Only 28 Percent of Americans Say Bible The “Actual Word of God”

2 Thessalonians 2:3 (KJV) "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first..."

A new Gallup poll shows that only 28 percent of Americans believe the Bible is the “actual Word of God” and should be “taken literally, word for word.”  The number continues the decline seen every year since 1979 (with the exception of holding firm in 2012.)

The poll showed that almost 50 percent of Americans said the Bible was the “inspired Word of God” and that the content should not be taken literally.  The 47 percent who said they believe that way is 5 percent below the high point for that question in the 2003 survey.

The number of people who say the Bible is just a book of fables reached a record high of 21 percent.

Gallup claims the study shows “two ongoing debates” in Christian theological circles.

“One is about whether the words of the Bible came directly from God — essentially using the writers as scribes — or if they are the words of men, but guided by divine inspiration,” Gallup said in the report. “The other debate involves the meaning of the words: whether they should be taken literally, or be viewed partly — or merely — as metaphors and allegories that allow for interpretation.”

12 thoughts on “Only 28 Percent of Americans Say Bible The “Actual Word of God””

  2. WOW, what an awesome testimony Patricia Marie, you had FAITH to go forward and look things up and THINK for yourself (with the bible given to you). Thank you Pastor Jim Bakker. People wake up to the apostasy. The Catholic Pope does not speak for me, I can go directly to my savior. Praise the Father……..AMEN!

  4. The Bible is the actual and inspired word of God! It is unique and is in a ” class by it’s self”. It is divine in the fact that it tells of the ” good,bad and the ugly” of mankind”. If a ”man” were to be it’s author he would want to cast himself in the best possible light wouldn’t he not ?

  5. Pro_25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.
    Jesus talked in parables. Jesus said, “If you follow me I will make you fishers of men.” Sometimes I feel like I am just the bait. Jesus reels them in.

  7. I remember taking the poll. The question was an either / or and questions like most of it is accurate but some is not accurate. Do you think the Bible is the word of God or do you think it is made up. I answered that it was a mixture of the history of God’s people, poetry and prayers as in Psalms praising God and the history of King’s and Spiritual (and not so Spiritual) people in the Bible, and God’s plan and expectations for mankind, directions as to how Christians were to behave, Jesus’s words and life on Earth and in Heaven and there are references in the Bible which are difficult to understand and some symbolism. I was told that was not a clear enough answer so I said it was God’s ordained word that has been translated over the years as carefully as possible. They didn’t like this answer either. I explained that they are asking the wrong questions. The Gallup poll is writing questioners about situations they do not understand so they do not ask clear enough questions. I suspect the reason they came up with inaccurate results is that their questions are based on their limited understanding of what they are surveying and can not be accurately responded to as asked. I do not believe the numbers they are giving you are anywhere near accurate (in percentage of Americans) because their numbers are based on who is willing to answer their 20-30 minute poorly written survey and I was given the survey during the day when most people are working. If they said how many people where polled (and their age, their religious orientation or lack of, their approximate income and demographics) – all information they asked for and have available, then the truth behind their findings might be easier to understand. I suppose it wouldn’t be so sensational then, if they did supply more than half-truths.

  8. In 1982 I was born again by the foolishness of the preaching of the gospel while I was listening to a young preacher by the name of Jim Bakker. He sent me an awesome study Bible. I was a Catholic. I asked my Pastor for an official Catholic Bible so I could look at it and I found that the extra books in it didn’t settle right with me, and the commentaries from the ‘Council of Bishops’ referred to Genesis and Jonah as metaphors and allegories. Jonah, by their own definition was a ‘fable’. That totally contraindicates my Savior’s description of how long He would be in the belly of the earth – 3 days – just like Jonah was in the belly of the whale! Now many preachers are leading their congregations ‘back to the Catholic Church’, placing themselves under the head of the Catholic Pope, calling him, “the spokesperson for western Christianity”; saying, “We now live in a post-Protestant era” referring to Protestantism as “spiritual apartheid”; calling this the “end of the Protestant era” and thus despising the blood shed to bring us the King James Bible; and joining the One World Religion that will be under the auspices of the ‘False Prophet’ and the anti-Christ.
    “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:14

  9. I Robert W Reich testify that the Holy Scriptures,Genisis to Revelation is the inspired Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ being Its Author. The Bible interprets itself & one doesn’t read the Scriptures They read you.Only the faithful who are Born on High (Born Again) with the Holy Spirit in your heart His literal presence can testify that the Bible is the literal Word of God or that Jesus is Lord. Jesus said that the broad road leads to destruction while the narrow road leads to Life and very few find it. Thats why the faithful will be few!!! Halleluyah to the Lamb of God!!

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