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57% of EVANGELICALS Believe that Many Religions Can Lead to Eternal Life

Orginally published on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 7:39 AM
by Todd Rhoades

According to a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey of 35,000 adults, 57% of evangelical church attenders say they believe many religions can lead to eternal life.

According to a recent AP article "The survey shows religion in America is, indeed, 3,000 miles wide and only three inches deep," said D. Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist of religion. "There's a growing pluralistic impulse toward tolerance and that is having theological consequences," he said.

By many measures, Americans are strongly religious: 92 percent believe in God, 74 percent believe in life after death, and 63 percent say their respective scriptures are the word of God. But deeper investigation found that more than one in four Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants, and Orthodox Christians expressed some doubts about God's existence, as did six in ten Jews. Another finding almost defies explanation: 21 percent of self-identified atheists said they believe in God or a universal spirit, with eight percent "absolutely certain" of it.

You can read the whole article here...

I wonder… if you polled YOUR congregation, how many people would admit that they think that many religions can lead to eternal life?

This post has been viewed 1118 times so far.

There are 41 Comments:

Posted by

Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 11:53 AM

Peter I applaud your grace and find it admirable. Mark simply refuses to be honest. He says do not judge, is adamant about it but does nothing but Judging. His e-mail is a dead link, and his tries to bate each of us into a quarrel. This to me is wrangling about in words and is pearls in front of swine.

Thanks for your grace, it shows courage not cowardice. Cowardice is accusing, hiding behind a fake e-mail and...well pretty much most of how Mark has treated MMI.
Posted by Peter Hamm

Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 12:21 PM

Thanks, Leonard…

I too, have needed grace in my time.
Posted by

Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 5:49 PM

Leonard wrote:

>"Mark simply refuses to be honest.
>His e-mail is a dead link, Cowardice
>is hiding behind a fake e-mail
>and...well pretty much most
>of how Mark has treated MMI. “

Gosh, just when I thought you couldn’t get any more weird you manage to astonish me.

So If I understand correctly, in your bizarre twisted thinking, You can post lies and that’s ok, but if I don’t offer up an email address for you on demand then I’m the one not being honest? Have you ever heard of spam? Tell me, in your strange world of right and wrong am I also required to hand over my home address, home phone and social security number to you in order to have your “honesty” stamp of approval?

You have convinced me that the two of you are nothing but a couple of freaks who always must be in control of the conversation but I do need to thank each of you because I have carefully printed out each of your strange responses and I’m going to show them to several friends who I care about very much.

You see, they have been asking about possibly joining a church and I want them to see the kinds of nuts who call themselves christians so they will know not to waste their time or their money on weird people like you.

Thanks for helping me collect the evidence I need to show my friends what kinds of people you really are under the “christian” facade.
Posted by Peter Hamm

Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 8:08 PM

Mark, I have responded, gracefully I’m sure, beyond the point where I found it unwise, to your questionable (at best) biblical interpretation and (I feel) pugnacious commentary. You have not responded to my argument at all, but have rather decided to try and twist the discussion into a proof of my unchristian behavior.

Perhaps I can help you… you are right. I’m pretty messed up. I am as great a sinner as can possibly be found in this wide world. I am indeed very “weird”, very strange, very fallen, and very incomplete and very learning and growing. I bet I speak for Leonard in that regard as well. I am not worth your time or money. I am a complete and total waste

But Jesus is worth your effort…

In any case, I am hopeful that you will, eventually, encounter Jesus, the one I follow, a God of love, peace, grace, and forgiveness, who offers his favor (unmerited, undeserved, unearned) to any who ask, with no condemnation, regardless of where they have come from or who they are or what they have done. Whether that is someone like yourself, who seems very antagonistic to anything “christian”, or someone like myself, who tries, fumblingly, to follow Jesus and be like Him, and who is imperfect and incomplete and unworthy in all of it.

I sincerely hope you will include this comment in your stack of evidence, but I somehow doubt it.
Posted by

Thursday, July 03, 2008 at 7:43 PM

Peter Hamm wrote:

>"Mark, I have responded...beyond
>the point where I found it unwise...”

On that statement we are in complete agreement.

>”...your questionable (at best) biblical
>interpretation...but have rather decided
>to try and twist the discussion into a
>proof of my unchristian behavior.”

You are doing a fine job all on your own of showing your “questionable at best” christian behavior. You don’t need much help from me.

>"… I’m pretty messed up. I am as great
>a sinner as can possibly be found in
>this wide world. I am indeed very
>“weird”, very strange, very fallen, and
>very incomplete and very learning and
>growing.”

Gosh, this is such an amazing change of attitude from your previous claims that Jesus’ command to not judge others doesn’t really apply to you and your constant and subtle arrogance whenever you speak implying that you are the smartest person in the room and that anyone who doesn’t agree with you is “questionable at best”.

>"I bet I speak for Leonard in that regard...”

Now this is more like the Peter I have come to know. Your willingness to speak for others is becoming legendary.

>"I am not worth your time or money. I am
>a complete and total waste. But Jesus is
>worth your effort… In any case, I am hopeful
>that you will, eventually, encounter Jesus…

I have indeed encountered Jesus and he has warned me about so-called Christians like you. And now I’m warning others in this group.

>"I sincerely hope you will include this
>comment in your stack of evidence...”

I will indeed include this comment in the stack of evidence in order to highlight how your writing changes depending on who you think might be reading. This behavior of yours brings all sorts of new questions about sincerity, honesty and integrity.

>”...but I somehow doubt it. “

You doubt it because you believe that I would behave like you do.

Its now clear to me that you are exactly the kind of person Jesus was warning us about in Matthew 7:21 and that’s why you are so desperately trying to downplay and redefine Jesus’ words to your advantage.
Posted by Peter Hamm

Friday, July 04, 2008 at 12:12 PM

Mark,

I feel very mis-represented and perhaps misunderstood by you. If you really want to dialogue further, click on my name, go to my blog, and send me an email. (Hint: I never claimed that “Jesus’ command to not judge others doesn’t really apply to” me)
Posted by

Saturday, July 05, 2008 at 9:10 AM

Peter Hamm wrote:
>Mark, I feel very mis-represented
>and perhaps misunderstood by you.

Well, gosh, Peter shall we get back to the original question that Todd posted? Since then you have called me a Troll, a Universalist, a coward, and a man of “questionable qualifications” to speak on Matthew 7 and you also tried to get me banned from the group. Yet, after all this evil behavior, out of grace, we should give you another chance to clear up your feelings of being misunderstood.

Lets now review the discussion on Todd’s original question, shall we?

Peter Hamm wrote:
“...In context, or by itself, Matthew 7:21
> is not saying that “if you are sitting
> around judging others then you
> yourself won’t be going to heaven.”

I replied:
>Matthew 7:21 outlines the consequences.
>Matthew 7:1 points out the sin. How can
>you be missing that??
>If you are trying to claim there is some
>other “context” to Matthew 7 that you prefer
>to believe instead of what’s plainly written
>there in black and white then I’m afraid
>you will have to explain your thinking in
>detail.

The best attempt at backing up your claim I’ve seen from you so far was this:

>Nowhere in [Matthew 25] does Jesus
>imply or even give us the grounds to
>infer that judgment is based on “how
>we judged others” (although I contend
>that indeed, judging others in the
>context of Matthew 7:1 is very wrong
>indeed).

You seem to be making an attempt to claim that, since Jesus didn’t tell you again in Matthew 25 what he already said in Matthew 7, you therefore are free to ignore what Jesus commanded you to do in Matthew 7.

Well, Peter, Jesus clearly commanded you not to judge others in Matthew 7 and he clearly commanded you to care for the poor and the sick in Matthew 25. Its obvious to me that we need to be doing both. The consequences of not doing both is painfully clear in both chapters.

A christian sitting around gossiping as to whether people of other religions are going to heaven or not is clearly judging and its clearly not engaged in taking care of the poor or the sick. That’s two mortal sins thus the consequences outlined by God himself clearly do apply.

Jesus said: “...away from me you evildoers, I never knew you...”

If that doesn’t mean going to hell then I don’t what does.
Posted by Peter Hamm

Saturday, July 05, 2008 at 11:46 AM

Mark,

I would love to continue the discussion, but not in Todd’s forum. I feel I am only misunderstood by you, and as such, don’t really see a value in a continuation of this debate publicly.
Posted by

Sunday, July 06, 2008 at 9:05 AM

Peter Hamm said:
>"I...don’t really see a value in a
>continuation of this debate publicly.”

You don’t see the value in publicly discussing and understanding the word of God?

What a strange thing to say.

>"I would love to continue the discussion,
> but not in Todd’s forum.”

Todd is the one who asked the question about which we are discussing.

Like I said before, if you have something to say to me then say it here in the light of day. Don’t be skulking around in private emails where a christian can gossip and manipulate and tell everyone a different story depending on what one wants them to hear at the given moment.

Search your soul, Peter. Could your real intention be to interpret God’s word so that it always makes you look brilliant in front of the masses? Since this discussion has not served that purpose very well for you, could it be the reason why you see no need to continue in a public forum?

Its a funny thing about christians who love to judge others. They get really nervous and uncomfortable when I point out God’s direct command not to judge and the severe consequences of doing it.

Its all right there in the Bible. Try reading it sometime with an open heart and not a concealed intention to spin God’s words to your own advantage.

To summarize:

In Matthew 7:1 God himself said “do not judge”

In Matthew 7:21-23 God said “‘I never knew you. Away from me...”
Posted by

Sunday, July 06, 2008 at 10:01 AM

Todd’s question was “I wonder… if you polled YOUR congregation, how many people would admit that they think that many religions can lead to eternal life?”

The answer for me is probably about 20-30%. Most of those are just coming into faith or the church.
Posted by

Sunday, July 06, 2008 at 10:09 AM

technically Mark you cannot answer that question since you do not go to church.
Posted by

Sunday, July 06, 2008 at 11:55 AM

Leonard wrote:
>"technically Mark you cannot answer that
>question since you do not go to church.”

Hi, Leonard. I see that you enjoy speaking for others as much as Peter does.

Technically speaking, Leonard, I can indeed answer the question and I in fact did answer the question.

Technically, Leonard, all you can say is that you didn’t like the fact that I did indeed provide an answer to the question and also perhaps that you didn’t like the answer itself.

Tell me, Leonard, have you now appointed yourself the judge of what the correct answer is to the question and also have you appointed yourself the judge of who is entitled to answer it?

Why does none of this surprise me coming from either Leonard or Peter??

Also, Leonard, I’m quite sure that the church I attend would not be allowed to be called a church by someone like you.

Leonard, please make careful note of Matthew 7:1 and Matthew 7:21 as your eternal destination may well depend on it.
Posted by Peter Hamm

Sunday, July 06, 2008 at 4:13 PM

Leonard,

Now that we’re back to the question for a moment, We have a lot of not-yet-believers and new believers in this church, so I bet our number would be higher than that. The danger, to me, is if they think that we believe that any belief that is opposed to faith in Jesus could lead to a right relationship with God, totally outside of Christ. However, I think we make what the Bible says pretty plain and pretty clear in our preaching and teaching. (Although we also don’t chase these folks out… by any stretch. For some it takes a short time to come to faith, for others longer.)
Posted by

Wednesday, July 09, 2008 at 1:31 PM

Pew researchers found that most evangelicals held an inclusive view of heaven, with 59 percent saying that many religions lead to eternal life.

But LifeWay Research did a poll asking the same questions, only worded better and found that less than a third of evangelicals believed salvation could be found outside Christianity.

Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay research, says that, Pew was asking the wrong question.

Pew pollsters asked respondents to choose between two options: “My religion is the one, true faith leading to eternal life” or “Many religions can lead to eternal life.” Pew researchers, who polled more than 35,000 Americans, did not attempt to find out what respondents meant by “many religions” and had Catholics and Protestants listed as separate religions.

LifeWay, on the other hand, asked specifically about Christianity: “If a person is sincerely seeking God, he or she can obtain eternal life through religions other than Christianity.”

Those are two completely different questions, says Stetzer. While evangelicals believe that other Christians, such as mainline Protestants or Catholics, may go to heaven, they draw the line at other faiths.

There’s a world of difference between evangelicals saying that Catholics or Pentecostals can go to heaven, and saying that Muslims or Buddhists can go to heaven.

According to the LifeWay research, eighty percent of those who held to a core set of nine evangelical beliefs said Christianity offered the only road to heaven.
Posted by

Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 6:18 PM

Daniel,

What is the core set of the nine evangelical beliefs according to LifeWay research?

Do you have the list?
Posted by Jeanie M.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 7:28 PM

Mr. Leonard, although I am new here, I just wanted to say “thanks” for your comment to Peter and Daniel, because I’ve been ‘there’ “too many” times to count, and if I’m not mistaken have I not read somewhere the we are not to ‘debate’ when it comes to the Bible?
I am not sure how ‘sincere’ Mark is, but I don’t care how many ‘scriptures’ you give to ‘some’ people inside and out, I find myself getting almost the ‘exact same’ response as if what I’m saying is a total lie.
So, I now find myself, giving them ‘what thus saith the Lord’ (via His Word) and moving on from there, because as things start to ‘progress’ , the unbelievers, athethists, agonistics, etc. start to ‘weigh in’ and the ‘real’ issue of God’s Word starts to get muddied in the waters, and if we aren’t careful satan can end up getting the victory out of what ‘belongs’ to God.
I’ve learned to give them The Word, pray for them, and let the Lord do the rest. If they are “for real” and want to know God for themselves, they will ‘seek Him’ and God/Jesus will take it from there.
Take care my brothers in Christ and my the Lord continue to lead and guide you as you proclaim His Word.
P.S. As one of my favorite Pastors (Charles Stanley) says, ‘Obey God and leave the consequences to Him’.

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.