{"id":32104,"date":"2022-09-10T15:56:30","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/what-biblical-command-do-americans-consider-the-most-important\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:56:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:56:30","slug":"what-biblical-command-do-americans-consider-the-most-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/what-biblical-command-do-americans-consider-the-most-important\/","title":{"rendered":"What Biblical Command Do Americans Consider the Most Important?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Aaron Burden photo – Unsplash<\/div>\n

By Aaron Earls<\/em><\/p>\n

When asked the greatest command, Jesus pointed to admonitions to love God and love others. When American Bible users were asked, they chose a different Old Testament passage.<\/p>\n

As part of the American Bible Society and Barna Research\u2019s State of the Bible 2019, respondents were given five prominent biblical commands and asked which one was the most important.<\/p>\n

Out of the options, American Bible users were most likely to choose \u201cdo justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God,\u201d taken from Micah 6:8.<\/p>\n

Slightly less than half (46%) chose the Micah command, while 36% picked \u201clove your neighbor as yourself,\u201d a Leviticus 19:18 reference that Jesus included in his summary of the Old Testament law.<\/p>\n

Adults were classified as Bible users if they read, listened to, or prayed with the Bible on their own at least 3-4 times a year outside of a church service or event.<\/p>\n

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Significantly fewer said the most important biblical directive is go and make disciples (8%), take care of the earth (5%), or care for widows and orphans (2%).<\/p>\n

Bible users may have been hesitant to choose \u201cgo and make disciples\u201d because they weren\u2019t familiar with the command.<\/p>\n

A previous study from Barna found 51% of American churchgoers had never heard of the phrase \u201cthe Great Commission.\u201d When given a choice of five statements from Jesus, only 37% correctly picked Matthew 28:18-20 as containing the Great Commission.<\/p>\n

Women are more likely than men to choose the Micah passage (51% to 41%), while men are more likely to pick the Great Commission (11% to 5%).<\/p>\n

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See also  8 Ways to Persevere in Ministry<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Millennial Bible users are the generation most likely to choose \u201cgo and make disciples\u201d (11%) or \u201ctake care of the earth\u201d (11%) as the most important biblical command.<\/p>\n

A different survey from Barna found 47% of practicing millennial Christians say it is \u201cwrong to share one\u2019s personal beliefs with someone of a different faith in hopes that they will one day share the same faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

This sparked significant discussion about the lack of evangelism among younger generations. However, the rest of Barna\u2019s findings, as well as a recent Lifeway Research study on evangelism, provide a fuller picture of young adults\u2019 tendency to share their faith.<\/p>\n

As part of the 2019 Discipleship Pathway Assessment study, Lifeway Research found Protestant churchgoers 65 and older were the least likely to have had an evangelistic conversation recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung adults and middle-aged churchgoers are more likely to have shared with someone how to become a Christian in the past six months than older churchgoing adults,\u201d said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research.<\/p>\n

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Aaron Earls<\/h2>\n

@WardrobeDoor<\/p>\n

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Aaron is a writer for LifewayResearch.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n