30 % of Evangelicals deny Jesus is God !

[Jesus is YHWH]

It is not necessary for one to know that Christ is God for salvation. That will come later along with many other things essential to living the Christian life.

The scripture says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is not expected to be understood right away by the new convert.

Jesus was God at His birth and worshiped as God by the magi and those with Mary as we read below from Scripture. Jews only worshiped and bowed down before God otherwise they were in violation of Gods commandments.

Matthew 1:23
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” [ (which means “God with us”).

Matthew 2:1-2
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magia]"> from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

Matthew 2:11
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.

hope this helps !!!

 

[Charlie24]

So my question is how can a person place their faith in Jesus if they have no clue who He is ?

Jesus cannot be your savior without being your Lord.

How can you trust someone with your salvation when you do not know Him, who He really is ?

Thats the problem with America and the church in general is easy believism with no commitment, no understanding about who their faith is being placed in, He is LORD. That is not an option its who He is in Scripture.

Jesus turned many away from Him when it came to counting the cost of being His disciple. Being a disciple is the beginning of following Christ, not an option or something down the road.

The Great Commission is evidence below. There is a cost with being His disciple.

Matthew 28:19-20- Go into all the world and MAKE DISCIPLES baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to OBEY all I have commanded.

After Philip presented the Gospel to the Ethiopian Eunuch he asked him did he believe, what did the Eunuch say before Philip would baptize him?

"I believe that Jesus is the Son of God."

Whatever implications you take from that, he did not say Jesus was God. How could you expect him to know that, but yet he was saved.

 

[Jesus is YHWH]

After Philip presented the Gospel to the Ethiopian Eunuch he asked him did he believe, what did the Eunuch say before Philip would baptize him?

"I believe that Jesus is the Son of God."

Whatever implications you take from that, he did not say Jesus was God. How could you expect him to know that, but yet he was saved.

All Jews in that day knew the Son of God is Divine. He was accused for Blasphemy for saying He was the Son of God.

 

[SkyWriting]

More than half of American adults, including 30% of evangelicals, say Jesus isn’t God but most agree He was a great teacher, according to results from the 2020 State of Theology survey.

Even though the Bible and traditional teachings of the Christian Church hold that Jesus truly existed as both man and God, among the key findings of the biennial State of Theology survey from Ligonier Ministries conducted with LifeWay Research, is that 52% of American adults believe that Jesus was a great teacher and nothing more.More than half of US adults, 30% of evangelicals believe Jesus isn’t God: study

That would be 1/3 of professing christians on this forum.

ASTOUNDING !

You need to consider that the wording of a poll effects the results.
Also there is "Pre-Influence" that what happens just before the poll will have a huge impact.

For example if you stand in a mall and ask girls for phone numbers, your response will be low.
But, if you stand in front of a flower shop and ask girls for phone numbers your results will be dramatically improved.

That's a free tip for you single guys. Also, if you are well dressed, that will change the results of your "phone number test."

Also, Jesus never claimed to be God. So there is nothing wrong with agreeing with Jesus. He always maintained that God was His Father. Evidently He was not churched well either.

 

[Charlie24]

All Jews in that day knew the Son of God is Divine. He was accused for Blasphemy for saying He was the Son of God.

The Eunuch was a Gentile, he did not grow up as the Jews studying the Law.

He was clueless to the identity of Jesus, but he believed the Gospel and was saved.

 

[Jesus is YHWH]

The Eunuch was a Gentile, he did not grow up as the Jews studying the Law.

He was clueless to the identity of Jesus, but he believed the Gospel and was saved.

Try reading the context in Acts. He was a Jew, or at least a Jewish proselyte. And beginning with this Scripture(in Isaiah) Philip began to teach him about Jesus. Do you think Philip only used that one passage ?

The text below says otherwise !

Acts 8:27-35
He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

 

[Charlie24]

Try reading the context in Acts. He was a Jew, or at least a Jewish proselyte. And beginning with this Scripture(in Isaiah) Philip began to teach him about Jesus. Do you think Philip only used that one passage ?

The text below says otherwise !

Acts 8:27-35
He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

A man of Ethiopia, an Eunuch of great authority under Candace Queen of the Ethiopians, was a Jew.?
He may have been a proselyte to the covenant of Israel, but certainly not a Jew, which would make him a Gentile.

I wish the scripture would have given us all that Philip said. I would have loved reading it.

 

[Jesus is YHWH]

A man of Ethiopia, an Eunuch of great authority under Candace Queen of the Ethiopians, was a Jew.?
He may have been a proselyte to the covenant of Israel, but certainly not a Jew, which would make him a Gentile.

I wish the scripture would have given us all that Philip said. I would have loved reading it.

Yes indeed but I'm sure he explained that Jesus was the promised Messiah of Isaiah 53

 

[Charlie24]

Yes indeed but I'm sure he explained that Jesus was the promised Messiah of Isaiah 53

I'm sure he did, I would have loved to hear it word for word from Philip.

 

[bekkilyn]

Sure, but the problem with a survey like this is that you can't tell what people actually mean. Do they not believe the Gospels when they say this, or do they think that in 1st Cent Judaism it was possible for a human to share in God's authority, and that was the situation for Jesus. Or do they think he was Gods representative, pronouncing a verdict that he knew was from God. All of these are positions that people who consider themselves Christians hold.

Then there are people who follow Jesus but take all of theology with a grain of salt. I always think of the song "Taint Necessarily So." I think you’ll find that many Christians have always been like that. I very much doubt that this is new. But church history and Christian forums ignore them. We have no way to go back and survey the beliefs of medieval populations, and anyone who would show skepticism in writing got killed or at least fired until fairly recently.

I believe a big problem today is that people grow up in or go to a church they like for whatever reason, and they are told "the bible clearly says ______" by church leadership even though it could be riddled with unorthodox beliefs in even the bare-essentials (such as believing that Jesus is not God or that he is eternally less than the Father in some way or that he was a created being, etc.) and because that's what they were first taught and because critical thinking skills are nearly non-existent and/or people are afraid to ask questions, they really don't have any deep knowledge of scripture or even their own church doctrine, and know very little of church history or even how the bible came to be compiled. I joke from time to time about the KJV falling from the sky along with the manna while the Israelites were wandering the wilderness, but there may be more truth to it than humor, sadly, because of people's (often willfull) ignorance and unwillingness to go deeper. I can't count the number of times someone here on CF has posted a very well-reasoned argument only to be met with a "Nope" and a cherry-picked bible verse as if that explained everything.

The results of this survey doesn't at all surprise me and in some respects, I think it's probably being generous with those numbers once we really found out what people mean because there is a whole lot of bad theology going around and fewer people willing to question it and who get offended by others who do.

 

[Carl Emerson]

In Philippians 2:9-11, we read that Jesus has a name that is above every name that at His name every knee should bow and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Paul bases his statements on Isaiah 45:23, where we read (By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before Me every knee will bow; by Me every tongue will swear .

In the context this is clearly YHWH speaking of Himself. He is the Lord who says there is no God apart from Me in verse 21.Paul does not hesitate in saying that every knee will bow to Jesus and every tongue will confess Jesus is YHWH( LORD).

It is an indisputable fact that Paul said God bestowed the Name “Yahweh” on Jesus because in Philippians 2: 9-11 he was quoting Isaiah 45: 21-24.

How does this relate to the matter of the Father giving Jesus His Name as recorded in John 17:11 ???

 

[Jesus is YHWH]

How does this relate to the matter of the Father giving Jesus His Name as recorded in John 17:11 ???

Jesus has well over a 100 names, titles, offices and descriptions in both OT and NT.

I'm not sure how your question applies to Him as YHWH ?

 

[Redwingfan9]

Many evangelical denominations must be doing a poor job of catechizing their members.

That's putting it mildly. These polls come out every year. They're very consistent, just about every heresy determined 1800 years ago is believed by a substantial portion of evangelicals. Most of them I suspect have never thought about these issues and answer the way that seems right. That goes to show you how little they know theology and how little they know scripture.

None of this should come as a surprise though. Go look at evangelical sermons. They're rarely focused on actual theology. Their sermons are a collection of self help, politics and fanciful end times dramas.

 

[Carl Emerson]

Jesus has well over a 100 names, titles, offices and descriptions in both OT and NT.

I'm not sure how your question applies to Him as YHWH ?

That is my point - the scripture records that Jesus was given the Fathers Name.

If this was not the case - then His Name would not be above every Name.

 

[Jesus is YHWH]

That's putting it mildly. These polls come out every year. They're very consistent, just about every heresy determined 1800 years ago is believed by a substantial portion of evangelicals. Most of them I suspect have never thought about these issues and answer the way that seems right. That goes to show you how little they know theology and how little they know scripture.

None of this should come as a surprise though. Go look at evangelical sermons. They're rarely focused on actual theology. Their sermons are a collection of self help, politics and fanciful end times dramas.

Yes that is the sad state of the church these days. Its feeding self instead of denying oneself, taking up their cross and following Jesus at all costs. There is no preaching teaching these days on the cost of discipleship. Jesus made it hard to follow Him, not easy and the easy believism seen in churches today where you can have Jesus as your savior but not as Lord.

 

[Carl Emerson]

Should we not worship God regarding the mysteries of His Name rather than argue points that we will ponder on in eternity?

Likewise the functioning of our triune God - we may say what it isn't but we may never fully understand the wonders of what is...

 

[Redwingfan9]

Yes that is the sad state of the church these days. Its feeding self instead of denying oneself, taking up their cross and following Jesus at all costs. There is no preaching teaching these days on the cost of discipleship. Jesus made it hard to follow Him, not easy and the easy believism seen in churches today where you can have Jesus as your savior but not as Lord.

The church has, unfortunately, failed to feed the sheep. They've done this in large part because the truth of scripture and the reality of doctrine scare people off. To keep them around and donating money, the church has turned sermons into an Oprah style self help talk that has almost nothing to do with scripture or with the sermon outlines we see in scripture.

 

[Jesus is YHWH]

The church has, unfortunately, failed to feed the sheep. They've done this in large part because the truth of scripture and the reality of doctrine scare people off. To keep them around and donating money, the church has turned sermons into an Oprah style self help talk that has almost nothing to do with scripture or with the sermon outlines we see in scripture.

check out the thread on count the cost of being a disciple. let me know your thoughts. thanks !

 

[Halbhh]

More than half of American adults, including 30% of evangelicals, say Jesus isn’t God but most agree He was a great teacher, according to results from the 2020 State of Theology survey.

Even though the Bible and traditional teachings of the Christian Church hold that Jesus truly existed as both man and God, among the key findings of the biennial State of Theology survey from Ligonier Ministries conducted with LifeWay Research, is that 52% of American adults believe that Jesus was a great teacher and nothing more.More than half of US adults, 30% of evangelicals believe Jesus isn’t God: study

That would be 1/3 of professing christians on this forum.

ASTOUNDING !

I think the group usually meant by the label 'evangelicals' is only a small portion of those here on CF, as this isn't a forum for only one grouping nor just for one country.

The poll is useful information though.

While there has always been a mix of believers and non-believers in churches, it has happened in many older churches that many non-believers left, as the older churches didn't pander to their political or worldly urges very well.

 

[Oseas]

That is my point - the scripture records that Jesus was given the Fathers Name.

In fact, JESUS was in the bosom of the Father, JESUS and the Father were One, and are One, so I would say that in the time of fulfilment or be fulfilled prophecies about the coming and birth of the boy - it was around 4000 years after Adam, or four Days, or four millennia, God the Father- the Word is God- God is Spirit - He made Himself flesh, and the Father took the name of JESUS for He Himself, and manifested Himself to the men by His name, mainly to the Jews. We must remember that in the fourth Day, the Word -the Word is God- made the Greater Light - JESUS - to shine the world with His great light and glory.

Hebrews 1:v.1-3
1 God -the Word -, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days (LAST TWO DAYS or two thousand years) spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3 Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His PERSON, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, when He had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

In the beginning - in JESUS - was the Word, and the Word was God. John 1:v.1

JESUS came unto His own (the Jewish people, people of Israel) and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him(mainly the Gentiles-Isaiah 9:v.1), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.

If this was not the case - then His Name would not be above every Name.

Yes, it is written: Acts 4:v.10-12
10 - Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God -the Wwword is God - raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole.

11 - This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

12 - Neither is there salvation in any other: for THERE IS NONE OTHER NAME under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

To the only wise God our Saviour, be Glory and Majesty, Dominion and Power, both now and ever. Amen