Kerby Anderson
Over the last few months, I have been doing some interviews on books that document (in one way or another) a lack of moral behavior among evangelicals. If you read articles in Christianity Today, Ministry Watch, or World magazine, you see other examples.
As the authors document what is happening in the evangelical world, I always like to bring us back to why. The “why” question is probably more important than the “what” question. Why aren’t Christians acting like Christians? Of course, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Christians are supposed to be different than the world, but there is abundant evidence that they are very much like the world around them.
Each year, George Barna posts The American Worldview Inventory.  His most recent report shows that very few Americans (including evangelicals) have a biblical worldview. About four percent have a biblical worldview with four percent more with a variety of different worldviews. The dominant worldview (encompassing 92 percent) is the worldview of syncretism.
The classic definition of syncretism is that it is an amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought. In the Christian context, it is an acceptance and even affirmation of a diverse set of beliefs that aren’t biblical. That is best illustrated by the fact that a majority (58%) of American adults don’t believe in absolute truth and instead believe that moral truth is up to the individual to decide.
You would hope pastors might be able to correct some of this theological confusion. But George Barna found that less than a majority (41%) of senior pastors have a biblical worldview. And the problem is worse with youth pastors. Only 12 percent of them have a biblical worldview.
We shouldn’t be surprised at what is happening in the evangelical world when we understand the why behind it.

Kerby Anderson
Two dozen states have legalized marijuana and another 14 permit it for medical purposes. But ironically this comes at a time when we are learning more each year about the health effects of cannabis. Why talk about it now? Various media outlets report that the Biden administration is working to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous Schedule III drug.
Dr. Bertha Madras calls it a political decision not a scientific one. She has spent 60 years studying drugs and has served as a psychobiology professor at Harvard Medical School. In 2015 the World Health Organization asked her to do a detailed review of cannabis and its medical uses. Her 41-page report concluded that there were few medical benefits and many medical harms.
Allysia Finley provides a shorter summary of the health effects. For example, the “addiction potential of marijuana is as high or higher than some other drug,” especially for young people. About 30 percent of those who use cannabis have some degree of a use disorder. By comparison, only 13.5% of drinkers are estimated to be dependent on alcohol. Another concern is the fact that “marijuana does more lasting damage to the brain than alcohol, especially at the high potencies being consumed today.”
Many years ago, I had an author on my radio program who documented that cannabis could cause schizophrenia, but I received significant pushback from some in the audience. But we now have even better evidence of this link from the latest scientific studies.
On the other hand, there is some scant evidence that marijuana helps with very specific pain but not for most others. Overall, there are few benefits and many health concerns.
(To see the full text of Ms. Finley’s interview with Dr. Madras, please choose to read more.)