Are You Insane?

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different result. 

Keep this thought in mind while I give you some statistics regarding the state of churches in America.  (These statistics are from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public life.)

-       39 % of Americans attend at least one religious service a week, 27 % seldom or never attend.

-        26.3 % identify themselves as belonging to an evangelical protestant, 18.1 % as mainline protestant and 23.9 % as catholic.

-        90 % of evangelicals are absolutely certain in their belief in God, 8 % are fairly certain.

-        79 % of evangelicals say religion is very important in their life, 17 % as somewhat important.

-        30 % of evangelicals attend more than one religious service a week, 14 % 1-2 times a week, and 14 %, a few times a year.

-        78 % of evangelicals pray daily, 14 % weekly, 3 % monthly and 4 % seldom.

-        29 % of evangelicals say they receive answers to prayer at least once a week, 17 % 1-2 times a month, 22 % several times a year and 16 % seldom.

-        59 % of evangelicals believe that the Word of God is literally true, 29 % not literally true and 7 % do not believe that it is the Word of God.

-        36 % of evangelicals believe that their religion is the one true faith leading to eternal life, 57 % believe that many religions can lead to eternal life.

-        33 % of evangelicals believe that abortion is religiously legal in most cases, 36 % that it is religiously illegal.

-        26 % of evangelicals believe that homosexuality should be accepted by society, 64 % that is should be discouraged.

These are just the statistics of persons who identify themselves as evangelical.   Now what is an evangelical?  Evangelical, as defined by the National Association of Evangelicals,

- Take the Bible seriously.

- Believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

- Focus on “the good news” or “the gospel”.

The Pastors to Pastors Ministry tell us that:

- 88 % of children from evangelical churches will leave the church after high school.

- 26 % of evangelicals believe that salvation can be earned.

- 25% of married, church going women will worship with their husbands this Sunday.

- less than 15 % of the churches in the United States are growing and less than 5 % of those by conversion growth.

NOW ask yourself, Are we preaching the SAME gospel that Jesus and the apostle Paul preached?  Are we seeing the same results that Jesus and Paul saw?

Is the church in America sane or insane?

Am I sane or insane?

Are you sane or insane?

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. Paul the Apostle

IS THE CHURCH IN AMERICA BLESSED OR ACCURSED?

AM I BLESSED OR ACCURSED?

ARE YOU BLESSED OR ACCURSED?