The majority of Americans believe evangelical voters will have a significant impact on the November election, but also say the faithful tend to complain too much.
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(Photo: AP Images / Richard Vogel)Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., talks to Pastor Rick Warren, during a forum at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. on Saturday Aug. 16, 2008.
Nearly 60 percent of American adults said the statement "evangelicals will have a significant influence effect on the election outcome" was “very” or “somewhat accurate,” the new study from The Barna Group found.
But on a less positive note, the same percentage (59 percent) felt that evangelicals spend too much time complaining and not enough time solving problems.
Surprisingly, evangelicals have a somewhat similar self-perception in regards to these two descriptions.
A full 84 percent of evangelicals believe their voting bloc will have significant impact on the presidential election. And surprisingly, 50 percent of this group agreed they complain too much.
Also, only 48 percent of evangelicals believe it is accurate that their voting peers will focus primarily on abortion and homosexuality despite the wide attention such moral issues have received. In contrast, 85 percent of all American adults agreed with this description about evangelical voters.
David Kinnaman, who directed the Barna study, pointed out that a 2007 study by Barna showed that 9 out of 10 evangelicals believe abortion is a major problem. Similarly, nearly 8 out of 10 evangelicals say homosexuality is a major challenge facing the nation.
“So the fact that many evangelicals are reluctant to describe their voting as primarily focused on these issues seems to reflect their self-awareness rather than their stances on the issues,” Kinnaman commented.
“Like anyone else, many evangelicals care about their image and do not want to be pigeon-holed as one- or two-issue voters, even though these social and moral issues remain very significant for many evangelicals."
Meanwhile, 47 percent of all adults said evangelical voters will minimize social justice issues, like poverty and immigration. Only 28 percent of evangelicals agreed with that statement.
And while more Christian leaders have stressed that evangelicals are not a monolithic voting bloc, 74 percent of evangelicals believe their tribe will vote overwhelmingly Republican. Forty-seven percent of all adults said the same.
In other findings, American adults believe evangelicals will cause the political conversation to be more conservative, and be misunderstood and unfairly described by news media.
The Barna study was conducted on a random national sample of 1,003 adults in August 2008.
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Did Obama support the murder of Christians in Kenya? Aparently he raised $1 million dollars to his uncle who did.
I'm more of a whiner than a complainer. :P
And i don't mind the Label! I will stand against evil till my last breath. Just the way God has made me, i can do nothing else.
COMPLAINERS????
Abortion on demand, the perversion of culture, the demonizing of parents, the socialist leanings of many political leaders, Hollywood smut, threats to the institution of marriage...and the list goes on, and they say we're COMPLAINERS??
feet, what if Urriah and David were into wife swapping and their wives were okay with it to, would you say then that David and Bathsheba did not sin? If David would have been obedient to the 10th Commandment he would have not sinned against God as well as Urriah and Bathsheba. Although we're no longer under the law it serves as a guide as to how we can be obedient to the Great Commandment. Plus, Paul also declares in Romans 6:15 that just because we are no longer under the Law does not mean we are free to sin regardless if it only violates the Great Commandment.
feet,
You are correct in saying we are not under the law (if we accept Christ as having paid our price for our sin). However, this does not mean the old testament or the rest of new testament is to be ignored. To do so is at your own peril.
You ignore scripture. All scripture is useful for trainiing. 2 Timothy 3:14-16
14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.
To what Scripture do you think Paul was referring? We can see the answer in Paul's own writings - the sacred writings - the Old Testament.
Galatians 3:8
8The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU."
Paul quotes Genesis 3:7-9 when He called it Scripture. Paul does not ignore the Old Testament, He uses it to point our we are justified by faith. In the same way, He used it to show we should not sin. In Ephesians 4:26, Paul quotes Psalm 4:4:
Ephesians 4:26
BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
We simply can not say we believe something is not a sin because it feels good. We can not say something is the essence of love, when in fact it goes against what God has said.
1 Cor 6:17-19
17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
The term for immorality is translated from porneia, which speaks of the various sexual acts prohibited in the old testament - including homosexual sex. So homosexual sex is a sin against one's own body, rather than true love. All sin is against God, but when sin involves someone else, it becomes a sin against that other person, rather than love.
If you claim to love you, you must leave sin behind.
John wrote in 1 John 3:7-10,
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
"if david had loved his neighbor as himself he would never have stepped into what he did with bethsheba. "
That's the point....
"The Barna study was conducted on a random national sample of 1,003 adults in August 2008"
1,003 adults out of how many voters? Where was this random sampling done? I still think they do their random sampling in San Fran!
if david had loved his neighbor as himself he would never have stepped into what he did with bethsheba.
feet; Are you saying that we no longer have to follow the Commandments? That we can live according to the desires of the flesh? That the more we sin, the greater grace we receive?
the majority of my church appear to be obsessed with the sins of the rest of the world and in spite of romans 10, 1john4, who is and who is not going to heaven
Are they complaining that we are complainers?
reedit
why do conservative believers consistently ignore the scripture that says that christ was put in authority over all things and given all judgement.
and yet in even so , jesus still says (john12:46)" I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. 47As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it"
is it possibly because they have yet to completely embrace the new covenant, but instead keep one foot firmly planted in the old covenant, its judgements, its old relationship to the law, being led by the law.
this when scripture says that in the new covenant, in regards to the law, there is none greater than the second commandment. meaning....... it trumps everything!
paul saying in romans, we died to the law and are now resurrected with christ, to live under grace, and to be led by and serve of the spirit.
why do conservative believers consistently ignore the scripture that says that christ was put in authority over all things and given all judgement.
and yet in even so , jesus still says (john12:46) I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
47"As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it
is it possibly because they have to completely embrace the new covenant but instead keep one foot firmly planted in the old covenant, its judgements, its old relationship to the law, being led by the law.
this when scripture says that in regards to the law there is none greater than the second commandment. meaning....... it trumps everything!
paul saying in romans we died to the law and are now resurrected with christ, to live under grace and to be led by the spirit.
John the Baptist called people to repent. He lost his head for his stedfast "complaining". What would the world think if he were alive today?
Those on the side of the pro-choice really mean the choice should be abortion, bot to keep the child. There is no real choice as pro-choice people inject abortion right from the start.
If wvangelicals don't keep speaking out on the subject of abortion, same sex marriage, and our right to keep the government out of the churches business as a nation we are in for the judgement and wrath to come.
Has anyone besides me think the weather we are seeing and the fires in Cailfornia, ond other disasters just might be the Lord trying to get our attention? Maybe, just maybe, the Holy Father God is really upset we have murdered as many babies as the Jews that were killed by Hitlers men.
Yes I will complain, if this is what they mean by complaining.
Thats no problem, its goood to be passionate about something, to be passionate is to be alive.
Steve
My apologies, steve. I get real fired up when the topic is abortion, and sometimes allow my emotions to override my manners.
I will not, however, back down from stating that human life begins at conception. The group of cells is obviously alive, and obviously human. It can be nothing else.
John the Baptizer leapt with joy in Elizabeth's womb in the presence of the pregnant Mary, because the human life in one womb recognized the human life in another! So question away, but Scripture is clear that life begins BEFORE birth.
according to 1john the litmus test for walking in the light is that there is fellowship in the servant love that he calls us to......."love one another as i have loved you"............"the greatest among you will be your servant"
No you assume I am anti christian because I don't toe the party line, and ask questions, remember its much better to light a candle than just complain about the dark..
Kind regards
Steve
P.s Thanks for the comment about being witty.
Steve; Right at the top of this page it say "And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free".
That is what it means to walk in the Light. If you'd rather, you are allowed to live in the dark. But don't be surprised when you can't convince others on here to do the same.
You and a few others have a little anti-Christian fan club, and you pat each other on the back for your oh-so-witty comments, but the fact is that you are stumbling in the dark.
That's OK. We will be glad to help you. Let him listen, who has ears to hear.
feet, with abortion it doesn't matter what either side thinks, but rather it's what God thinks that matters.
"But we who love life and walk in the light"......know whats good for everybody.
its interesting the subjective way each side looks at abortion.
pro choice look at thinking of the morning after pill, or of the person who becomes aware of being pregnant in the first trimester and does something about it, when the fetus is many months away from being viable, and is minute in size and has no resemblance of being human.
antiabortionist think of a viable fetus, a whole baby that might be dismembered in the abortion process.
using two wholely different subjective images as a basis for discussion, its no wonder there is no possibility for agreement
My only complaint is I sure do wish so many evangelicals weren't such complainers.
itsallaboutjesusnotme.blogspot.com
On the issue of abortion. The legalization has already been established with row vs wade. It is time to force the medical society to establish a point of life that is protected by law, then we can get on with teaching christ so that a person doesn't get themselves in situations that they would want or need an abortion.
I want to know when the democratic party became the party for immorality. I am a Christian and a registered democrat and when I registered to vote, the difference between dem and rep was, the dem believe in helping people build themselves up thus promoting small business and a wealthier middle and lower class. The rep believe in helping the wealthy to add more jobs and better pay for workers. The rep way of thinking just makes more low to medium paid jobs thus building the lower and middle class even bigger and making the rich richer, so I chose democrat. Its a sad day that I have to chose between right morals and right politics.
I thank God for all the Evangelical "Busybodies".
Please keep on speaking the Truth, and maybe the homofacist agenda and the pro-murder of the innocents will silenced.
God bless you and Godspeed!
steve, I was at the DNC in Denver. I saw tens of thousands giving a standing ovation for abortion. Of course, they call it "choice", but they MEAN abortion on demand, up to and including the 9th month. Up to and including partial birth abortion. Up to and including allowing babies born alive after a failed abortion attempt being placed on a shelf in a closet to die (see Illinois Born Alive Infant Protection Act).
Now maybe they don't allow themselves to think that. Maybe the Deceiver has convinced them that they are talking about removing something akin to a wart. But we who love life and walk in the light will not stand silent, tolerant, and accepting as over one million babies are killed every year in the US. We will not be "good Germans."
hlerwin, I find it interesting that when evangelicals voice their opinions their busybodies, but if homosexual activists voice their opinions their just exercising their 1st Amendment rights.
But to be really honest Blacksho89 they most likely arn't are they, have you heard them wooping and shouting with joy about babies being aborted, I doubt it, your statement makes you look a bit looks a bit silly doesn't it....
As long as my neighbor is cheering for dead babies, I will be a "busybody", as you put it.
Isaiah 44:2 "This is what the LORD saysâ
im an evangelical charismatic christian who believes in the inerrancy of scripture, right to chose with limitations, total equality of homosexuals with heterosexuals, and seperation between church and state.
one i see today is a whole of confusion about faith vs belief. our faith is our personal relationship with christ. our beliefs are our subjective understanding influenced by things from without(culture, family, events, etc). it is totally human and may or may not be of the spirit........just like christian culture.
If there is any unifying characteristic among Evangelicals, it might be their tendency to be busybodies. Sometimes I wonder if many have forgotten that in the United States, we have no control over our next-door neighbors' beliefs or practices.
Sometimes in England it seems to me that certian parts of the Islamic community make being offended a full time profession (see Pat Condell on youtube)Ifeel from viewing this site that the same holds true for "some" parts of the Christian community in the States.