Majority of Americans Still Believe in the Supernatural

The American Bible Society recently released its State of the Bible report. According to reports, this study of US adults found that:

• 62% believe in the supernatural
• 53% believe Jesus rose from the dead
• 49% believe the virgin birth “is at least probably true”
• 44% believe the Red Sea was parted by God
• Over 50% believe Satan, demons, and hell exist

Now, of course, this doesn’t mean that the majority of people who believe Jesus rose from the dead or was born of a virgin are born-again Christians. Christianity is about both believing the truths of Scripture and giving your life to Christ—it’s not merely about intellectual assent to a few truths.

What it does mean is that the majority of Americans still believe at least some of the Bible is true and that the supernatural does exist. Those are, of course, good things at face value. But consider a recent Gallup poll of US adults that found:

• 48% believe in “psychic or spiritual healing or the power of the human mind to heal the body”
• 39% believe in “ghosts, or that spirits of dead people can come back in certain places and situations”
• 29% believe in “telepathy, or communication between minds without using the traditional five senses”
• 27% believe “that people can hear from or communicate mentally with someone who has died”
• 25% believe in “astrology, or that the position of the stars and planets can affect people’s lives”
• And 24% believe in “reincarnation, that is, the rebirth of the soul in a new body after death”

In other words, Americans believe in the supernatural far beyond what the Bible teaches, including beliefs that directly contradict the Bible. It really comes back to what I’ve taught for decades: The real battle is between God’s Word and man’s word.

The battle is not ultimately between atheistic naturalism and the Bible. Many Americans today do not subscribe to that worldview even though they’ve been indoctrinated with it their whole lives. They know there must be something beyond the here and now. Why? Because, as Ecclesiastes says, “He has also set eternity in their heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Also, Romans 2 tells us God wrote the law on our hearts, so we have a conscience. We are not mere physical bodies—we have a soul that will live forever—and something inside of us (the image of God) just “knows” there is something more, something supernatural, something unseen. But people look in all the wrong places.

The battle raging in our culture today, whether it takes the form of atheistic naturalism or vague, buffet-style spirituality, is man’s word vs. God’s Word.

Americans who believe, for example, that Jesus rose from the dead and believe in reincarnation are not basing their worldview—their beliefs—on the Word of God. They are basing them on their own opinions. They like the idea of Jesus and some parts of the Bible, so they believe that. But reincarnation and a little astrology also make sense to them, so they add that on. Their worldview is determined by their own wisdom (and is therefore subjective and arbitrary), not by any objective standard for truth.

The battle raging in our culture today, whether it takes the form of atheistic naturalism or vague, buffet-style spirituality, is man’s word vs. God’s Word. Who will be our authority? That’s always been the battle since the garden of Eden 6,000 years ago.

[The serpent] said to the woman, “Did God actually say . . . ?” (Genesis 3:1 ESV)

And the serpent said to the woman . . . “You will be like God.” (Genesis 3:4–5)

The first attack was on the authority of the Word of God, and that attack has not abated. Satan continues to use that same strategy down through the ages.

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3 ESV)

Whenever people adopt part of Scripture but add on ideas from their culture, their own thinking, or other religions, they are succumbing to that Genesis 3 attack. They are doubting the authority of Scripture, making themselves the authority and being their own god.

If we want to effectively share the gospel with and challenge the worldview of those who may have some common ground with us (e.g., they believe, at least intellectually, in the resurrection), we have to help them understand they have the wrong foundation for their worldview. They need to stop building their thinking on their own wisdom and instead start with God’s Word and build their thinking from there. (And that’s how we need to be teaching our kids and our grandkids to think!)

As God’s Word says:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
  and do not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5 ESV)

The battle is God’s Word vs. man’s word. It always has been and it always will be until Jesus returns. Are you equipped to deal with the real battle?

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.