Can you be a Christian and reject the Bible as God’s inspired and inerrant word? More and more people believe you can. A recent Lifeway Research survey commissioned by Ligonier Ministries finds that 53% of Americans do not believe the Bible is literally true. That’s disturbing, but not all that unexpected. What’s shocking to me is that 26% of those who identify as evangelical Christians also hold that the Bible is not literally true. If you don’t believe the Word of God, how is it you know, much less believe, the gospel?
If you reject the Bible as God’s Word, you reject Jesus being who He said He is. Those who reject Jesus as being who He says He is cannot be Evangelical Christians. Either the survey takers were presenting a flawed definition of what it means to be an Evangelical Christian, or someone terribly deceived those responding and sent them toward an eternity far more tragic than they imagine.