What is a "Christian Worldview" and Who Has It


George Barna of The Barna Group has been making waves in U.S. Christianity for several years. To me he seems like a devout Christian who is also trying to find the truth of what is happening within the broader Christian slice of U.S. population. He never quotes from the book I refer to here constantly, God is Not One, by Stephen Prothero. In that book, Prothero tried to encapsulate each of the great world religions into a sentence or two. The sentence was not what theologians concluded each religion is but what people in the pews think it is. What George Barna does with his constant polling is ask people what they think Christianity is. Barna does exactly what Prothero did but through questionnaire research instead of paraphrasing. 

In many respects, Barna of the Barna Group seems exactly like the normal Christian. He is supremely confident he knows what Christianity is or what it should be and compares that to what people think it is. Perhaps his strategy is to identify mistakes in people's thinking and have them corrected. If that is his strategy he is on a fool's errand. Any person on the street or in the church pew is quite confident his/her version of Christianity is correct and needs be provided no improvement by anyone. Recently Barna has focused on the concept of a "Christian Worldview." 

Barna is confident he knows what the Christian Worldview is supposed to be. He is also confident the majority of self identified Christians do not have a Christian Worldview even though they, themselves, believe they do. He found that about half of Christians polled believe they have a Christian Worldview. When they answer questions about what Barna and others believe is an accurate version of Christianity only 15% give correct answers. Thus, half believe they hold a Christian Worldview while only 15% actually do. (Using Barna's definition of a "real" Christian Worldview.)

What can be done about this? The answer is NOTHING. What people think the correct Christian Worldview is is all that counts. If you were one of these Christians who is told you have an incorrect understanding of the Christian Worldview there is an option other than listening or attending classes on the topic meant to bring you "up to speed." It is to leave the church where your view is criticized and go down the street to one that thinks your views are correct. 

That's the way the problem has always been solved. We have hundreds of denominations that were started in this way.  Why would anyone think things have changed?

Comments

  1. Google UserAugust 29, 2021 at 7:47 PM

    That’s not how God works and it’s not how a Christian who is walking out his faith should respond to false doctrine.

    Christianity has nothing to do with how you feel, but more how you respond to the Gospel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jon LindgrenAugust 29, 2021 at 8:09 PM

      Google "Christianity has nothing to do with how you feel..."

      I understand, I understand. It drives most devout Christian nuts the majority in a denomination have views of what Christianity is which are not aliened with the denominations they belong to. The denomination becomes what those in the pews think it is, not what its leaders think it is.

      Leaders and pundits have been trying to put the genie back in the bottle for years. They have been unsuccessful. Christianity drifts in the direction of those in the pews. This makes sense. They pay the preachers.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe the "Original Sin" Should be Reassigned

Image
We can all agree most Catholic priests are fine people and not guilty of sexual abuse. What Catholics must face, however, it that their church harbors executives who are dishonest . There is an incredible story about the Argentine Bishop Zanchetta. The Pope worked with him in Argentina and they are considered friends. Around 2015 Zanchetta sent nude pictures of himself and they began circulating world wide. He also was too friendly with young seminarians and some left because of him.  Three different officials say they made formal complaints to the Vatican about Zanchetta between 2015 and 2017. Yet, in 2018, the Vatican claimed it was unaware of any complaints about Zanchetta. This might be a good time to repeat the Catholic hierarchy claims to have the sole authority handed down from Jesus to what the faith stands for. It condemns as sinners those who practice birth control, have abortions and gay sexual relationships. Handing the hierarchy this responsibility would make som
Read more

The Religious Capitol Invaders May Yet Win

Image
So much about U.S. society and religion can be learned from the Civil War and what happened afterwards. After its defeat, the South started a myth about the unethical soldiers from the North. The South fought for principles of God and states rights. The North did not. It was the South, this propaganda told the country, that had the high moral ground.  The Capitol invaders, encouraged by Trump, swallowed the myth that Biden's election was stolen. Thus, they think they held and still hold the high moral ground. This was reinforced by the cross and prayers during the invasion. Even with Trump is gone, we will see political opportunists like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley stroking crowds and feeding the same lies as Trump. Like "the South will rise again" these gullible followers will talk of victory over the unclean. After the Civil War the South rallied around the phrase, Lost Cause. For decades, and maybe to this day, there are ceremonies remembering fallen martyrs, Re
Read more

Father Frank Pavone, the Ultimate Crook

Image
Recently, the Vatican defrocked Frank Pavone. His diehard fans are outraged. This is because he cleverly manipulated his fans and the press all the while living well from donations and, apparently, abusing some women. By making abortion the "sin" of the century, and himself the main opposition to this one sin, he himself could get away with any sin he pleased.  As the link points out, Pavone was the perfect priest for the Trump era. Trump is so self-important laws have no role in his life. He felt accountable to no one. Women were there to be had. Pavone and Trump are interchangeable.  Pavone was very successful raising money. In his mind, abortion was so important in Catholic beliefs and he was so important in anti-abortion the money he raised opposing it was his to do with what he liked. The Catholic Church, the brand name he used to raise this money, thought the money belonged to it. When he gave the Vatican the bird, it gave him walking papers. With polls showing the majo
Read more