinless sacrifice, I would be justly and rightly crushed by the power of God's justice.

You know, you mentioned R.C. at the beginning, and it's interesting, R.C. was converted as a college student, and he talks about reading the Old Testament for the first time as a Christian. And he says, and he never lost this impression from that first reading that this is a God who plays for keeps. And so if we set aside what we think about God and let God declare for us, you know, we've got this great scene from Uzzah. So here's this Old Testament story and here's the ark and, you know, they're marching it and it's toppling. And what does Uzzah do? You know, he reaches out to steady the ark because he doesn't want it to touch the ground. And in the process, he's violating God's commandment and he's struck dead for touching the ark. And the idea is that Uzzah is rather presumptuous to think that he is more clean than the dirt.

There is something, if we come at God as who he says he is, then we understand this question. And what's interesting to me about this question is, you know how these sort of surveys work, you do the strongly disagree to strongly agree, the sort of five paths there, and they pretty much even out on the scale. But you come to this one and if you go to the website, it's visually stunning how uneven it is. And it's not just that the vast population disagrees. It's exactly as you pointed out, they strongly disagree. Like there is something about this question that really triggers a vehement response. And it's basically comes down to my God would never do that.

And I think therein lies the problem. It's not our conception of God, it's who God is. And now we have this understanding of justice. And now we also recognize how abundant and good and kind God is in his love and mercy. And making a way out of this damnation for us through offering his perfect son, his beloved son, as our sacrifice.

Instead of crushing us is what we deserve. He crushed his own son for our sin. And I appreciate your answer there, Steve, because this is the one question I think that really did stand out in the survey, because it's the one that the modern mind wrestles with. They just think that God should be able to, the God of their making, he should just be able to just forget about it. I'm a God of love. I don't have to worry about that.

I just set it aside. And this is not the God of the Bible. Dr. Steven Nichols with us today on the Christian worldview, the president of Reformation Bible College in Florida, also the chief academic officer for Ligonier Ministries. We're talking about the state of theology survey by Ligonier Ministries for 2018. Steve, let's get into an age demographic within this survey of millennials, those aged 18 to 34.

We're going to get into what their views are. And one of the questions, one of the statements in the survey has to do with Scripture, the Bible. Is it the inspired word of God?

Is it true? Let me play a soundbite first of how the general audience, not millennials, but just a general audience has a view of Scripture or reading Scripture. Have you ever read the Bible? I took a Bible as literature class in college, but that's about as far as I got into it. Do you read the Bible?

No, I don't. I'm skeptical of organized religions run by men. It was written a very, very long time ago, so the wording in some parts of it can be taken out of context because, of course, the context is way different now. People have did some changes in it, you know what I mean? But the word, I still think it's fine. I believe that the Bible is God's word and it's perfect. The overarching messages that it sends are good and those are the things that can be taken away from it.

Well, one lady got the answer right. It has an orthodox view of Scripture, what Scripture claims to be, inerrant and infallible. But millennials in particular here, those aged 18 to 34, the statement in the survey number 14 was, the Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths, but is not literally true.

So the finding was, now this is of millennials, 18 to 34, the finding was, this is a general audience, we have not just evangelical millennials, but general millennials, so 53% of participants aged 18 to 34 agree with that, that the Bible contains some helpful accounts of ancient myths, but is not literally true. So how is this particular survey question on one's view of Scripture, maybe it could be boiled down as the cornerstone to all the other questions. In other words, if you don't get this one right, you're going to be all over the place on the other ones. You're exactly right.

This is where the dominoes are going to fall. And if you push in the direction of biblical authority, hopefully you will have orthodox doctrines because you've got the right source of authority to answer our questions. But if we do not go in that direction, and we reject biblical authority, and we look elsewhere for answers to these questions, then what we think about God, what we think about ourselves, what we think about sin, what we think about ethical issues, are going to fall in the wrong direction. And it's fascinating you bring this one up. There's a question later in the survey that's dealing with Scripture, but addresses an ethical issue.

And it is really interesting to look at millennials on this point. The statement is number 29, and it is, the Bible's condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn't apply today. And we specifically worded that question that way because we wanted to say, you know, here's the view. The Bible said one thing, but we know differently now in the 2000s, and we have the advances of social sciences, et cetera.

So we can think differently now. The general population, 44 percent agree with that statement, which is kind of interesting because that means the majority of Americans think the Bible does apply in its view of homosexuality. This is an evangelical, this is the general population, 44 percent. But you go to millennials, and they're eight points out ahead, which is significant given the sample. So you go to millennials, and they're at 52 percent saying the Bible's condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn't apply. And what you're seeing is millennials are growing up in a different moment than others, and you've got them pegged at this between 18 and 34. They've lived in a different world. They've had exposure to all sorts of things, different religions, et cetera, different approaches, gender choice in terms of sexual choice. And so what you're seeing is the impact, again, of culture on their thinking, and they're looking past the scriptures, and they're trying to look to their own horizon and the sort of authoritative voices of today to be their authority. And that's where they're taking their lead.

So you're exactly right. This could be the root of the problem because the question is, what is your authority for what you believe? And it's either God's word or it's not. And if it's God's word, well, that's going to push you in the right direction. And if it's not God's word, it's going to push you in the wrong direction. Okay, you're listening to an interview with Stephen Nichols today, the chief academic officer for Ligonier Ministries. And what he just said about the word of God is if it's your bottom line authority for what you know and believe about all matters of life and faith, it's going to take you in one direction.

And if it's not, or if it's mixed with something else, it's going to take you in a very different direction. That is why we do the Christian worldview radio program so that we can think biblically and then live accordingly back after this. In his DVD, The Death of Discernment, Mike Gendron uses this apt analogy from A.W.

Tozer. Red cells are like faith. They carry life-giving oxygen to every part of the body. White cells, on the other hand, are discernment.

They pounce upon dead and toxic matter and carry it out of the body. Each member in the body of Christ is a white blood cell. We need to identify doctrinal error and make sure it gets out of the body.

That's the only way that the body of Christ can remain strong. The Death of Discernment DVD contains two messages by Mike Gendron. You can order it for a donation of any amount to The Christian Worldview.

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Your email and mailing address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time. Call 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. Thanks for joining us today on The Christian Worldview Radio Program. I'm David Wheaton, the host, and our topic for today is What is the worldview of Americans and of evangelicals based on the findings in the recent Ligonier State of Theology survey for 2018? Our guest is Dr. Stephen Nichols, who is the chief academic officer for Ligonier and also the president of Reformation Bible College. We have a full segment ahead. Hope you're enjoying this interview. I certainly am.

Let's get straight back to the third segment with Dr. Stephen Nichols. Now, your last answer led into my next question about some of the questions on morality. Statement number 26, sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin. Evangelicals answered that, that they agree, 54% actually agree with that. That's up from the last time we did the survey in 2016 where only 47% agreed that sex outside of marriage is sin, but now it's 54%. So maybe that's moving in the right direction for that one.

You mentioned the next one, Steve. Statement number 29, the Bible's condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn't apply today. Millennials 18 to 34, 51% agree with that, that the Bible doesn't apply today with regards to homosexuality. I'll give you one more, the issue of gender, transgenderism. Statement 28 in the survey is gender identity is a matter of choice.

Millennials answered that by saying 46% of them agree with that, so nearly half say you can just choose your gender. I think the follow-up question to these three responses from the survey is, is there something the church has failed to do? That wasn't a general audience of millennials, but is it something that the church has failed to do or teach, or should the church be doing something to counteract this, or really can it be counteracted? Is this just the way fallen, non-believing societies go? That's a great question, and I think we don't want to just sort of give up on culture, nor do we want to have an overly optimistic view.

We've got to recognize we do live in a fallen world, and it's our task, however, to proclaim the truth, and it's especially our task within the church to make sure that those who are growing up in the church not only know the truth, but they can contend for the truth. We're just living in a different moment. When I went to elementary school, it was never a discussion of what pronoun I would choose for myself. And we're living in an age where there's a presentation from kids to college kids given the options to choose their pronoun.

We need to push back against that. It's seeing that gender identity is not a social construct. It's written into the created order. We see that in the opening chapters of Genesis, male and female created he, them.

So we can push back on that in culture, but we should certainly be helping our folks within the church walls to understand that these aren't up for grabs. And this is how God made us. He made us as gendered individuals, and he made us ultimately to be in heterosexual relationships. And you get this right in the first chapters of Genesis.

Male and female, he created them, and it was that God created the woman for the man. And so these are creation order issues that we should be talking about. But I think what we need to recognize again is the different world in which our kids are growing up. And we should not be naive to that and not underestimate how susceptible they are to influences so that we are speaking truth into their lives. And again, it's not just the truth of the gospel.

It's also love. So we are speaking truth in love into their lives. But I think what we're seeing culturally should not cause us to give up. It should cause us to sort of double down and recommit to that task of helping our young people know the truth and contend for the truth. Yes, we need to be very clear and very biblical, full of truth and full of grace, because a lack of clarity on what the Bible says seems to be really, really lacking in the broader culture and even within the church. Now, Steve, younger evangelicals seem to focus less on orthodoxy, doctrines and so forth, than orthopraxy, living your faith out. So younger evangelicals are focused on more social issues, helping the poor, the oppressed, minorities, racial reconciliation, immigration, these kinds of things. Did the older generation of believers lack something in that regard? Wasn't there enough attention or focus on those kinds of things, or is this younger generation going down a road that's going to take them away from a sound faith, away from the proclamation of the gospel into more of a social theology?

You know, a couple of things. One is, you go back a century and we're back into the 1920s and you've got Jay Grestin Machen's book, Christianity and Liberalism, and he starts that book off with, is Christianity a doctrine or lifestyle? And he ends up saying it's both. The liberals want to say Christianity is a lifestyle only. It doesn't matter what you believe, it matters how you live. It's not the doctrines of Christ, it's the Beatitudes.

Are you living out the Beatitudes? What Machen does, and it's brilliant, he says it's both. It's a doctrine and a lifestyle. But then he says this, it's a doctrine first. The lifestyle is always the fruit of the gospel and never confuse the fruit of the gospel for the substance of the gospel. Now, we can't just have the doctrine and not care about how we live.

We are commanded to love our neighbor. But that is the fruit of the gospel. And it's very easy to distinguish the fruit of the gospel with the gospel itself, or it's very easy to sever the fruit of the gospel from the gospel itself.

And so whether the older generation was better at it or not good at it, that may be debatable. But what we are seeing in this current, especially the millennials of evangelicals, is we're hearing them say the same thing the liberals were saying in the 1920s. We can have Christianity without the doctrine.

But that's just not true. Now, let's applaud the desire to live out the gospel and the desire to see the fruit of the gospel displayed in our churches and in our lives. But let's never sever the fruit of the gospel from the truth of the gospel and the doctrines of the gospel. So I know it's an old book, classic book, but I'd say let's just go back and read Machen again, Christian liberalism, in chapter one, and let's just try to get that right because that's so crucial, that relationship of doctrine and lifestyle, the gospel and the fruit of the gospel. Dr. Stephen Nichols with us today on The Christian Real View, the author of a book on J. Gresham Machem entitled A Guided Tour of His Life in Thought. Also, he's written on the Reformation, how a monk and a mallet changed the world, and that's a good segue into the next question here, Steve. Could you just describe what you mean by what is the gospel and how someone can be made right with God and why there's a necessity for us or there's a call for us to be right with God?

That's a great question, and we absolutely must have clarity here. So we begin with who God is. We begin with this idea that there is a creator, and this creator has revealed himself in his word. He has made himself known in his word, and what we've learned as we look to his word is that we, his creatures, were disobedient.

This is a season of thanksgiving. Well, there's a text in Romans 1 that says we did not give him thanks. Instead, we sort of turned against God and worshipped the creation rather than the creator. And that's our sin. That's our sin before God.

It was the sin of our first parent Adam in the garden who disregarded God's word and disobeyed God, and he plunged all of us into sin, and the reality is not only are we born a sinner, but we sin and we turn our back on God. God in his graciousness sent his son, his only son, his beloved son. And Jesus, when he came in the incarnation, was born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus did what we cannot do.

He kept the law. He was perfectly obedient to his father, but he also undid what we did do. And so while he was perfect and sinless and obedient, he was condemned to the cross and died on the cross. And what Scripture says about this event, this historical event, was that this was God pouring out his wrath upon sin. And so Jesus is our substitute in our place, who died in our place, and as this sinless, spotless lamb, he took upon him our sin. And so we can stand forgiven, we can have our sins forgiven, we can approach this holy creator God that we are separated from. And it's all because of what Christ has done for us. And so the gospel is very simple. God is holy, we are sinful, we need a substitute, and that substitute is Jesus Christ.

And we're coming soon into the Christmas season here, and this is really the story of Christmas. Jesus came into this world to save us from our sin, and he is the spotless lamb who can take away our sin. And so the gospel just points us to Christ and what he did for us on the cross. And then we're called to respond to all you just said by repenting of our sin and entrusting by faith in who Christ is and what he did for us on the cross.

Absolutely. So thank you very much for explaining the gospel, Steve. Dr. Stephen Nichols has been with us today on the Christian Real View. We're so thankful for you, Dr. Nichols. My pleasure. Thank you for spending the time and explaining a wide range of subjects today. We just wish all of God's best and grace to you and your family. Oh, very kind of you. Thanks. Thanks for having me on and just really enjoyed the time with you.

All right. I really enjoyed that interview with Dr. Nichols. If you missed any of it, you can always go to our website, thechristianworldview.org. In the final segment of the day coming up, we'll give some concluding thoughts on this survey on the state of theology.

That's next. Here's Mike Gendron previewing his DVD on apostasy. We'll see how apostasy is the result of Satan's relentless attacks on the church. We'll also look at four steps that characterize a church's drift into apostasy. Then we'll look at the history of the church, a chronological development of the Roman Catholic religion and its drift into apostasy.

And lastly, and most importantly, what are you and I to do in the midst of this great apostasy and the growing ecumenical movement? The DVD is titled Roman Catholicism's Drift into Apostasy and contains two messages. You can order it for a donation of any amount to the Christian World View.

Normal retail is $15 plus shipping. Go to theChristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Social justice is a gospel issue. This has become the mantra of many evangelicals. Rectifying perceived inequities of race, gender, sexuality, poverty, immigration, amongst others, is considered a top priority. But what exactly is social justice? Is working for social justice a biblical mandate, an application of the gospel? Kel Biesner has written an insightful booklet entitled Social Justice, How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel. Also included in this revised 44-page booklet is a copy of the just released statement on social justice and the gospel. You can order the social justice booklet for a donation of any amount to the Christian World View. Go to theChristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Back here on the Christian World View radio program.

Thank you for joining us today as we talk about what is the world view of Americans and of evangelicals. At the very beginning of the program, we talked about the fact that this survey, the results of it, are tragic but not surprising. So how could something be tragic but not surprising?

Well, how is that? Well, it is tragic because as you hear the answers from the general audience to the statements in the survey that people are just all over the place. They just believe basically according to just what they think is right.

They're just making it up. They don't know, but they think they know. They talk pretty confidently with their answers, but they're all different answers. And of course, when the answers are mutually exclusive to each other, they both can't be right and they both possibly can be wrong. So it's tragic because so many people are so lost as compared to what the Bible says.

But it gets more tragic when you see those who should know the answers to these questions. And these are pretty straightforward statements made in the survey. You can read them for yourself at thestateoftheology.com.

You can read all 34 statements. It's how evangelicals, professing evangelicals, answer questions, a high percentage of them at least, answer questions in complete contradiction of Scripture. Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature. Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion. It is not about objective truth. God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. When you have evangelicals answering in the complete majority, like 52% in the first one, 51% in the third, a third in the second question about objective truth, when you have that high a percentage of evangelicals answering in complete contradiction of Scripture, we have a problem.

And this really explains why we are where we are in our country today. I mean, look what the Bible says. Romans 3, 10. Man is good.

Really? There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside.

Together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one. So man is inherently good. How do you answer that that way, then? Or that there are many ways God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In Islam and Judaism, they don't believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Islam doesn't believe anything to do with Christ. It's a false religion. Jesus said in John 14, 6, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.

I mean, that's pretty clear. You read that passage and you cannot come to a conclusion that God would accept the religion of all religions. Like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

And so how is this? Well, it's because evangelicals, of course the broader society has been affected by the educational system and media and pop culture, but you know what? So have evangelicals as well. They've been influenced by the politically correct values of modern society.

That man is good. We each can have our own truth. There are many roads to God. And these are all just non-risk viewpoints. No one's going to be offended by taking the view that man is inherently good and that there's no such thing as objective truth. You can have your truth and I have my truth and that God accepts the worship of all religions.

Those are non-risk viewpoints. No one's offended there. But be clear, this is a God of their own making. This is not the God of the Bible. This really shows that evangelicals, at least a lot of them, have a very low view of Scripture. They don't believe Scripture for what it claims to be—the inerrant, the infallible, the immutable Word of God.

That is God's revelation to us for what we should think and how we should live. They really don't believe what God has clearly said in His Word. And then that leads to the conclusion that if you don't believe what God has said, you're probably not saved. Because that's how you are saved. You're saved by believing the revelation of God. Remember, Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.

That is the model verse in the New Testament of how one's saved. Abraham didn't believe in Jesus back then. There was no full revelation of who Christ was.

There maybe was some that a Redeemer was coming. But Abraham was saved because he believed God. Just as today, we're saved by believing God. And oh, by the way, we know that God has revealed that He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sin on the cross. That's how we're saved—by believing by faith what God has revealed. So when evangelicals don't believe what God has revealed about some of these other statements, you just wonder whether they're actually truly saved. If you don't believe what God has said clearly about our nature, how can you be saved if you believe man is good by nature?

You have to believe you're sinful by nature because otherwise, why would you believe in Christ to rescue you, to save you from sin and damnation? So that's a tragic, but actually not surprising, aspect of this survey. We talked also with Stephen Nichols about how one's view of Scripture is the cornerstone of all these other questions.

I mean, that seems very fundamental. This is God's revelation to us, the Bible. And if that's not our basis for our worldview, then just the ideas and words of man are going to drive where we go. It's kind of like being in a lake on a raft without a paddle.

You're just going to be blown all over the lake depending on what the winds of the day are. And that's exactly how any non-believer is or any believer is who doesn't get informed as to what their worldview should be about all issues of life and faith on anything other than Scripture, if they mix other things in with Scriptures. I think so many worldviews are syncretistic. Oh, we believe a little bit of the Bible and a little bit of this and that. If you're going to trust in the scientific community, who's always changing their conclusions, global warming is going to do this and it doesn't do that.

This food is going to kill you and then find out, no, it's not going to kill you. If you're going to put your worldview based on the scientific community, you're going to end up, again, being blown all over the lake. That's why the Bible, all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. The Bible and the Bible alone needs to be the fundamental bedrock for what we think, what we believe, and how we act in life. What should the church be doing to counteract this? I think you can point back to the change in the church in America that the church no longer, at least most churches, do not preach the full counsel of God anymore, the full Bible. They preach the non-offensive parts because they don't want to turn away the world because they think that they don't have enough confidence in Scripture, in the Gospel, God to change people. So they just preach the parts that they think people will like to hear and keep the people coming in. But as one pastor so well said, hard preaching, preaching on the hard truths, produces soft hearts. Soft preaching, just focusing on the soft parts, the good parts of Scripture, so to speak, produces hard hearts. So we, as people, need to be praying that we would be bold and have opportunities to proclaim the full counsel of God, not just in church, but in our conversations with people.

We need to go back to Scripture and Scripture alone. Thank you for joining us today on the Christian Worldview radio program. If you missed any of the program, always go to our website, thechristianworldview.org.

Take advantage of our store this Christmas. We do live in a changing and challenging world, but there is one thing we can trust in and count on. Jesus Christ and His Word are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Have a good weekend, everyone. We hope today's broadcast turned your heart toward God, His Word, and His Son. To order a CD copy of today's program or sign up for our free weekly email or to find out how you can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, go to our website, thechristianworldview.org, or call us toll-free at 1-888-646-2233. The Christian Worldview is a weekly one-hour radio program that is furnished by the Overcomer Foundation and is supported by listeners and sponsors. Request one of our current resources with your donation of any amount. Go to thechristianworldview.org or call us toll-free at 1-888-646-2233 or write to us at Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. That's Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. Thanks for listening to The Christian Worldview. Until next time, think biblically and live accordingly.