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 Posted: Thu May 12, 2016 2:14 am
A 2009 Barna survey found that four out of 10 Christians believe Satan "is not a living being but is a symbol of evil." This compares to 26 percent of Christians who strongly disagree with this statement, along with 9 percent who disagreed somewhat. The Barna study also found that 47 percent of the Christians who said they believed Satan was just a symbol of evil also agree "that a person can be under the influence of spiritual forces such as demons." Read more; Billy Graham: Christians Must Never Underestimate Satan's Ability to Deceive
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Posted: Thu May 12, 2016 10:06 am
Even as a lost person, I believed in the devil and in demons quite literally. My problem was when asked about God. I became confused. For a while, I was just going about life assuming one didn't exist. Until my uncle, who seems to be an atheist now, said if I believed that evil spirits existed, then that means the opposite is also true. That was a light bulb moment. If these Christians are anything like how I use to be, then they are taking their spiritual cues from culture and entertainment, what they hear people around them saying, not anything logically thought through and based on Scripture. I hadn't read the bible, so "go figure" why I was drowning in confusing thoughts about the devil and God, and other spiritual realities. Clearly, from first hand experience, I can say that the more we deviate from the bible, the less logically our minds operate. If one allows for the belief in one evil spirit, or in many evil spirits, then why does one not allow for the existence of the devil, who is also an evil spirit?
I wonder if these people who are identifying as Christian are doing so just because their household or extended family identifies as such (thus their "Christianity" label is merely tradition, not genuine religion. At one point growing up, that's what I did; my aunts and grandmother identified as Christian [Catholic, specifically], so when asked my religion that's what I said. And at one point, when I said, "I don't know", they asked if I believed in Jesus, I said yes, so they concluded "oh, then you're a Christian" lol, even though in practice all of us were living by, communicating, and expressing pagan, spiritual beliefs, full of superstitious thoughts and mysticism from the east. Taking His Name in vain. All beliefs mixed together. The holy and the profane. No loyalty to anything but the desires of our flesh).
All that to say, that just because someone identifies as Christian and answers a survey, that survey isn't necessarily reflective of the people who genuinely believe in the Jesus of the Scriptures. There's always a cultural Jesus being passed around that is not very biblical. More people believe in an idol of Jesus, in place of the real deal. And if they deviate on the main focus of the bible, then they'll deviate on the lesser spirits as well.
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 9:36 am
cristobela Clearly, from first hand experience, I can say that the more we deviate from the bible, the less logically our minds operate. If one allows for the belief in one evil spirit, or in many evil spirits, then why does one not allow for the existence of the devil, who is also an evil spirit? This is so true. And the things of the world make a lot more sense when viewed through the filter of the Bible. God can use anything- anyone (he once taught me a lesson with socks that I will never forget). Until Christians comes to have a personal relationship with Christ and the Lord through him, they won't really understand him. Becoming a Christian and then never opening the word of God is like buying a plant and never watering it...
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 5:29 pm
Frogsnack cristobela Clearly, from first hand experience, I can say that the more we deviate from the bible, the less logically our minds operate. If one allows for the belief in one evil spirit, or in many evil spirits, then why does one not allow for the existence of the devil, who is also an evil spirit? This is so true. And the things of the world make a lot more sense when viewed through the filter of the Bible. God can use anything- anyone (he once taught me a lesson with socks that I will never forget). Until Christians comes to have a personal relationship with Christ and the Lord through him, they won't really understand him. Becoming a Christian and then never opening the word of God is like buying a plant and never watering it...
Job 33:14 (NIV)
14 For God does speak—now one way, now another—
though no one perceives it.
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