Research: Majority of Americans Believe Works Are the Key to Salvation

[GRACE_ambassador]

The supreme sacrifice of Christ also goes totally against what people believe generally about God and Christ....salvation is by God's infinite grace through faith in Christ and His finished work of redemption. PLUS NOTHING.

Amen!

there are no absolutes to guide or grow us morally...No wonder this country is in the mess it's in.

Then we have a wide-Open-Mission field for:

​

Of God's Wonderful Message of GRACE And Peace, By
The Supreme Sacrifice Of our LORD And Saviour,

The Great God, JESUS CHRIST! ​

More Here:

May Berean Searchlight pg. 17 "Pauline Absolutes"

 

[Blik]

Kinda. The passage of 1 John 2 does talk about those who turned away from Christ (apostasy). The issue of this thread is people who still claim to be of Christ, but are not walking in His truth.

It seems to be difficult for people to know that only Christ saves, but Christ asks us to repent of sin we take to him for forgiveness. It is easier to accept that Christ will forgive any sin, they turn a deaf ear to repentance.

We are told not to resist evil, but replace it with good.

 

[crossnote]

You seem to be missing one important point. The ones who stayed were walking in the truth; they were obeying the Lord, doing His will. Those who went out did so because they wanted to go their own way, they didn't want to keep on walking.

"I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father."—2 John 1:4

more importantly 'were not of us' refers to not being born again...without the new nature.

 

[crossnote]

God told us thousands of years ago that even His own would turn away from His truth.

"If it were possible..."

Matthew 24:24 (KJV) For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.


'

 

[Amanuensis]

Perhaps they aren't born again and have no Life in them?


My guess is that most people think they are saved while rejecting the sufficiency of Christ's Work to atone for their sin and continue in self effort holiness, devoid of the Spirit.



I take it you reject the findings of this survey? The Pew Research has found similar results.

I am sure the survey has value. I would have to read the questions that were asked to appreciate what the results of the survey revealed.

I doubt that the question was "Do you believe that one must observe the Law of Moses to be saved?" My guess is that would trigger a "No" answer from the majority of evangelicals, even the ones that don't know very much of the bible.

 

[Nehemiah6]

Amen!

Then we have a wide-Open-Mission field for:

View attachment 239775​

Amen!

 

[crossnote]

Here's more "encouraging" news...52% of American Christians say 'Other Faiths can lead to Salvation'.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religio...ns-say-other-faiths-can-lead-to-eternal-life/

This was back in 2008, I can only imagine the slide in the past 14 years.

 

[Amanuensis]

Perhaps they aren't born again and have no Life in them?


My guess is that most people think they are saved while rejecting the sufficiency of Christ's Work to atone for their sin and continue in self effort holiness, devoid of the Spirit.



I take it you reject the findings of this survey? The Pew Research has found similar results.

My point is that answering surveys does not reflect what people believe. How they live does.

I think that by observing how most people live in America one could conclude that;

Most people think that all the good people (which is everyone who is not hurting other people) are going to some eternal good place and the bad people (people who hurt other people) go to some place where they get what's coming to them.

And that you don't really have to do much to go to the good place. That is why they live the way they do. If they believed that there was a list of good works that would get them to the good place they will sure enough do their share of such good works. But this list of good works must not be much since people don't do much more than work, buy toys, and good food and drink and enjoy them. That isn't much of a list. My guess is that they really don't believe that you have to do much to get there.

People's beliefs are reflected by what they do; not what they write down as answers in a survey.

As far as most Pentecostals. My guess is that 80% of those in an Assemblies of God congregation would answer "No!" If you asked them "Can one be saved by observing the Law of Moses?" The other 20% would not understand the question.

If you asked them "Must Christians have good works in their lives to be saved?" You might get 80% who say "Yes" not because they believe one is saved by good works but because they are sticklers for "without holiness no man shall see the Lord" and that they believe that every true saved Christians filled with the Holy Spirit will hate sin, and love righteousness and will live a life full of Good Works because that is all they can do as a born again Christian and that backsliding and living in sin will result in eternal damnation.

They don't believe in OSAS in the sense that one can live in known unrepentant sin and still go to heaven. So one can accuse them of believing in salvation by works and they would disagree. So it is all about the question and what the authors of the survey are accusing Pentecostals of believing. They certainly do not believe in salvation by works. They do believe that if you don't obey Christ and His teachings that you will be destroyed along with the unbelievers. Cut in two. Dichotomized. Divided. Torn in pieces.

 

[Amanuensis]

If a person marked themselves as a Pentecostal on a survey and then they marked "yes" to a question do they believe that a person can gain eternal salvation by “being or doing good.” That is not enough to judge them of believing that one is saved by good works. If the survey had an answer "do you believe that one must have faith in Jesus alone without doing good works" they might not have answered that because they think it means just mental assent with no life change. So we have to see the question choices they had and it would be best to give them the option to explain each answer so that we can find out what they really mean.

I don't believe that 60% of Pentecostals believe that we can earn our salvation by being or doing good. Though it is possible that you could get 60% of a Pentecostal congregation to agree that we will prove or demonstrate our salvation by being or doing good. Which is quite different in their minds and they would be biblical in that regard.

Pentecostals preach a powerful message of instant salvation upon repentance and faith in Jesus. They preach an evangelical message about calling upon the Lord in your state of addictions and being set free by faith alone and being born again Right Now today, with no need to have a track record of obedience to Christ first. But they do preach that we must go on from there and obey Christ with our whole heart and not think we can have one foot in the world and one foot in the church and still go to heaven. So that is why they get accused of believing in salvation by works even though it is not the same thing. Preaching that holiness is a requirement because without holiness no man shall see the Lord does not mean that they believe in salvation by works.

So I take these surveys with a grain of salt when they broad brush evangelical Christians with preposterous statements that I know they don't believe.

 

[arthurfleminger]

Here are some of the shocking (to me) findings in the poll (2020) cited below...

"A majority of Americans, a new survey finds, no longer believe that Jesus Christ is the way to eternal salvation. Faith (generally) and good works, they say, will do the trick "

"Equally as startling, it was found that a majority of people who describe themselves as Christian (52%) believe that a person can gain eternal salvation by “being or doing good.” That includes close to half of all adults associated with Pentecostal (46%), mainline Protestant (44%), and evangelical (41%) churches. As expected, a much larger share of Catholics (70%) embrace that point of view."

This salvation-can-be-earned perspective, Barna says, fits well with other widely held views identified in the American Worldview Inventory 2020 that are at odds with biblical teaching.
Those have included:


• There is no absolute moral truth (58%)
• Basis of truth are factors or sources other than God (58%)
• Right/wrong determined by factors other than the Bible (77%)
• The Bible is not the authoritative and true word of God (59%)
• People are basically good (69%)

"“If you look at some of the dominant elements in the American mind and heart today, as illuminated by the Inventory, most people believe that the purpose of life is feeling good about yourself,” Barna says. “Most people contend that all faiths are of equal value, that entry into God’s eternal presence is determined by one’s personal means of choice and that there are no absolutes to guide or grow us morally.”

more at: https://outreachmagazine.com/resour...s-believe-works-are-the-key-to-salvation.html

No wonder this country is in the mess it's in.

Personally, I believe that all salvation comes from the Father through the salvation of Jesus Christ. I don't doubt that. But that being said, I am confident that many will be saved who never believed in Jesus. So, instead of impugning your judgement of non-salvation for those that don't believe in Jesus, let Jesus do his work of salvation with His love and mercy.

Will Jesus save or damn all those that never heard of Him, like the American Indians? Will he damn them because they had no chance of hearing the Gospel? Over the past 2,000 years, countless children have died without ever knowing Jesus, will He damn them to hell for all eternity or will he save them? There are many such examples of peoples not having a chance to hear of Jesus, will Jesus show them no mercy?

I think and hope He will. Yet you, on this thread, judge these as not being worthy of salvation. Judge not lest you be judged. If you have little, no knowledge of Jesus, little will be expected from you. So, quit your judging and let Jesus go about His judging and salvation. Who do you think you are, judging others?

Judge your own self and no one else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leave the judging and salvation to Jesus.

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

I’m sorry but this is a mass of confusion to conflate believing/faith with our works. It is simply Anti-Gospel…
Here we see the two don’t mix…

Galatians 2:16 CSB
[16] and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.

Even James would disagree…

James 2:17 CSB
[17] In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.

Our faith rests in His works.

The purpose and the outcome of work is to sustain THIS mortail life, NOT the next. It is NOT associated with salvation. In the white throne judgement, all will be judged by each one's work, but notice that the final verdict is NOT based upon work, but the Book of Life. Those whose names are not found in it will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

 

[crossnote]

My point is that answering surveys does not reflect what people believe. How they live does.

I think that by observing how most people live in America one could conclude that;

Most people think that all the good people (which is everyone who is not hurting other people) are going to some eternal good place and the bad people (people who hurt other people) go to some place where they get what's coming to them.

And that you don't really have to do much to go to the good place. That is why they live the way they do. If they believed that there was a list of good works that would get them to the good place they will sure enough do their share of such good works. But this list of good works must not be much since people don't do much more than work, buy toys, and good food and drink and enjoy them. That isn't much of a list. My guess is that they really don't believe that you have to do much to get there.

People's beliefs are reflected by what they do; not what they write down as answers in a survey.

As far as most Pentecostals. My guess is that 80% of those in an Assemblies of God congregation would answer "No!" If you asked them "Can one be saved by observing the Law of Moses?" The other 20% would not understand the question.

If you asked them "Must Christians have good works in their lives to be saved?" You might get 80% who say "Yes" not because they believe one is saved by good works but because they are sticklers for "without holiness no man shall see the Lord" and that they believe that every true saved Christians filled with the Holy Spirit will hate sin, and love righteousness and will live a life full of Good Works because that is all they can do as a born again Christian and that backsliding and living in sin will result in eternal damnation.

They don't believe in OSAS in the sense that one can live in known unrepentant sin and still go to heaven. So one can accuse them of believing in salvation by works and they would disagree. So it is all about the question and what the authors of the survey are accusing Pentecostals of believing. They certainly do not believe in salvation by works. They do believe that if you don't obey Christ and His teachings that you will be destroyed along with the unbelievers. Cut in two. Dichotomized. Divided. Torn in pieces.

Do you think the survey actually singled out Pentecostals when mainline Protestants and Catholics performed evenpoorer?

 

[crossnote]

I am confident that many will be saved who never believed in Jesus.

Is this Scripture or your opinion?

So, instead of impugning your judgement of non-salvation for those that don't believe in Jesus, let Jesus do his work of salvation with His love and mercy.

more personal opinion vs God's Word...
(Act 4:12) “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.”

Yet you, on this thread, judge these as not being worthy of salvation. Judge not lest you be judged. If you have little, no knowledge of Jesus, little will be expected from you. So, quit your judging and let Jesus go about His judging and salvation. Who do you think you are, judging others?

Thank you for judging me in your non-judgmental stance.
No one is worthy of salvation...that's what grace is all about.

Judge your own self and no one else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leave the judging and salvation to Jesus.

I have already been judged and found guilty. I confessed my guilt and have been forgiven and declared righteous, have you?

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

My point is that answering surveys does not reflect what people believe. How they live does.

I think that by observing how most people live in America one could conclude that;

Most people think that all the good people (which is everyone who is not hurting other people) are going to some eternal good place and the bad people (people who hurt other people) go to some place where they get what's coming to them.

And that you don't really have to do much to go to the good place. That is why they live the way they do. If they believed that there was a list of good works that would get them to the good place they will sure enough do their share of such good works. But this list of good works must not be much since people don't do much more than work, buy toys, and good food and drink and enjoy them. That isn't much of a list. My guess is that they really don't believe that you have to do much to get there.

People's beliefs are reflected by what they do; not what they write down as answers in a survey.

As far as most Pentecostals. My guess is that 80% of those in an Assemblies of God congregation would answer "No!" If you asked them "Can one be saved by observing the Law of Moses?" The other 20% would not understand the question.

If you asked them "Must Christians have good works in their lives to be saved?" You might get 80% who say "Yes" not because they believe one is saved by good works but because they are sticklers for "without holiness no man shall see the Lord" and that they believe that every true saved Christians filled with the Holy Spirit will hate sin, and love righteousness and will live a life full of Good Works because that is all they can do as a born again Christian and that backsliding and living in sin will result in eternal damnation.

They don't believe in OSAS in the sense that one can live in known unrepentant sin and still go to heaven. So one can accuse them of believing in salvation by works and they would disagree. So it is all about the question and what the authors of the survey are accusing Pentecostals of believing. They certainly do not believe in salvation by works. They do believe that if you don't obey Christ and His teachings that you will be destroyed along with the unbelievers. Cut in two. Dichotomized. Divided. Torn in pieces.

Hmmm, speaking of "good works", how many of them believe that "toil in the soil" is a curse? That is a traditional view in Greek phylosophy, that work is for the unsaved and cursed, those who are saved and blessed don't have to work. In other words, brain over muscles. This view was used to justify slavery, and it's still prevailing today. It's the fundamental belief of anybody who worships technology and relies on outsourcing, there's a feeling of disdain to physical labor in the field. How are they supposed to live a life full of Good Works?

 

[Grandpa]

Since the majority of Americans (or people of any nation) are not saved, this is nothing remarkable. Even many "Christian" groups believe in a salvation of grace + works, or faith + baptism, or some other unbiblical idea. Even many people on Christian forums (including this one) have such false notions. The sad fact is that the true Gospel is not being generally preached.

The Gospel of Christ goes totally against humanistic beliefs and ideas. The supreme sacrifice of Christ also goes totally against what people believe generally about God and Christ. So it is not surprising to see so much spiritual confusion. Then we have theologically liberalism undermining the Gospel and promoting a "Social Gospel". Calvinism is also "another Gospel". Then we have sacramentalism as a means of salvation.

The antidote to all this nonsense is the Bible itself. Now that the Bible is freely available in any language through the internet, people should be encouraged to read the New Testament for themselves and see exactly what is written. That salvation is by God's infinite grace through faith in Christ and His finished work of redemption. PLUS NOTHING. That God justifies the one who believes, and imputes righteousness to the one who believes God and trusts solely in Christ Himself as our Salvation.

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our Salvation, our Resurrection, and our Life, when we receive Him as Lord and Savior. He said that He is the Bread of Life, and that eternal life is God's gift to the one who repents and believes and receives Him by faith.

People always have bad things to say about Calvinism. Calvinism hurts their sensitive feelings and PRIDE.

Its because they don't like the Sovereignty of God.

Which is what Calvinism really boils down to.


And the Sovereignty of God is definitely NOT "another Gospel".



I would have had no problems with anything else you wrote here if you would have left Calvinism out of it.

 

[crossnote]

The purpose and the outcome of work is to sustain THIS mortail life, NOT the next. It is NOT associated with salvation. In the white throne judgement, all will be judged by each one's work, but notice that the final verdict is NOT based upon work, but the Book of Life. Those whose names are not found in it will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

Sorry, I'm not following your first sentence.
Christians won't appear at the White Throne Judgment...

(Joh 5:24) “Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

(Rom 8:1) Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus.

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

Sorry, I'm not following your first sentence.
Christians won't appear at the White Throne Judgment...

(Joh 5:24) “Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

(Rom 8:1) Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus.

But believers of work-based religion will, and that's the point. He who believes in his work will be eventually judged by his work.

 

[crossnote]

As far as good works of the non believer goes...

Galatians 3:22 (KJV) But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

That's why people desperately need the salvation secured for them by Jesus Christ and Him ALONE.

 

[crossnote]

But believers of work-based religion will, and that's the point. He who believes in his work will be eventually judged by his work.

I would think those who believe in Jesus and His work has passed out of judgment into life.

John 5:24 (NASB) "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

I would think those who believe in Jesus and His work has passed out of judgment into life.

John 5:24 (NASB) "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

But make no mistake, those who truly believe in Jesus will overcome sin and do his work. Jesus has no respect for lukewarm Laodiceans.