Messed Up American Theology: Do we believe the Bible?

Do Americans believe the Bible is true?  Since this country is still overwhelmingly Christian, the answer has to be yes.  Doesn't it?  That depends.  Approximately 75% of the people claim to be Christian.  That's overwhelming to me.  But how "Christian" are we?  The Christian Bible is made up of both the Old and New Testaments, so maybe we have to look at them in two parts?  Maybe some people believe the New Testament but not the Old?  We'll see about that.  In any case, something's wrong, because a recent LifeWay survey says a growing number say the Bible is not literally true. Unlike LifeWay, who presents only the survey results, I will include analysis.  Not for Americans in general, but for those who call themselves Christian. Why?  Because my goal here is primarily to speak to "Christians".  I assume that someone who calls themselves Christian, a follower of Christ, at some level actually wants to do exactly that - follow Christ.  But too often, our own personal version of Jesus isn't what He told us about Himself.  That's a problem. It needs to be explored.  Eternal souls are at stake here.  Being part of the current trend doesn't make us a follower of Christ.  We have to believe the Bible, believe Jesus and follow Jesus. Is there a difference between "is the Bible true" and "is the Bible literal"?  Sure, there's a difference between the Bible being literally true, and it being "true".  So maybe that number's misleading because of that.  But still, underneath the numbers are some disturbing things. This is the second  article in a series on a 2018 LifeWay Research project looking into the theology of Americans.  Basically, it's a look at what we believe about Christianity.  The survey is Americans in general, not just Christians, so we must take that into account as we study the results. For those who live outside the U.S. - that's about half of you who read this - the numbers may or may not apply.  Still, it's something for each of us to look at to kind of fact-check our own beliefs,

Do we believe the Bible?  An overall observation

Before we get into the details, here's the overall statement from LifeWay about this particular section on "Do Americans believe the Bible?"

“The last writing included in the Christian Bible was completed nearly 2,000 years ago, yet Americans’ beliefs around this book are shifting more than most other theological beliefs.”

That's a good thing if it shows a "revival", an awakening, in a church or community, of interest in and care for matters relating to personal religion per dictionary.com.  Presumably, a revival is accompanied by an increasing number of people who believe in the Bible. Let's see if that's what going on.

The Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches

The way this statement is worded, it's impossible to know if 100% accurate also means people believe the Bible is literally true.  We'll have to examine some more detailed questions to understand if people consider accurate and literal to be the same, or at least somewhat equivalent.  So that's coming. On the question of whether the Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches, the numbers look like things are getting better. The chart below shows responses for the past three surveys. Notice that the trend line is going up.  That should be good.  Unfortunately, even in 2018, it's only at 50%.  That's not so good.  Remember, about 75% of Americans claim to be Christian.  That means at least 25% of Americans who claim to be Christian don't believe the Bible is 100% accurate.  The 75% is calculated by subtracting the 25% who don't even claim to be Christian from the total 100%.  It's reasonable to assume none of the non-Christians believe the Bible is 100% accurate. Next, I assume that Christians should expect the Bible to be accurate.  If not, if Christians don't believe the Bible is true, then what exactly do we believe in?  Subtracting the 50% who do believe the Bible is accurate from the 75% who claim to be Christians, that leaves 25% of Christians who don't believe the Bible is accurate.  At least 25%.  It's unlikely, although possible, that non-Christians might believe the Bible is 100% accurate. In any case, on the issue of "The Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches", things aren't so good.  Yes, the trend us up.  But it still means about 1/3 of people claiming to be Christian don't believe the Bible is accurate. But it gets worse.  You know that 50% who said the Bible was 100% accurate?  That's not exactly what they said.  When we look at the details from the survey, we find something "hidden".  It's natural to assume this was a yes or no question.  Do you believe or not believe the Bible is 100% accurate?  But that's not the case. In fact, it was a choice of 5 different answers.  Strongly agree=1.  Somewhat agree=2.  Somewhat disagree=3.  Strongly disagree=4.  Not sure=5. For this question, the 50% "agree" is actually 32% strongly agree and 18% somewhat agree.  Now that 50% isn't looking good at all. A Christian is someone who "believes" in Jesus.  After all, in response to a question from His disciples, here's what happened:

Jn 6:28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”