Salvation Summaries

A 2025 American Worldview Inventory Report (#11) by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona University reveals how Biblically illiterate and confused many self-identified Christians are. It also shows that a person can claim to be a Christian but not be one (according to how the Bible defines one).

Findings

Here are a few key findings:

• Only 52% of self-identified Christians believe, when they die, that they would reside in the presence of God. An amazing 30% believe that they would: 1) experience eternal peace and joy without God, 2) cease to exist, 3) become one with the universe or 4) be reincarnated and return to earth as another life form.
• 33% of the adults polled view themselves as “born again” Christians. Of this group, 41% say good people can earn their salvation, 35% believe in reincarnation and 33% say there are many viable paths to become saved.

Concerns

As you can see from these findings, many people who self-identify as a Christian clearly are not because of their unbiblical views and beliefs from other religions. For example:

• The Bible is clear that Jesus is the only path to God and eternal life, for He is the only one qualified to take away the sin problem every person has.
• Reincarnation is a belief of Hinduism and Buddhism, which are eastern religions. Nowhere does Scripture say a person reincarnates or becomes one with the universe when they die.
• Paul is clear (Romans 3:10) that no one is good enough, nor are their works good enough, to earn their way into heaven. I think Josh McDowell is credited with saying that if a person can be good enough to get into heaven, there would have been no need for Jesus to die.
• For those who believe a person ceases to exist or experiences peace and joy without God after death, these are not taught in Scripture either.

From these results, the term “Christian” really has little to no meaning anymore. Anyone can claim to be a Christian regardless of what they believe. That is the sad state of Christianity today.

How did we get here?

So, how did we get here? How could the Christian religion have deteriorated in the eyes of many to the point of believing in just about anything? I can only speculate, but the main reasons would seem to be:

• Fewer and fewer people are reading their Bible (and may not even own one),
• More and more churches have become worldly and influenced too much by changes in our culture, so they preach what people want to hear to be accepted and appreciated rather than preach what the Bible says, and
• More and more people are developing their views on Christianity from social media.

What or Who is a (genuine) Christian?

So, some of you may be asking, “You’ve told us what false Christians believe, but not what a true Christian is. How do you define a Christian?”

First, as you know, not all Christians hold the same beliefs about everything. The Bible was written 2,000 years ago to people who lived in a much different culture and spoke a language different than ours (Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek). And with over 2,000 pages, it contains a number of stories and verses that can be interpreted in more than one way. As a result, we should expect some varying views and beliefs among Christians (and different denominations). However, there should be no disagreement on the basics of Christianity.

Second, the Bible talks a lot about how a Christian should live, and it mentions in a few dozen verses on how a person becomes saved; however, there is no clear definition of what a Christian is (or none that I found). The term “Christian” is only used three times in the New Testament, but from these verses we can at least infer the basics of what a Christian is.

• Acts 26:28 28 Agrippa replied to Paul, “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.”
• 1 Peter 4:16 16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.
• Acts 11:26 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Using these verses, here is what we know about a Christian:

1. A Christian is someone who hears the good news of the gospel and believes (or has faith) in Jesus (Rom 1:16). This is what Paul sought to teach Agrippa. The Jesus here is the One described in the Bible (the prophesied Messiah, Son of God, was not a brother of Satan, was sinless, died to save us from our sins, rose on the third day to show His power over sin, performed miracles including raising others from the dead, had power over nature, preached the gospel, commanded people to repent, etc.) rather than from non-biblical sources.

2. A Christian is someone who should be willing to suffer or be persecuted on account of their belief in Jesus. If a person claims to believe in Jesus but is unwilling to suffer in any way for Him, this calls into question the validity or genuineness of their belief. Some people may disagree with me on this. See 1 Peter 4:16, John 15:20, Romans 12:14, 1 Cor 4:12, 2 Tim 3:12, the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5:10-12), and the Parable of the Sower (soil #2). I believe many self-identified Christians fall short here.

3. A Christian is a disciple of Jesus. What is a disciple? A disciple is someone who believes in or has faith in Jesus, and is willing to learn from and follow Him. Repentance, while not specifically mentioned in these verses, is also part of being saved according to Jesus. Some people may disagree with me on these two traits, as they separate being a disciple from being a Christian, and may not believe repentance is required. I believe many self-identified Christians also fall short here, for they might claim to believe in Jesus, but this is with their mind only and not their heart, and as such, they may have little to no interest in living like He did. An intellectual belief (or faith) is not the same as saving belief (or faith).

• Romans 1:16-17 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
• Romans 10:9-10 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

So what if people have wrong beliefs? Why should I care?

If you are a genuine believer, what should you make of these findings?

First, we need to respond to those who are ignorant, misinformed or deceived out of compassion for their spiritual condition. One of the defining traits of a genuine Christian is compassion, especially for other believers. In fact, Jesus uses compassion for believers in need as the ultimate test in judging who are sheep vs. goats, or who are saved vs lost. We should have compassion for all people, including those who are lost but think they are saved. Also, it is our responsibility as Christians to fulfill the great commission in Matthew 28, which is to go and preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations.

Second, we need to understand that false preachers and teachers exist as much today as they did in Bible times, and thus deceive people into believing what is contrary to Scripture. Paul warned people back then not to get caught up in false teachings (Col 2:8), and he condemned those who preach what is contrary to the gospel (Gal 1:8-9). With social media, false teaching can spread rapidly, and can be quickly and easily believed by too many people (2 Tim 4:3-4).

Third, we need to act with love and grace (Col 4:5-6) towards those who are lost. I recommend you start with those closest to you. Gently counsel them on what the Bible teaches as true vs. what they have heard or believed, and hopefully, over time, they will accept what you have to say and change their mind.

Summary

The 2025 American Worldview Inventory Report shows that many people who self-identify as or claim to be a Christian hold views that are not Biblical (with some even incorporating the beliefs of eastern religions). This calls into question whether they are a Christian at all, and it diminishes the meaning of what it means to be a Christian.

Although not all Christians hold the same view on every verse in the Bible, they must share certain common beliefs. The Bible does not provide a clear definition of a Christian, but we can infer what the basic traits of a Christian are from the few verses where the term Christian is mentioned. Based upon these, we see that a Christian 1) believes or has faith in Jesus, 2) should be willing to suffer or be persecuted on account of their belief in Him (some may disagree with me on this), and 3) is a disciple of Jesus, and thus willing to learn from and follow Him (some may also not agree with me here either). There are a number of other related beliefs a person must have to be a Christian (e.g., Jesus is the prophesied Messiah, Son of God, was not a brother of Satan, was sinless, died to save us from our sins, rose on the third day to show His power over sin, performed miracles including raising others from the dead, had power over nature, preached the gospel, commanded people to repent, etc.) that are beyond the scope of this post.

As believers, we should have compassion for those who are ignorant, ill-informed or deceived about what it means to be a Christian, and counsel them with grace and love.