The Folly of Following Polls

We have become a nation driven by polls.

Polls are taken to determine practically everything from what sort of food Americans prefer to whether or not a president should be impeached. And, quite frankly, many are influenced by what the polls allegedly reveal.

Unfortunately, some people are so void of intellectual independence and bereft of moral integrity that they simply wait to find out what most everyone else believes before they draw any personal conclusions.

Does the Bible speak to this matter? We believe it does.

Biblical Warnings About Following Public Opinion Polls

Public opinion polls would have suggested that Noah was quite foolish in constructing a massive ark as a safety measure against a coming flood—because such an event had never occurred before. History demonstrated otherwise.

Moses wrote: “You shall not follow a multitude to do evil” (Exodus 23:2), which, in effect, says: “Don’t listen to polls.”

The children of Israel, as a punishment, had to spend forty years in a blistering desert under the most adverse conditions. Why? Because 83% of the spies said the land of Canaan couldn’t be conquered by the Hebrews.

Polls do not determine the truth. If a poll were conducted and 99.9% of America said that two plus two equals five, that wouldn’t establish a new mathematical fact.

Some Mistaken Opinion Polls in America

A vast majority of the American public believes that human beings evolved from a lower life form. Some think this occured without God. Others known as theistic evolutionists believe God orchestrated the affair. Most folks, though, are convinced we have animal ancestors.

But the polls contradict Jesus Christ who affirmed that humans, male and female, existed as such since “the beginning of the creation” (Mk. 10:6-7).

A university recently polled five hundred ministers of various denominations. An astounding 80% said that the doctrine of hell should not be taught. But the Son of God spoke more about hell than anyone in the New Testament. What does that say for the polls?

Most people think the majority of humanity will gain heaven. But did they not read what Christ said.

Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leads unto life, and few are they that find it (Matt. 7:13-14).

Polls indicate that most folks professing an identification with Christianity do not believe water baptism is essential to salvation. But this opinion is not in harmony with biblical truth (Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:21).

A poll of Christendom clearly would indicate that a sizable majority strongly feel that one church is as good as another. We may merely select the church of his choice. But the Scriptures don’t support this view. Only the church established by the Son of God has the approval of Heaven (Eph. 4:4; 1:22-23).

Anyone who has a nodding acquaintance with the Bible knows that truth cannot be determined by counting heads.

Unfortunately, there are many—even in the church—who also arrive at their convictions by the polling process. For a growing number of people, the divorce-remarriage issue is settled by what most preachers say, rather than the clear testimony of Matthew 5:32 and 19:9.

I have had folks tell me, “If what you say about . . . is true, then most members of the church are mistaken about this.” Or “most of the teachers from this preaching school or that college disagree with you.”

When will we grow up and understand that any human poll is outnumbered if it opposes what God has said?

It is good to consult the wisdom of others. But, in the final analysis, only the rule of God’s revealed will matters, because it is divine law, not some humanly devised constitution. Let us stand with that—regardless of the polls.