06-16-2016, 07:23 PM
(06-16-2016, 01:54 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:(06-16-2016, 01:15 PM)taramarie Wrote:(06-16-2016, 11:18 AM)Eric the Green Wrote:Bingo. Just as i thought. He hates materialism because it is a rebellion against his parents generation. I suppose with certain things I say reminds him of his GI parents and their generation and probably the Lost generation too. Kinser must make him shiver even more as kinser is even more of a materialist than I am.(06-16-2016, 12:05 AM)radind Wrote: What I have seen from barn.org is 3 polls conducted over a period of ~ 20 years with the result that the percentage in the USA with a Biblical worldview is ~ 10%.How would you explain the differing percentages in the results of their various polls? Where is the poll that says 10% have a Biblical view? I don't think it exists. You claim to have seen such a poll; I don't see it.
Quote:No poll from anyone provides proof. One can accept the information in the polls or not. You clearly do not accept the barna results.I'm sure they interviewed real folks, but polls results can differ depending on how the questions are framed, and what conclusions are drawn.
Quote:I do not agree with your claims that such views foster hatred.But you offer no refutation of my view. Views that say we are right and others are wrong foster hatred and division; not among all who believe them, but among some like that pastor Jimenez and Mateen.
Quote:Since our worldviews are in conflict, it appears that we have exhausted this topic.The topic can never be exhausted. And "dialogue" can only happen when each person responds to the questions and challenges of the other, with genuine interest. But I will be ready to refute you whenever you claim that the "secularist majority" are about to oppress the "Christian minority." It just ain't so.
It is your right to hold your worldview, and I respect that. I may have held it nominally, as a child; but I mostly grew up as a devotee and fan of science and materialism, but with a love of Nature and Music. As an older teenager I threw over this view and moved into Oriental philosophy and mysticism, and then gradually embraced various Western hermetic and esoteric, holistic views, fully switching into this mode in my late 20s.
Myself, I prefer the worldview that says that some are enlightened, in various degrees, and some others are enlightened and don't clearly know it yet. I would put you in the second category. The truth is self-evident to all. It requires no Bible, no preacher, no guru to experience it, however much they might help, or hinder, that experience. It is always there, in everyone. The truth is found in all religions, to one degree or another. Jesus did not come as the only-begotten Son of God to sacrifice his life for our salvation, and to demand that we believe he is the Only Son or else continue to be damned sinners. He came to demonstrate eternal life as the essential truth of our being; that we are all God. He came, in his words, that we may have life, and have that life more abundantly.
You just love to read things into what I say that aren't there.
I am done with my comments on this topic. I see no productive dialogue and will move to other topics.
Just for the record, since you dismiss the credibility of barna.org,this is from March 9, 2009.
Quote:https://www.barna.org/barna-update/trans...2M_11c_ZGI
“The report from Barna compared current results to the outcomes from a similar survey the company conducted in 1995, 2000 and 2005.
Defining Terms
For the purposes of the survey, a “biblical worldview” was defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today. In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview.
National Results
Overall, the current research revealed that only 9% of all American adults have a biblical worldview. Among the sixty subgroups of respondents that the survey explored was one defined by those who said they have made a personal to commitment to Jesus Christ that is important in their life today and that they are certain that they will go to Heaven after they die only because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior. Labeled “born again Christians,” the study discovered that they were twice as likely as the average adult to possess a biblical worldview. However, that meant that even among born again Christians, less than one out of every five (19%) had such an outlook on life.
The same questions were asked of respondents in national surveys by Barna in 1995, 2000 and 2005. The results indicate that the percentage of adults with a biblical worldview, as defined above, has remained unchanged for more than a decade. The numbers show that 7% had such a worldview in 1995, compared to 10% in 2000, 11% in 2005, and 9% now. Even among born again adults, the statistics have remained flat: 18% in 1995, 22% in 2000, 21% in 2005, and 19% today.
Components of Worldview Thinking
Varying numbers of Americans embrace the different aspects of biblical worldview thinking. The survey found that:
- One-third of all adults (34%) believe that moral truth is absolute and unaffected by the circumstances. Slightly less than half of the born again adults (46%) believe in absolute moral truth.
- Half of all adults firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches. That proportion includes the four-fifths of born again adults (79%) who concur.
- Just one-quarter of adults (27%) are convinced that Satan is a real force. Even a minority of born again adults (40%) adopt that perspective.
- Similarly, only one-quarter of adults (28%) believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior. Not quite half of all born again Christians (47%) strongly reject the notion of earning salvation through their deeds.
- A minority of American adults (40%) are persuaded that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life while He was on earth. Slightly less than two-thirds of the born again segment (62%) strongly believes that He was sinless.
Differences among Demographic Segments
- Seven out of ten adults (70%) say that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe who still rules it today. That includes the 93% of born again adults who hold that conviction.
The research data showed that one pattern emerged loud and clear: young adults rarely possess a biblical worldview. The current study found that less than one-half of one percent of adults in the Mosaic generation – i.e., those aged 18 to 23 – have a biblical worldview, compared to about one out of every nine older adults.
Other groups that possess a below average likelihood of having a biblical worldview included people who describe themselves as liberal on social and political matters (also less than one-half of one percent); Catholics (2%); Democrats (4%) and residents of the Northeast (4%).”…
… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8 (ESV)