[Pastor William Nathaniel Sampson]

It's strange. You would think by how many God mockers we get here that at least half of the population must be atheist. With Dicky Dorkins, Hitchens, Harris, Dennet and the like you would think they might be winning converts, but this is not the case. A study from Baylor University shows that American religious views are as follows. 1,648 adults were asked 350 questions on their religious practices.

• Baylor researchers criticized a much-ballyhooed “new atheism” as a barely discernible trend, saying the number of Americans who are atheists has stayed at 4% since 1944.

That's right. 96% of Americans believe in God despite those atheist writers finding commercial success. It's probably those same 4% buying the book over and over. I'm going to point this fact out for every angry atheist who walks into here.

• 55% of all Americans believe in guardian angels.

I found this to be the most interesting. I do not believe that each person has a personal angel floating around all the time. God's Omniscience should have that covered. Obviously God occasionally sends angels to make announcements and sometimes even for protection Ps 91, however I do not believe all people have a guardian angel. It takes away our special nature as God's chosen to believe such a silly thing like some zipper head in Japland who rejects Jesus still has an angel protecting him.

• 20% say they’ve heard God speak to them.

Again, I think this is a little high. I know God speaks to me, because I follow His Word and He guides me, but I can't imagine 20%. It's clear that most of these people are lying false Christians. As Jesus tells us, only His sheep hear His voice.

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

• 25% say they have witnessed miraculous healings.

That one seems a bit low. Anyone who has watched Binny Hinn or our own Rev. Jim ministry can come and watch many for yourself. (Tickets prices range from $85 for a single day pass in lawn seating to $4500 for catered vip three day all access passes.)

Or you can watch one for free here.

• 16% of Americans say they have received a miraculous healing.

$1000 a day gets you into the handicapped section near the front where Reverend Jim is much more likely to pick you. *hint* (No amputees)

• 8 percent of Americans say they pray in tongues.

That's right, atheists. Twice as many people dance around handling snakes and drinking poison than there are of you!

I will leave it to this negro fellow to do my talking for me.

[BelieverInGod]

1,648 adults were asked 350 questions on their religious practices.

I think I see the discrepancy right there. How many of the people who come her are actually adults. Not teenagers who claim to be atheist because it makes mommy and daddy angry. Even though they all claim to be 18 when they join.

Maybe we should round up every child between 12-18 and put them somewhere so they can't harass the rest of society. Train them to be useful members of society while we're at it. Lord knows the public school system and liebral parents have failed completely.

[Pastor William Nathaniel Sampson]

Here are some other great stats for you. According to a 2006 Pew Research Center poll on religion.

Which comes closest to your view? The Bible/the Torah/the Koran/the Holy Scripture is the word of God, or the Bible/the Torah/the Koran/the Holy Scripture is a book written by men and is not the word of God

68%
Word of God

23%
Written by man

9%
Other (Vol.)/Don't know

That's right. Before you come in here screaming that, "My college professor told me that the nasty old Bible was written by men to control the masses," take a look around you. Nearly 70% of your fellow Americans believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God.

Creationism.

Would you generally favor or oppose teaching creationism along with evolution in public schools?

58%
Favor

35%
Oppose

7%
Don't know/Refused

That has to sting! More than 80 years after the Scopes trial almost 60% of America wants to bring back fair balance to our schools.

[Valaquenta]

Why is 20% too high?
If 96% believe in god and his true followers are able to hear god's voice then surely the more people hearing it the more people are truly Christian?
And if they are liars who cannot have heard god's voice because they are not part of his flock then the 96% of people who are Christian must be reduced as well as they are not truly religious?
Or are there different levels of Christianity where one can be a true believer but not have the gift of being able to hear god's voice?

Also doesn't the high percentage of people who are religious tip the data about who wrote the bible in favor of it being written by god?
A group of 100 people used as a representative group would have 96 believers and 4 atheists so shouldn't the number of people who believe that the bible is god's word be higher?
The fact that religion is in such high levels across america should really be taken into account when providing statistical evidence or you leave yourselves up to being accused of the hypocrisy of picking and choosing evidence to prove something the way atheists do with bible verse.

[BelieverInGod]

Originally Posted by Valaquenta

Why is 20% too high?
If 96% believe in god and his true followers are able to hear god's voice then surely the more people hearing it the more people are truly Christian?
And if they are liars who cannot have heard god's voice because they are not part of his flock then the 96% of people who are Christian must be reduced as well as they are not truly religious?
Or are there different levels of Christianity where one can be a true believer but not have the gift of being able to hear god's voice?

Do you realize how many people we get here who claim to hear God's voice and this "god" tells them all sorts of lies that are not scripturally sound? 20% of people may THINK they hear God's voice, but if it doesn't line up with what's in the KJV Bible, it's a demon whispering in their ear.

2 Corinthians 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

I'll ignore the rest of your rant that basically boiled down to "I don't care what you say, you can get stat's to prove whatever you want, so if I don't like it, it isn't true".

[Valaquenta]

Nice job flying off the handle there.

I was asking for clarification. You saying that people could be hearing Satan's voice would have been an explanation as to why 20% seems high. Asking for an explanation in order to understand a point shouldn't be seen as wrong.

And as for the rest of my 'rant' I was actually saying that the stat's make sense because there is a large number of religious people. Knowing that the stats are likely to support the points you are putting forward is what someone should do when using statistical facts to support a point. I'm not saying what you're talking about is wrong merely that the religious views of people help to explain them.

[BelieverInGod]

Originally Posted by Valaquenta

Nice job flying off the handle there.

Flying off the handle? Wow, atheists sure have an issue with projection don't they. I've been on for an hour and I've been told that I only have elementary education and now I'm raging over someone disagreeing with stats.

I was asking for clarification. You saying that people could be hearing Satan's voice would have been an explanation as to why 20% seems high. Asking for an explanation in order to understand a point shouldn't be seen as wrong.

And I answered you, if you consider the red post as raging, it is not. It's the Holy Word of God, and I feel it should be given much more emphasis than my own words.

And as for the rest of my 'rant' I was actually saying that the stat's make sense because there is a large number of religious people. Knowing that the stats are likely to support the points you are putting forward is what someone should do when using statistical facts to support a point. I'm not saying what you're talking about is wrong merely that the religious views of people help to explain them.

Then why were you complaining about the stats?

[Pastor William Nathaniel Sampson]

Originally Posted by Valaquenta

Why is 20% too high?

Just because 96% of the people claim to follow God doesn't mean they actually do.

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Matthew 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

Originally Posted by Valaquenta

If 96% believe in god and his true followers are able to hear god's voice then surely the more people hearing it the more people are truly Christian?

Not necessarily at all. I know of some liberal Christians who truly believe that the Holy Spirit tells them that gay marriage is okay. The Spirit tells me it is an abomination.

Obviously, only one of us can be right. I have the scriptures and the true voice on my side. It stands to reason that they are lying when they say they hear God's voice.

Originally Posted by Valaquenta

And if they are liars who cannot have heard god's voice because they are not part of his flock then the 96% of people who are Christian must be reduced as well as they are not truly religious?

It's a self reported poll. If I were running the poll I would put qualifier questions to determine if they were really Christians or not. They didn't ask me, so I can merely report on their responses.

Originally Posted by Valaquenta

Or are there different levels of Christianity where one can be a true believer but not have the gift of being able to hear god's voice?

Yes there are. Almost 25% of those polled believe in a "distant god". The distant god doesn't interfere in events on earth. It is more of a force that sparked creation and then left it alone. They clearly don't follow the Bible.

Originally Posted by Valaquenta

Also doesn't the high percentage of people who are religious tip the data about who wrote the bible in favor of it being written by god? A group of 100 people used as a representative group would have 96 believers and 4 atheists so shouldn't the number of people who believe that the bible is god's word be higher?

See above.

[Valaquenta]

Originally Posted by BelieverInGod

Flying off the handle? Wow, atheists sure have an issue with projection don't they. I've been on for an hour and I've been told that I only have elementary education and now I'm raging over someone disagreeing with stats.


And I answered you, if you consider the red post as raging, it is not. It's the Holy Word of God, and I feel it should be given much more emphasis than my own words.


Then why were you complaining about the stats?

Claiming that my post was intended to state "I don't care what you say, you can get stat's to prove whatever you want, so if I don't like it, it isn't true" to me is flying off the handle. I feel this because it seemed like you were responding with aggression to what I had thought was a reasonable question and contribution to a discussion.

I did not consider the red text to be red in a symbol of rage, merely an emphasis which I am sure is what you intended.

I did not mean for my original post to come across as a complaint about the stats. I did feel that the context of the religious views of american people make the high levels of those who believe the bible is the word of god and that creationism should be taught in schools alongside evolution helps to explain the reasoning behind the stats.

I feel that this is important to be aware of as when you are using statistics it is considered good practice to look behind the surface statistics and find interesting explanations for why they ended up that way.
For example if you asked the same questions to 2 groups, one being full True Christians and one group being atheist the Christian group would be consistent with what could be considered 'religious opinion' and the atheists with 'non-religious opinion'.

It just seems to me that the statistic results achieved would be expected as the USA is a highly religious community. If everyone is brought up with the same beliefs it is obvious they would share them.

Pastor William Nathaniel Sampson thank you for your response it helped me to understand the reasoning behind your responses about the levels of certain statistics. I also appreciate that you did not find my request for clarification offensive.