Thinking Like Jesus

"...our goal should be to act like Jesus. The primary reason people do not act like Jesus is because they do not think like Jesus. Behavior stems from what we think – our attitudes, beliefs, values and opinions."

-- https://www.barna.com/research/a-biblical-worldview-has-a-radical-effect-on-a-persons-life/  Barna's 2003 study concluded that only 4% of American adults base their decisions on a "biblical worldview."

 

These twenty years later, Barna and other pollsters find that 75-80% of self-described "Evangelicals" unswervingly follow a politician whose manifest character is lies and violent contempt for others (Jesus' definition of "murder" in Matthew 5:21-22).

Jesus told some His followers they were "children of the devil," loving lies and "murder" (John 8:44).

Do today's proudly self-proclaimed "Evangelicals" think like Jesus ?  Obviously not.

Evangelicals on "Religious Freedom"...Again

In a 20013 study, the Barna Research Group found that fifty-one percent of American "evangelicals" were "...concerned that religious freedom in the U.S. will become more restricted in the next five years."  (http://www.lookoutmag.com/in-the-world-april-7-2013/)

We frequently hear that "chip-on-the-shoulder" attitude of "evangelicals" about their "religious freedom" being denied.  It usually turns out to be some kind of self-serving political ploy, more than a matter of Christian principle.  The commercial wedding-chapel in Idaho, for example, which advertised it did Buddhist, Christian, Moslem, Hindu, Shinto, and other kinds of weddings: but screamed its Christian "religious liberty" was under attack when the local city-council ticketed the business for refusing to do a gay "wedding."

Interestingly, Barna also found that a majority of "evangelicals" believed "traditional American" religious values (i.e., Protestant Christianity) should be given preference in public policy.

David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, well and rightly called out that "cognitive disconnect"...or rather, hypocrisy:

“Evangelicals have to be careful of embracing a double standard: to call for religious freedoms, but then desire the dominant religious influence to be Judeo-Christian.  They cannot have it both ways.”

Research findings

"The primary reason people do not act like Jesus is because they do not think like Jesus. Although most people own a Bible and know some of its contents, most Americans have little idea how to integrate core biblical principles to form a unified and meaningful response to challenges and opportunities of life."

--a Barna Research Group report, quoted in Christian Ethics Today (February 2004; Volume 10, No. 1, p. 3). This study found that only 4% of American adults base their decisions on a "biblical worldview."


As a man thinks in his heart, so is he (paraphrase, Proverbs 23:7).


"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus..." (Phillipians 2:5, KJV)


"...we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ..." (II Corinthians 10:5, NASB)