As if we needed more evidence that America has abandoned its foundational Scriptural principles, a new Gallup poll has come out that shows a very troubling trend. In this article, we are going to break down the results of the study and attempt to understand why the majority of Americans are wrong on most issues, and what the Bible says on those issues. Of necessity, this will be a skim of the issues. Whole giant articles could be written on each of these topics. That is not our purpose. This article will simply be an overview. We will cover all the issues, but, as there are 21 of them, it will take us three articles.
90% of Americans believe birth control is ok.
This number surprised me, not because it is high, I expected that. It’s actually higher than the acceptance of any other vice, including drinking alcohol. That’s the part that surprised me. I thought alcohol acceptance would be at the top of the list.
Regarding birth control, it is important that we tread carefully. Some forms of birth control are not murder. A form of birth control that prevents fertilization is not murder. A form of birth control that begins after the moment of fertilization is murder. Period. If we are going to be consistent with our statement that life begins at fertilization, then any ending of life via birth control after that point must be murder. I’m always stunned by the number of Christians who oppose abortion but are more than happy to use abortion-inducing drugs. Birth control warrants its own article, so we will be working on that as we are able over the next few weeks.
86% of Americans believe drinking alcohol is ok.
This did not surprise me at all. Getting thoroughly inebriated on the weekend is a national American past time. I was just surprised it wasn’t first.
The Bible speaks frequently about alcohol and, unsurprisingly given its propensity to do harm, it is largely negative. Proverbs 20:1 “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.” Ephesians 5:18 “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”. Now obviously there are many more verses related to wine in Scripture, and I don’t want to start world war three over this issue. But it’s important to note that the Scripture most definitely warns against drunkenness and there certainly is some support for the total abstinence position. I’m not going to turn this post into an argument over that, but it’s important to understand the Bible has very strong statements about the use of alcohol.
77% of Americans believe divorce is ok.
This one is difficult to quantify. There are Biblical arguments tossed both ways. From what Jesus says in the Gospels, it’s clear that God intended marriage to be a permanent thing, one which was not to be dissolved by either party. “They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.” Matthew 19:7-8. This passage is in the context of the Pharisees questioning Jesus about divorce and His sarcastic question of whether they had read the law. Jesus clearly believed that marriage was intended to be permanent.
72% of Americans believe pre-marital sex is ok.
This also does not surprise me. Only a small percentage of Americans are celibate until they get married. This is referred to as fornication in the Bible and is repeatedly condemned. 1Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:” is just one example of God commanding His people to avoid committing this sin.
9% of Americans believe adultery is ok.
Dropping to the bottom of the list, this number does not seem to quite square with the rest of the numbers. Americans are fine with pre-marital sex, but extramarital sex is not ok. Apparently, the wedding vows have some meaning as long as you both choose to keep them. It is fairly obvious from Scripture that adultery is a sin. Don’t take my word for it, take God’s. He wrote it with His very finger on tablets of stone in Exodus 20:14 “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
12% of Americans believe cloning a human is ok.
Ok this one gets tricky. There is a range of ethical questions to ask here from, “would it even be human?” to “would it have a soul?” This is a question we will probably grapple with more fully with this in a future article on human cloning. However, given that current techniques would require destroying dozens of embryos to get to this point, human cloning should be regarded as unethical and anti-Biblical in its current form at least.
18% of Americans believe suicide is ok.
Suicide is a tragedy every time. Even when a wanted criminal kills himself, it is a tragedy because his victims do not get the justice they are owed. Why can we make this argument, then argue the death penalty is acceptable (which we will do in another part of this series (spoiler))? Because the death penalty was only to be instituted after a person had committed a crime worthy of death and been found guilty by his peers. In the case of suicide, a person decides to end their life, often merely out of depression or loss. The thing is, according to Genesis 1, we are made in the Image of God. We are special and uniquely crafted from the mother’s womb by God according to Psalms 139:13-16. Given God owns us (1 Cor 6:20), He alone has the right to determine when our lives end.
Part 2 will run next week. We will do a final wrap up of the series in Part three in two weeks, as well as link to the Gallup Poll.
Do you know what’s going to happen when you die? Are you completely sure? If you aren’t, please read this or listen to this. You can know where you will spend eternity. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us, we’d love to talk to you.
In His Image 
2 Comments