The above graph is made from data compiled from 2001-2016 by Gallup Research. The information sheds a very bright light on the state of religion in America and why solid biblical teaching is desperately needed inside our churches.

The quick conclusion I came to after looking over the data is that Mormons have the most biblical views of any religious group represented by the data. In each category Mormons scored lowest when needed (on issues like abortion and homosexual relationships) and highest when needed (on the death penalty). That sad reality is disturbing.

Protestants were not far behind Mormons in most categories. But the difference was often about 10 percentage points, enough to make the difference noticeable. See for yourself how Catholic’s, Jews, and those with no religion scored in critical issues facing our culture. This disturbing chart once again proves that clear, intentional teaching from God’s Word is both lacking and needed.

The time for fluffy topical sermons is over. That trend has created an entire generation that doesn’t know what they believe, and couldn’t defend their beliefs if they had to. We need in-depth expository preaching that seeks to expound on the truths of scripture. If you don’t know what those words mean, you might be at the wrong church. If your pastor’s sermons consist of 3 ways to do this or 4 reasons for that, you might be at the wrong church. If your pastor doesn’t read from the Bible until 10 minutes into the sermon and then never uses his Bible again, you might be at the wrong church.

I could say a lot more about this; and maybe I will in a future post. For now, let the reality of this data sink in: too many professing Christians hold to unbiblical positions because they don’t know or don’t believe the Bible. That must change.