Beliefs About Jesus, the Bible, Heaven & Hell
Hundreds of millions of people believe Jesus is the Son of God; then again, hundreds of millions do not. Sadly, many people are unsure about what they believe.
A Gallup poll found that 84% of respondents in the United States have a belief that Jesus is the Son of God.[1] Shockingly, most of those who believe Jesus to be the Son of God don’t completely buy into the truth of the very source that proclaims it – the Bible!
A Baylor University study identified those who considered themselves to be either mainstream Protestants or Catholics, presumably a pool of Christian believers. Of that presumed group of believers, only an astoundingly few 12% believe the Bible to be literally true and still somehow these respondents still believe that Jesus is the Son of God.[2]
In the same Baylor survey, not surprisingly it found that 99% of those with no religious affiliation do not believe the Bible to be literally true. Still, 17% of that group believe the Bible to be more than just legendary tales.
Similarly, the Pew survey revealed 73% of respondents in the U.S. believe in Heaven though less believe in Hell. Percentages drop to 61% who believe in both the existence of Heaven and Hell while others believe there is still some sort of afterlife, but in neither place.
From the opposite side of the spectrum, the same uncertainty exists. Pollster George Barna once found that half of all people claiming to be atheists or agnostics believe that “every person has a soul; that heaven and Hell exist.[3]
Pew’s survey found that 29% of atheists and agnostics believe in Heaven. Of those who said that they believe in a Heaven and Hell in the Baylor survey, merely a scant 14% said that it is only a symbolic place.
Survey results reveal the mystery that people do not completely buy into the Bible, but still believe the Bible holds certain truths. A lot of uncertainty seems to be evident.
For many people, knowing or believing is not worth the effort to find out – weighing the evidence, using logic, considering the odds, etc. Eternity is a risk of finality, the ultimate risk, but still most people don’t take the time to weigh the information or even make a decision at all.
Human nature is to casually make decisions without having all or even some of the facts – which traffic route is faster without checking a traffic report; take a chance on speeding with no idea of radar locations; selecting a product based on habit or the appeal of advertising; ordering a menu item that looks most appetizing while having not tasted it; watching a movie based on the trailer, but not checking reviews; making outdoor plans without looking at a weather forecast; etc.
Evaluating whether or not Jesus is the Son of God for most people is a casual process, too. Often a decision is made based only on tradition, assumptions, experiences, or bits and pieces of things seen or heard – a conclusion that is drawn without at least making a modest effort to look into it in more detail.
Much thinking and analysis goes into the final decision made by a judge or jury after weighing all the many pieces of evidence of a circumstantial case, one without any direct evidence or proof. A jury must link a series of indirect evidence in order to draw a single conclusion.
Among factors a jury often considers is if there is an alternative explanation…the probability someone else did it; there is an alternative explanation; etc. Use of logic is a big factor, especially with DNA where the odds are a 1 to the 1015 match to a single individual.[5]
Neither believers nor detractors have an absolute single piece of evidence that proves that Jesus is or is not the Son of God. Still, there can be no in-between… he either is or he was not. If Jesus was the Son of God 2000 years ago, he still is now.
Professor Peter W. Stoner, Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy and later Professor Emeritus at Pasadena City College during the 1950s published a book entitled Science Speaks.[4] The professor calculated the probability, the odds, of only 8 out of the some 48 Messiah prophecies covering predictions from his birth to his death that could be fulfilled by any one person. Conservatively, the result was 1 chance in 1017 (1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000).
In-spite-of the incredible improbability that one person could ever fulfill less than even a fourth of all the messianic prophecies attributed to the circumstances of the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth, these astounding odds alone will sway very few people to conclude that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.
Doctrine of Chances, a U.S. Federal legal concept, says the probability that recurrence of events with the same or similar circumstances pointing to a specific individual is not merely an accident. The greater the number of similar occurrences pointing to that central figure, the stronger the probability that they occurred by design, not by chance.
What is the improbability of mere chance that the confluence of events and circumstances at a single point in history surrounding the life of Jesus of Nazareth coincided with the Hebrew legacy of the many messianic prophecies, events, and circumstances over the previous 2000 years? Was it all nothing more than a big coincidence…or was it by divine design?
Updated January 13, 2025.
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REFERENCES:
[1] Gallup, George H. Jr. “Who Is Jesus?” Gallup. 2002. <http://www.gallup.com/poll/7471/who-jesus.aspx> >
[2] American Piety in the 21st Century: New Insights to the Depth and Complexity of Religion in the US. Baylor University. 2006. “Table 2: Religious Beliefs and Practices by Religious Tradition.” p 14. <http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/33304.pdf> “Views of the afterlife.” Pew Reach Center. 2021. <https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/11/23/views-on-the-afterlife>
[3] “Most in U.S. believe they are heaven-bound, study says.” Austin American Statesman. 2003. Newspaper edition. “Americans Describe Their Views About Life After Death” Barna. 2003. <https://www.barna.com/research/americans-describe-their-views-about-life-after-death>
[4] Stoner, Peter W. and Newman, Robert C. Science Speaks. Chicago: Moody Bible Institute. 1958. Online Edition 2005. Chapter 3, #8. <http://sciencespeaks.dstoner.net/>
[5] Trautman, Dave, “Probabilities Associated with DNA Profiling.” The Citadel Mathematics and Computer Science publication website. <http://www.mathcs.citadel.edu/trautmand/stuff/dnapapers/little.htm>. “DNA Fingerprint.” World of Forensic Science. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3448300188.html>