Early this year, two think tanks released surveys of the religious landscape in America. The results? Not good.
Bob WeathersFirst, the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reported that, since 1990, the number of people in America who call themselves Christians dropped 10 percentage points, to 76 percent. The 26-page report overflows with such details, most of which boil down to the simple truth that the popularity of religious affiliation, especially Christianity, is on the decline in America.
The second survey was published by the Barna Research Group. Since 1990, George Barna occasionally diagnoses the health of the biblical worldview in America. In 2008, he once again found American Christians afflicted with an ailing worldview. Barna’s definition of a biblical worldview can be found on his Web site (barna.org).
The results of his survey were disheartening. Only 9 percent of all American adults sustain a biblical worldview. And professing born-again Christians did not do much better. Only 19 percent lived by a biblical worldview.
All people have the same “world picture.” We see pretty much the same world and experience pretty much the same kinds of things, to varying degrees. But not everyone has the same “worldview.” Our worldview is the way we interpret the things we experience and decide how we will behave. Nothing shapes our worldview more strongly than religion. And of all religions, Christianity has the only comprehensive, truthful, and livable worldview.
These two studies are linked. The first study naturally follows from the second. That is, the reason Christianity is on the decline in America is that so many Christians simply do not operate according to a biblical worldview. How can you reach lost people if you don’t believe the gospel? How can you offer hope to a suffering world if you don’t believe in the hope of the resurrection? How can you impact your world if you don’t live a biblically defined lifestyle?
What should we do? Should we start more Bible studies? Should our seminaries churn out more expositors? Absolutely. But frankly, that is not our problem. We are not hurting from a lack of Bible studies or biblical preachers. We lack biblical Christians. Do you live what you say you believe?