Born Again, or Born of the World?

In John Piper's book, Finally Alive, he cites statistics reported by the Barna Group indicating that 'born again' or evangelical Christians (terms used interchangeably by the Barna Group) often live with no discernible difference than those who are not Christian believers. For instance:

• Only 9% of evangelicals tithe
• Of 12,000 teenagers who took a vow of abstinence before marriage, 80% had sex outside marriage in the next seven years
• 26% of evangelicals do not think premarital sex is wrong
• White evangelicals are more likely than Catholics and mainline Protestants to object to having black neighbors.

The Barna Group looks at these statistics and conclude that born again Christians are morally indistinguishable from the rest of our society.

There is, of course, another possibility: Millions of people who claim to be born again have never actually been born again.

I believe the Bible points us in this direction in many places. For instance, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but I'll side with Jesus over the Barna Group on this one!