How concerned are you about the moral direction of America? Get a load of these statistics from polling done recently by the Barna organization.
- 57% of American adults believe that whatever is right for your life, or works best for you, is the only truth you can know.
- 65% of American adults believe every culture must determine what is acceptable morally for its people.
- 59% of American adults believe the Bible provides us with moral truths which are the same for all people in all situations without exception.
Now that is bad enough. But what about that portion of the American public which self identifies as Christian? Here is what Barna found in their replies.
- 41% of practicing Christians believe that whatever is right for your life, or works best for you, is the only truth you can know.
- 68% of practicing Christians believe every culture must determine what is acceptable morally for its people.
- Only 83% of practicing Christians believe the Bible provides us with moral truths which are the same for all people in all situations without exception.
Folks, we are in trouble! Christian worldview beliefs form the moral foundation for the American ideal as it was founded – rule of law, priority of the individual, freedom of conscience, importance of the traditional family, and so on. If those foundational beliefs go away and are replaced by a relativistic belief system (which is what is happening), we will see increasing degradation and destruction. If even Christians are now buying into the naturalistic worldview beliefs being thrust upon us by pop culture, there is no one left to be the true salt and light in society.
The sad thing this research shows, is that an increasing number of Christians (approaching a majority) are simply clueless about the foundation of their faith, and are not serious about allowing Christ to be Lord. Only a deliberate effort by Christians to be faithful to our calling will even have the possibility of turning things around.