You Can’t Straddle a Christian Fence

One of the most disturbing statistics I have heard in recent times comes from a survey Christian pollster George Barna conducted regarding the state of the church in America. He found that only 66% of Americans now consider themselves Christians, and of those, only 4% hold a biblical worldview. The first thing that came to my mind was, “How in the world did it get down to 4%?”

But in further polling, Barna found something I believe is even more disturbing – and mostly explains why the beliefs of the general public are so off. He found that only 37% of Christian pastors hold a biblical worldview. These are people who have supposedly not only been called by God into Christian leadership, but have also had the opportunity to obtain a theological education where they should have learned better. What’s going on?

One of the problems lies in theological schools that literally teach false theology. The professors teach liberation theology, postmodern theology, or some other theologically liberal form that is not biblical in any sense. It is essentially naturalistic philosophy wrapped in biblical terminology to make it sound religious, but does not contain biblical ideas in any sense. These theological schools are generally associated with denominations that have already rejected biblical theology, so in some ways it is not surprising. This, obviously, accounts for a certain percentage pastors who don’t hold a biblical worldview.

Another segment of self-identified Christians are Roman Catholics. It is no secret that many of the Catholic colleges are also quite liberal in what they teach. And in recent years, with a theologically liberal Pope, this trend is expanding. While the Pope has attempted to state his positions in conventional terms, he has made numerous statements and pronouncements that are anything but. Recently he even freed priests to bless homosexual couples. He equivocated by saying that this does not change church doctrine, and priests cannot perform same sex marriages, but it has opened the door for liberal priests to push the envelope – which some are doing.

But this shift toward liberalism is now sifting down even into evangelicalism. It has recently been revealed that Fuller Theological Seminary, an evangelical school in Pasadena, California, is deliberating whether to become more open to homosexual students. It wasn’t long ago that students at Fuller who were found to be in a same-sex union faced expulsion. Now its board of directors is debating whether or not to adopt standards acknowledging the “diversity of thought among Christians pertaining to human sexuality.”

So where is all of this coming from? It’s not coming from biblical teachings. The Bible expresses a worldview which asserts that God is holy, just, and love – and it defines specifically what that looks like. The values and morality taught in the Bible are based on an objective foundation. The holiness, justice, and love that characterizes God Himself is the standard of holiness, justice, and love that Christians are to imitate. Not following those standards is contrary to God’s revelation and puts people in a position of opposition to Him.

All forms of liberal theology, on the other hand, express the beliefs of an entirely different worldview. While they claim to follow the teachings of the Bible, they interpret the Bible not based on its own teachings, but through the lens of naturalistic philosophy. With that, values and morality are conceived of based on beliefs that are relativistic in nature. People get to decide for themselves what holiness, justice, and love look like.

The problem we have is that naturalistic philosophy has become so prominent in society, that virtually everyone is totally immersed in it. It is taught in our schools, it is pervasive in virtually all of the entertainment we consume, it is in virtually all of the advertising we see, and it dominates the political environment. We see it in the way businesses are run as people who hold relativistic values lead many corporations. And it is so prevalent that even the majority of families operate based on their own relativistic desires rather than a biblical understanding of how a family should run.

So it’s no wonder that it has also seeped into our churches. When people don’t understand biblical worldview beliefs, they end up defaulting to what they are surrounded by. Honestly, we are in dangerous territory.

There is a way, though, to turn this around. But it will not be done by railing against society or implementing cheap fixes. Every true believer is going to have to get serious about learning and living a biblical worldview.

But people can’t implement what they don’t know. Christian discipleship training has traditionally not been a high priority in most churches. That must change. Pastors must promote it, and church members must demand it. But until that change happens, the trend downward for Christianity in America will continue.

Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books entitled The Truth Mirage, Rules for Christians Radicals, Liberalism vs. Conservatism, and his latest book Shattering the Truth Mirage and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication, and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah.

You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.

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