62 Percent of Americans Say Jesus Is Returning to ‘Judge’ Everyone, Poll Shows

Two-thirds of Americans say they believe the Bible’s account about Jesus’ bodily resurrection, although most also deny Scripture’s teaching that He was God, according to a new LifeWay Research survey that shows adults in the U.S. holding conflicting views on Christianity and theology.

The State of Theology survey, conducted by LifeWay Research and sponsored by Ligonier Ministries, shows that 66 percent of U.S. adults say they believe the “biblical accounts of the physical (bodily) resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate” and that the event “actually occurred.” Another 62 percent believe Jesus will return in the future to “judge all the people who have lived.”

A large majority (65 percent) believe God is a perfect being and cannot make a mistake, and 72 percent affirm the biblical doctrine of the Trinity, that “there is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,” according to the survey’s wording.

But while Americans affirm several major teachings of historic Christianity, they also deny some of its core doctrines. For example, 55 percent say they believe “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God,” and 52 percent believe “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.” Both statements conflict with the Bible’s affirmation of Christ’s deity and eternality as taught in such passages as