Originally posted 10/15/24
I have been reading the book, Deep Discipleship, by JT English. I have found it to be a challenging topic. The basic premise of the book is about the process of the church teaching its people to be disciples of Christ.
Churches have gone from active Sunday School programs and BIble studies to small home groups in the last ten years. The original thought was that people needed to be more connected to each other. The emphasis moved away from Bible study and more toward personal relationships. Small groups were not wrong in and of themselves. Small groups do have great value, however, many churches stopped providing Sunday School causing Bible knowledge to decrease.
In 2022, Lifeway, in connection with Ligonier Ministries, released a survey called The State of Theology and the results are concerning. There are lots of statistics in this survey. I want to focus just on the group labeled “Americans with Evangelical Beliefs”. We wouldn’t expect people who do not attend church to believe what church goers believe. Have we lost Biblical knowledge?
If you would like to read the full survey, you can read it here—-https://research.lifeway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Ligonier-State-of-Theology-2022-White-Paper.pdf
If you would like to take the survey yourself, you can take it here—https://forms.gle/YqWRfnGbnRxWAoeZ8
Over the next couple of weeks, I will give you the results of the national survey as well as attempt to provide you with Scriptures to address the questions in the survey. Hopefully, you will be able to determine the correct answers based on Scripture. I will only include the questions that have clear Scriptural answers.
God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Thirty-eight percent of church goers disagreed with that statement. If thirty-eight percent believe that God does not accept the worship of all religions, that means that sixty-eight percent think that God does accept worship from all religions or is just not sure. Personally, I thought that question would better posed as a True/False question.
Scripture is pretty clear on the subject. John 14:6 states, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This passage alone contradicts that belief.
Acts 4:11-12 also contradicts that belief, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Our salvation rests on Christ alone. Any religion that does not have Christ as the center does not please God. I have to wonder why so many in the church think that God is ok with people worshiping other gods. There is only one God.
God learns and adapts to different circumstances
Forty-three percent of the people surveyed disagreed. Less than half of the people who are considered Christians think that God learns and adapts. Does that mean that fifty-seven people think that God changes and learns? I find this question extremely troubling.
If God learns and adapts to circumstances, that implies that God is not all-knowing. If he learns something, it means he didn’t know it before. God is God! God does not change. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” If God does not change, then He also cannot learn anything because he knows everything. Job 23:13 “But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does.” God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.
James 1:17 states, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
We read in Revelation 21:5, “And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”Psalm 33:11 tells us, “The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.” Isaiah 14:24 reads, “The LORD of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,”
I see nothing in Scripture that supports the idea of a changing God.
Image from AI.
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