Early this morning, while perusing social media, I noticed a post from Franklin Graham linking to a Christian Post column on the clergy. It caught my attention enough to follow the links, and what I found was bad but, sadly, not shocking in the least. It was written by Ian M. Giatti, and the title of the column was “Over a Third of Senior Pastors Believe ‘Good People’ Can Earn Their Way to Heaven: Survey.” It was a survey of more than 1,000 pastors who label themselves as Christians across several segments of churches and/or denominations and was conducted by the Cultural Research Center.
As I read the column, these terrible numbers and positions emerged. One-third or more of senior pastors believe the Holy Spirit is not a person but rather “a symbol of God’s power.” Others said that moral truth is subjective; sexual relations between two unmarried people who love each other is “morally acceptable” and biblical teaching on abortion is “ambiguous.” Another 39% of Evangelical pastors surveyed said there is no absolute moral truth and that “each individual must determine their own truth.” Thirty-seven percent said having faith, in general, is more important than what — or more specifically, whom — one has faith in.
Most telling of all is the fact that 30% of Evangelical pastors do not believe that their salvation is based on having confessed their sins and accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior.
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Commenting on all of this, George Barna, CRC’s director of research, said, “While studying the spiritual behavioral patterns of pastors, it became evident that a large share of them do not have a regular spiritual routine. There was a correlation between possessing biblical beliefs and a consistent regimen of Bible reading, prayer, worship and confession.”