Survey Says…

Ligonier Ministries recently teamed up with LifeWay to conduct a survey about the theological views of Americans with a particular focus on evangelicals. I have a few thoughts on both the survey itself and its results.

The partnership between a Reformed para-church publisher and the retail arm of the Southern Baptist Convention probably suggests something about the inroads neo-Calvinists have made within that denomination. This is no surprise, of course. Al Mohler has been in charge of the SBC’s flagship seminary (SBTS) for quite some time. Additionally, Calvinistic Baptists seem to be the only ones within that denomination who are consistently serious about theology. I might be inclined to argue that when Christian fundamentalism intersects with middle class pseudo-intellectualism, Calvinism is the meme most fit to rise to the top. It's difficult not to agree with my friend Neil who observes that it is largely just “gentrified religious extremism.”

Nearly All Christians Are Heretics

You read that right. According to their own dogma, nearly all Christians are heretics and knowing that should keep them up at night worrying about being subject to eternal torment. I realize those are pretty bold statements, but I'm going to unpack them. Fair warning: what follows is going to be some real cerebral egghead type theological stuff. If that's not your bag baby, hit the back button now. I won't mind. It'll still show up as a hit on my stat counter whether you read it or not and my ego will just assume you did.

According to the Bible, believing certain propositions is of eternal consequence. Consider Hebrews 11:6

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."

This verse notes that at the very least one must believe at least two propositions. One of those is that God exists. Yet without correctly apprehending what God is or how God is, how does one believe this very basic proposition?