Sermon Illustrations

Statistics and Stuff

Lying, cheating, and stealing are becoming an "acceptable norm" among high-school and college students, says Ralph Wexler, speaking for the Joseph and Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics. In a recent survey, the Institute reported that 61 percent of the high-school and 32 percent of the college students polled admitted to having cheated on an exam during the past year; 33 percent of the high-school and 16 percent of college students said they'd stolen something in the last year; and 16 percent of the high-school and 32 percent of the college students said they'd lied on a resume or job application.  

National and International Religion Report, quoted in Signs of the Times, June 1993, Page 6.

Surveys in 1986:

70% of high school grads leave the church, never to return
65% of evangelical teens never read their Bibles
33% believe religion is out of date and out of touch
40% of all teens believe in astrology
30% read astrology column daily
93% know their sign
58% of protestant teens believe students should have access to contraceptives.
25% of high school students contract some form of V.D.
42% of protestant teens say there are many ways to God.
60% question that miracles are possible
28% feel the content of the Bible are not accurate.

According to surveys in 1990:

65% of all H.S. Christian students are sexually active
75% of all H.S. students cheat regularly
30% of all H.S. students have shoplifted in the past 30 days
45-50% of all teen pregnancies are aborted
3.3 million teens are alcoholics
1000 teens try to commit suicide daily
10% of H.S. students have experimented with or are involved in a homosexual lifestyle.

-Bruce Wilkinson, 7 Laws of the Learner.

Survey results from youth attending Southern Baptist summer activities: 22% witnessed violence in their homes. 27% had been involved in a physical attack. 19% had considered suicide. 20% had engaged in sexual intercourse. Nearly 60% had experimented with alcohol by age 13. 27% had tried drugs by that same age. 9% had experienced some kind of sexual violence. 

Scocaster, publication of Scofield Memorial Church, July 11, 1993.