From Birds of the Air. (H/T Neil Simpson)

Excerpt:

I think, however, that he was accurate and that “self-identified Christian” does not necessarily classify one as actually Christian. Consider the following facts. According to a 2009 Barna survey of “self-described Christians”, 22% believe things contradictory to Christianity about God, such as “everyone is god, god refers to the realization of human potential,” and so on. Did you read that? These are people who call themselves “Christian”. And it doesn’t get better when you ask more questions. Some 59% don’t believe that Satan is real. Nor do 58% believe the Holy Spirit is real. They do believe that evil spirits and supernatural forces exist, just not that Satan or the Holy Spirit are actual beings. When asked about Jesus (remember, “Christian” means “follower of Christ”), 39% believe that Jesus sinned in His lifetime. If this were true, Christianity would be nullified because Jesus would neither have been God Incarnate nor would He have been able to pay for sins. It is no wonder, then, that 38% believe that their beliefs have not transformed their lives much. Oddly, while denying so much essential to Christianity, 89% hold that their main goal in life is to “love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul.” It begs the question, doesn’t it? “What God?”

The Bible itself is problematic to Christians. In this survey, a majority (63%) believe the Bible is accurate in what it teaches, but 39% think the Koran and the Book of Mormon are just as accurate, that they teach the same principles as the Bible. In another study, there is a sharp decline in how reliable they think the Bible is. Only 30% of 18-to-25-year-olds think the Bible is accurate contrasted with 58% of the 64-plus group. The fear of the Barna group is that “the Bible will continue to lose hold on the next generation.”

Regarding that last point about the Bible, as long as Christians insulate the claims of the Bible from testing against the external world, then yes, it will just be about opinions. If there is no way to test something because we don’t allow the text to be tested, then you just take it or leave if you like it. Personal preference. We need to get away from Christianity as blind faith, and make Christianity something you can know to be true without any leaps of faith.