A prominent Christian researcher is warning that we are on the precipice of Christian invisibility in this nation, as new research shows that preteens are rejecting beliefs associated with a biblical ...
  • FMT99@lemmy.worldEnglish
    70·
    9 months ago

    To be fair, most Christians reject most Biblical teachings, they just kind of pretend they don’t.

  • BreadstickNinja@lemmy.worldEnglish
    433·
    9 months ago

    26% of children between the ages of 8 and 12 “consistently consult the Bible when trying to determine right from wrong”

    26% of children are obviously lying. No 8 year old is breaking out the Bible every time they need to make a decision. Otherwise they’d know about the commandment that they shouldn’t lie.

    • Nollij@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      61·
      9 months ago

      I love your circular reasoning here. It’s rare to see someone “begging the question” in the original sense.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          9 months ago

          The joke does highlight a glaring weakness with studies like this: kids questioned about something their adults might be telling them is very important can’t be trusted to answer honestly instead of giving the answer they think is “right”.

          So studies like this likely overestimate the importance of religion to its study population.

  • bazus1@lemmy.worldEnglish
    39·
    9 months ago

    So you don’t have to go to the site, here are the statements from the survey and percentages that marked “agree”

    Jesus Christ is the only way to experience eternal salvation, based on confessing your sins and relying only upon His forgiveness of your sins
    36% of preteens
    34% of parents
    54% of pastors

    the Bible is the true word of God that should be a guide to knowing right from wrong, and living a good life.
    25% of preteens
    44% of parents
    62% of pastors

    there are absolute truths — things that are right and things that are wrong, that do not depend on feelings, preferences, or circumstances — those truths are unchanging and knowable
    21% of preteens
    28% of parents
    36% of pastors

    the main reason to live is to know, love and serve God, with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength
    27% of preteens
    33% of parents
    56% of pastors

    real success in life is consistently obeying God
    17% of preteens
    19% of parents
    42% of pastors

    I consistently consult the Bible when trying to determine right from wrong
    26% of preteens

    I believe turning to the Bible is the best way to distinguish right from wrong
    21% of preteens

    the means to eternal salvation is by confessing your sins and asking Jesus Christ to save them you the consequences of their sin.”
    36% of preteens
    35% of parents

    The fact that they can barely get a majority of their own pastors to agree to those statements should be the real lesson here. They’re just going through the motions and trying to keep from working at McDonalds.

    • Nollij@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      13·
      9 months ago

      26% of the kids surveyed recognized the question and knew the expected response

    • Ashyr@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      111·
      9 months ago

      Former pastor here, I think your interpretation of the data is probably inaccurate.

      The issue isn’t pastors struggling to adhere to their own beliefs, the problem is these aren’t very good questions from a theological perspective. They’re very narrow and don’t reflect the complexities of real life.

      • bazus1@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        9 months ago

        I suppose the problem is that someone thought those survey questions would provide the information they were looking for. If you’re looking to illustrate lack of buy-in, you do like you said, ask the most narrow and fundamentalist questions you can. This is especially true if you’re asking ten- to twelve-year-olds these “basic principal” questions. This would also help to illustrate a divergence of the youth group from the parent group, who are more capable of parsing and answering the questions.

        I think it’d be safe to say that, if you asked those same questions of similar age populations even forty years ago, you’d see a similar divergence between adult and preteen answers.

    • radix@lemm.eeEnglish
      7·
      9 months ago

      Wait, what are they believing if they don’t believe Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal salvation?? That’s the whole point of the religion, or at the very least the whole point of the New Testament.

  • anarchrist@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    14·
    9 months ago

    If you look at the specific questions, it’s all the crazy fundy shit like

    Jesus Christ is the only way to experience eternal salvation, based on confessing your sins and relying only upon His forgiveness of your sins

    the Bible is the true word of God that should be a guide to knowing right from wrong, and living a good life

    the main reason to live is to know, love and serve God, with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength

  • Fedizen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    9 months ago

    I, for one, think the bible has a number of gaping errrors making it unsuitable for moral guidance

    • LocoOhNo@lemmus.orgEnglish
      8·
      9 months ago

      The Bible says that grasshoppers have 4 legs, rabbits chew the cud, and that bats are birds, as well.

      You’d think the “infallible word” of “god” would know that none of those things are true.

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        9 months ago

        It also yadda-yaddas over how humanity went from a population you can count on one hand to multitudes not once, but on two seperate occasions.

  • LocoOhNo@lemmus.orgEnglish
    51·
    9 months ago

    I just want to point out that of the 400 kids they asked, only 141 of them agreed with the “Jesus as the only way to 'salvation” question. The other 259 of them were right.