“I believe in God. I believe the Bible is a good book. And then I believe whatever I want.” And this is how Christian pollster George Barna describes the American religious ethic in his latest book “Futurecast.” From 1991 to the present, the percentage of self-proclaimed, born-again Christians who are “unchurched” has gone from 24% to a whopping 37%. One woman who still calls herself a Christian tells how she drifted away from a mainline Protestant church and found peace in the Baha’i tradition along with Native American healing practices.
The bottom line is captured in Barna’s statement, “America is headed for 310 million people with 310 million religions”—customizing Christianity to fit our personal needs. It appears that the state of Christianity in America is not unlike that of Israel during the time of the judges. “In those days there was no king in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). Or worse, like Israel’s response to Jeremiah’s cry for repentance: "Don't waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to…" (18:12). Can such an attitude come from a true believer? Let the Bible speak for itself.
“Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused… Even though there is a path before each person that seems right [the way of a fool seems right to him], it ends in death” (Romans 1:21; Proverbs 12:15; 14:12).
Greg,
ReplyDeleteToday's blog helped me understand for the first time why the New Testament makes reference over thirty times to "the faith" .
I conclude that "the faith" must be something definitive--with parameters. It is a standard by which all else is measured.
So much for our individualized religion in America. We would do ourselves a service to investigate what "the faith" is exactly. Reconsideration of the contents of some of the creeds of days gone by may not be a bad idea.
Stan