Sunday, March 12, 2006

From “The Riddleblog” comes this unsurprising but dismaying story of the ignorance of doctrine among pastors. Riddleblog reports that Shane Rosenthal went to the National Pastor's Convention in San Diego. He interviewed a number of attending pastors. Here are the results. What follows is a direct quote from Riddleblog.

When Shane asked, "are you familiar with the doctrine of imputation?"
33% were "familiar," 67% said they were "unfamiliar."

When Shane asked "is justification by works, faith and works combined, or faith alone?"
0% (thankfully) responded "by works." 25% responded "by faith and by works," while 75% responded "by faith alone."

When Shane asked "Is justification a one time declaration or a life long process?"
49% said that justification is a process, 31% said a declaration, while 14% indicated that is was both. 6% were not sure.

When Shane asked, "What are we saved from?
43% said "ourselves." 24% said from "sin and death" while 17% said (correctly) that we are saved from eternal judgment or the wrath of God. Another large group were not sure about the question and some admitted to have never even given this subject any thought.

The blog is by Kim Riddlebarger of the White Horse Inn.

These are basic doctrines of the Protestant faith and doctrines that formed the backbone of the Reformation. It is bad enough that most laymen cannot answer these questions, but, for pastors, it is unconscionable.

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