Poll on Christian Beliefs Troubling
— Survey Suggests Many Believers Misinformed About Meaning of Biblical Salvation
By Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
August 26, 2005
(AgapePress) – Actor Kirk Cameron, co-producer and host of the evangelical TV show “The Way of the Master,” says he is deeply disturbed by the results of a recent survey, which found lots of people who consider themselves followers of Christ actually believe there are many paths to God. According to the recent Newsweek/Beliefnet poll, 68 percent of evangelical Christians say a “good person” of another faith can get into heaven.
While Cameron is known to many for his roles on the much loved 80’s sitcom Growing Pains and the phenomenally popular apocalyptic thrillers of the Left Behind movie series, for the last several years much of the actor’s time off-screen has been dedicated to the Way of the Master Ministries. Through that evangelistic outreach, he has partnered with evangelist Ray Comfort to teach fellow Christians biblical methods of sharing the gospel and leading the unsaved to Christ.
In light of his heart for the lost and his concern with communicating biblical truth, Cameron finds the results of the recent poll troubling. Christians who claim there is another way to heaven other than Christ need to reexamine their salvation, he says, “because if they don’t understand Jesus is the only way to heaven, then perhaps they don’t understand what it means to really put their faith in Christ alone.”
In the Christian TV host/producer’s opionion, the poll’s outcome is the result of the Church moving away from presenting the gospel biblically. All too often, he asserts, churches and individuals have presented the gospel as a “life improvement” program rather than making it clear that Christ’s finished work on the cross is man’s only hope in the face of a holy and righteous God’s wrath.
Cameron insists that Christians who emphasize God’s love and grace without ever laying the scriptural foundation of redemption — that is, without mentioning sin and the need for repentance — are misrepresenting the Bible’s message of salvation. “If we present the gospel simply as a life improvement program,” he says, “well, boy — there’s lots of things that work to improve your life. You could get into yoga, become a vegetarian.”
Or if getting to heaven were all about “being a good person,” Cameron continues, “surely you could join all sorts of churches or charitable organizations that could improve your benevolence and good works in the community. But those things have nothing to do with getting to heaven.”
The Way of the Master Ministries spokesman contends that real evangelism must begin with convincing people of their sinfulness and need for divine mercy and redemption. “The fact is we’re sinners, we need a Savior, and Christ shed his blood on the cross to reconcile us to God,” the actor explains, “so the first step is helping people see that they’re lost and hopeless without Christ.”
Doing that, Cameron adds, is “just getting back to the biblical gospel.” He feels the findings of that Newsweek/Beliefnet poll clearly demonstrate the need for Christians to return to a biblical model of evangelism so as to communicate what scripture really says about salvation — that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, who declares in John 14:6 (NIV), “No one comes to the Father except through me.”
