Lee Strobel

But again, I like this, you know, the...

Factors that would encourage someone today to be an outspoken Christian are not what they were back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

Back then, it was socially acceptable to be a Christian.

Nowadays, you may run into some professional headwinds if you're an outspoken Christian.

Depending on where you work and what you do, it may not be the smartest thing to proclaim it.

They may kill you.

That's right.

So there's all these negative headwinds that are, and I think it's a pruning process where the people today who are proclaiming that they're followers of Jesus probably really are followers of Jesus.

You know, George Barna, who does a lot of surveys and so forth, did a study.

He came up with five questions to try to determine, is someone a legitimate Christian?

Five theological questions.

Do you agree this, this, this, this?

We can't tell.

Only God knows the heart.

But five questions to try to discern.

Then he went to various denominations to try to figure out how many people in that church meet those five criteria and are true Christians.

What's his outcome?

What's he trying to solve for?

He's trying to figure out, you may have 1,000 people at church, how many are really Christians?

And so he went to Baptist churches.