Do you have kids?  If you’re a parent, you’ve learned a lot about life through the unavoidable assignment of shepherding them through the young-and-cute stages to the old-enough-to-know-better era when they drive you nuts and make you ponder escape strategies. If the “whose kids are these oddballs?” phase hit you where it hurts, imagine God’s longsuffering tolerance of His earth-kids!

Allow me to give you an opinion, developed over decades, that I could prove – if necessary – with innumerable anecdotal examples, from people who look like grown-ups but act like adolescents: most American Christians live their spiritual lives in the family of God, never breaking into adulthood in their faith experience.

The writer of Hebrews was feeling some of the same angst, about 20 centuries ago: “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (5:11-14)

Here we are: the most educated society – at least, the most schooled – in human history, but the SAT scores from Sunday School (my metaphor, not a real thing) are plunging. Proof?

Last year, Lifeway Research and Ligonier Ministries (both very reputable groups) did a broad-based study of the beliefs held by self-professing evangelical Christians. Among their findings:

      »    65% agree that “Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God”

      »    56% agree that “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam”

      »    44% agree that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God”

      »    73% agree that “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God”

      »    55% agree that “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature”

      »    56% agree that “Worshiping alone – or, with family – is a valid replacement for church”

Those are just the low-lights of their report. Here’s a summary statement, from the specifics: the majority of the folks who self-identify as being just-like-you are dead wrong. In fact, they may be on a collision course with the God who revealed Himself through the Bible – and, in His Eternal Son, the Lord Jesus – and requires that we have our confession of salvation aligned with His terms.

How are you feeling right now, after seeing these results? If you’re appalled – as I am – you’re sensing some strong churning in your spiritual gut. If, instead,  you’re prone to shrug at those numbers, you may be more a part of the problem instead of wondering whether there is an antidote that might begin to reverse the trend.

It’s summer, and lots of us have plans to do some reading while we’re on break from “crazy”. Let me point you toward some substance in your book stack. Order a copy of Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs (J.I. Packer, 2001). Packer died in 2020, but his offering of solid clarity for mainstream non-academics (like me; probably you, too) is a safeguard against falling into the same error demonstrated by the Lifeway/Ligonier study.

There’s no excuse for being a nit-wit about God. The ball’s in your court: how about prepping for the ultimate exam, and getting close to 100% in you knowing what God told us about Himself?

Why does theology matter? Because living well matters, and that’s the heart of discipleship.