If you walked into the average church on a Sunday morning and asked, “What is the Trinity?” you might get a few blank stares, and that’s not just a guess, it’s backed by data.
A recent report has revealed a troubling trend: most self-identified Christians in America no longer believe in the foundational doctrine that God is three persons in one—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
As reported by The Christian Post, the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University surveyed 2,100 adults and found that only 11% believe in the biblical definition of the Trinity. Even among self-identified Christians, belief only rose to 16%, and just 24% among born-again Christians.
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“These results are further evidence of the limited or lack of trust Americans have in the Bible,” said George Barna, the Center’s Director of Research. He warned that this reflects “our refusal to cooperate with God by living in harmony with His ways and purposes.”
Barna didn’t hold back. He called the findings “another in a long list of examples of people living without the truths and life principles of God shaping their life.”
/**/The research paints a bleak picture of spiritual confusion in a nation where the majority still claim Christianity as their faith. Alarmingly, only 29% of adults surveyed believe in the Holy Spirit.
What’s filling the theological void? According to Barna, it’s not pastors or churches but podcasters and influencers: “It could be argued that the primary theologians influencing the spiritual views of America these days are figures such as Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, Russell Brand, Jordan Peterson, Megyn Kelly and Bill Maher.”
While some of these personalities dabble in Christian ideas, Brand was recently baptized, Barna cautioned, “They mix practical and sometimes unbiblical theology and philosophical points of view into their commentary on life and world events.”
He ended with a sobering series of questions we all need to ask: “Is the church of God devoted to know Him and making Him known, or has it been seduced by the distractions and distortions of our culture?”
Currently, the world is saturated with noise, maybe it’s time we tune back into the Word of God—and remember Who He really is.
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James Lasher is staff writer for Charisma Media.
