What Evangelicals Believe in 2022

[sun rise]

This is a piece that disagrees with what many believe. I find it interesting because those who classify as evangelicals should theoretically be the most traditional. The piece goes on to discuss why, in the author's opinion of the meaning of various verses, many have incorrect beliefs. The point about politics trumping religion is accurate.

The State of Theology: What Evangelicals Believe in 2022

The survey categorized people as having evangelical beliefs if they strongly agreed with the following four statements:

• The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.
• It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
• Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.
• Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.

A significant number of evangelicals surveyed (i.e., those identified as having evangelical beliefs) have a profound misunderstanding about the nature and character of God.

• Almost three out of four (73 percent) agree with the claim that Jesus is the “first and greatest being created by God.”
• More than half (58 percent) believe that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
• More than half (56 percent) agree that worshiping alone or with one’s family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church.
• More than half (55 percent) believe the Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.
• More than half (55 percent) agree that “everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.”
• More than half (53 percent) disagree with the claim that even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation.
• More than one in four (46 percent) disagree that every Christian has an obligation to join a local church.
• Almost half (44 percent) say that Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.
• Almost one-third (29 percent) agreed with the statement that God learns and adapts to different circumstances, while only 43 percent disagreed.

What It Means: As this and other surveys have shown, the label “evangelical” can often tell us more about a person’s sociological and political convictions than what he believes about the Christian faith.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I take evangelicals in 2022 only believe in two major things.

Prosperity and money.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

A significant number of evangelicals surveyed (i.e., those identified as having evangelical beliefs) have a profound misunderstanding about the nature and character of God.

They did that to themselves when they replaced learned clergy with charismatic leaders who weren't fond of critical thinking, education or the necessary tools for making a sound interpretation of the Bible (like drawing from other books to help with the fact it's translated from some ancient languages), and deciding the number of congregations amd getting people to Christ by means is what matters most.
They also began remerging the Church and state around this time so it is their own fault for the "profound misunderstandings" regarding Jehovah. They themselves encouraged it, and today proudly embrace that history.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I take evangelicals in 2022 only believe in two major things.

Prosperity and money.

They also tend to believe in Dominionism.

 

[Truth in love]

This is a piece that disagrees with what many believe. I find it interesting because those who classify as evangelicals should theoretically be the most traditional. The piece goes on to discuss why, in the author's opinion of the meaning of various verses, many have incorrect beliefs. The point about politics trumping religion is accurate.

The State of Theology: What Evangelicals Believe in 2022

The survey categorized people as having evangelical beliefs if they strongly agreed with the following four statements:

• The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.
• It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
• Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.
• Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.

A significant number of evangelicals surveyed (i.e., those identified as having evangelical beliefs) have a profound misunderstanding about the nature and character of God.

• Almost three out of four (73 percent) agree with the claim that Jesus is the “first and greatest being created by God.”
• More than half (58 percent) believe that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
• More than half (56 percent) agree that worshiping alone or with one’s family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church.
• More than half (55 percent) believe the Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.
• More than half (55 percent) agree that “everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.”
• More than half (53 percent) disagree with the claim that even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation.
• More than one in four (46 percent) disagree that every Christian has an obligation to join a local church.
• Almost half (44 percent) say that Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.
• Almost one-third (29 percent) agreed with the statement that God learns and adapts to different circumstances, while only 43 percent disagreed.

What It Means: As this and other surveys have shown, the label “evangelical” can often tell us more about a person’s sociological and political convictions than what he believes about the Christian faith.

Cultural vs. religious divide is going to get bigger.

 

[Wildswanderer]

This is a piece that disagrees with what many believe. I find it interesting because those who classify as evangelicals should theoretically be the most traditional. The piece goes on to discuss why, in the author's opinion of the meaning of various verses, many have incorrect beliefs. The point about politics trumping religion is accurate.

The State of Theology: What Evangelicals Believe in 2022

The survey categorized people as having evangelical beliefs if they strongly agreed with the following four statements:

• The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.
• It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
• Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.
• Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.

A significant number of evangelicals surveyed (i.e., those identified as having evangelical beliefs) have a profound misunderstanding about the nature and character of God.

• Almost three out of four (73 percent) agree with the claim that Jesus is the “first and greatest being created by God.”
• More than half (58 percent) believe that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
• More than half (56 percent) agree that worshiping alone or with one’s family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church.
• More than half (55 percent) believe the Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.
• More than half (55 percent) agree that “everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.”
• More than half (53 percent) disagree with the claim that even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation.
• More than one in four (46 percent) disagree that every Christian has an obligation to join a local church.
• Almost half (44 percent) say that Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.
• Almost one-third (29 percent) agreed with the statement that God learns and adapts to different circumstances, while only 43 percent disagreed.

What It Means: As this and other surveys have shown, the label “evangelical” can often tell us more about a person’s sociological and political convictions than what he believes about the Christian faith.

That's because of biblical illiteracy, which is widespread.

 

[Glaurung]

A lot of self identified Christians have a confused understanding of Christian teaching. It is no surprise that an emotive, fideistic tradition that disparages study would churn out Christians whose beliefs are heterodox, self-contradictory and incoherent. But to be fair to the Evangelicals, I do not think such doctrinal confusion is limited to them alone.

 

[sun rise]

I do not think such doctrinal confusion is limited to them alone.

True. But the expectation is that they would be more learned about doctrine than others.

And from what I've read, this applies to other religions as well.

 

[Altfish]

I take evangelicals in 2022 only believe in two major things.

Prosperity and money.

And Trump won the election

 

[HonestJoe]

What It Means: As this and other surveys have shown, the label “evangelical” can often tell us more about a person’s sociological and political convictions than what he believes about the Christian faith.

I'd suggest they were half way to a revelation there, but veered away at the end (largely because the article clearly had a different motive, around promoting their specific religious beliefs).

Those statistics would indeed suggest that the label "evangelical" doesn't really tell you anything about a persons particular religious beliefs but they've not shown that the label is any more reliable for sociological or political convictions either, and I strongly suspect it would not be.

The issue here isn't "evangelical" specifically but labels in general. Even actual political labels aren't a reliable measure of a person's particular political opinions, especially given that they can shift and change somewhat over time or in different contexts. Most generic labels suffer the same problem in that they're much less definitive or meaningful as we give them credit for.

Such labels are generally used to associate a personal opinion with a wider group, because nobody is really going to care about what one random individual thinks but if it's hundreds or thousands of people, it becomes more relevant. A person thinks X and they're part of group Y therefore group Y thinks X.

This can be for positive things, associating your individual opinions with a wider group you're part of, or, more commonly, negative ones, associating some else's words or actions with a wider group they're part of to discredit the whole (and any positive opinions that have been associated with them).

 

[Shadow Wolf]

A lot of self identified Christians have a confused understanding of Christian teaching. It is no surprise that an emotive, fideistic tradition that disparages study would churn out Christians whose beliefs are heterodox, self-contradictory and incoherent. But to be fair to the Evangelicals, I do not think such doctrinal confusion is limited to them alone.

If we want to break this down further, this is largely a thing among American Evangelicals, who have been splitting off from each other, breaking away further and further from the established Ministries and free winging it as they go along for nearly three centuries now.
The others, such as the Catholic nations, tend to be more uniform in theology, inherently due to allegiances to the Pope. Others, such as Anglicans and Lutherans, tend to also be this way due to a more uniform approach to clergy standards (such as actually having properly studied the Bible) and having a centralized theology that stretches much further back in history.
The American Revivals uniquely shook all this up and, for better and worse, shattered it into very many pieces.
And the only ones you can actually claim ignorance, misunderstandings, and mischaracterizations against are those who haven't read or studied it. Everybody else is using it largely as most Christians always have and using it as it has inspired them.

 

[Aupmanyav]

"What Evangelicals Believe in 2022": I do not know what evengelical protagonists (Christians are not the only ones) believe or don't believe. Belief and preaching can be and is many a times different. But they claim things without any evidence (except what is in their own books).