NEWSWEEK: 91% of Americans believe in God
\nTIME: Biblical llliteracy on the rise
\nBARNA: 100 Million Americans never attend church<\/p>\n
So if it’s true that 91% of American’s believe in God, why aren’t they reading His word and attending His church?<\/p>\n
The conventional answers to these questions derive from sociology rather than spirituality. Ask today’s church leaders why people don’t read the Bible or attend church and they will immediately blame the Bible and the church! I recently interviewed a theology Ph.D. candidate on my program who told me that even he<\/em> couldn’t understand the King James Version of the Bible! Really?<\/p>\n One megachurch pastor recently released a book in which he cites four possible reasons why the church fails to draw a crowd: God, the Message, the World, or the Church. God is off the hook because, well, he’s GOD! The Message is off the hook because it’s supposed to be timeless and transcend culture. The shocking point he makes is that the World is also off the hook because without the darkness there would be no light! By process of elimination it is the CHURCH that is the problem, even though the Church was founded by Jesus Christ with the promise that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. The problem with the church is that it doesn’t know how to relate and it is using outmoded methods to accomplish the task of drawing lost sinners. Nothing is ever mentioned about the theological truth that lost sinners in their natural state will never find the true gospel of the cross attractive (1 Corinthians 1, 2).<\/p>\n The fact is, the reason why so many Americans say they believe in God and yet live lives of practical atheism as demonstrated by their lack of church attendance and Bible knowlege is because America’s understanding of God is civil and not relational. American’s believe in God the way they believe in the sun coming up tomorrow: they know God is there, they know He makes some difference to their lives, but for the most part they’re oblivious to the real implications of who God is. God makes no conscionable difference to they way they live their lives, unless and until tragedy strikes, because American’s honor God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. American’s may know God (or think they know God) but the critical factor is whether or not God knows them (John 10:27; Matthew 7:23). And the people God has identified as His sheep will not fail to grow in grace and in the knowlege of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and they will not fail in assembling together as God’s redeemed people. God’s people love God’s word and God’s people. People who ignore God’s word and God’s people, even though they say they believe in God, are not<\/em> God’s people. Let’s stop kidding ourselves when the secular polls give us so false hope that America is in revival. “By their fruits<\/em>…”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEWSWEEK: 91% of Americans believe in God TIME: Biblical llliteracy on the rise BARNA: 100 Million Americans never attend church So if it’s true that 91% of American’s believe in God, why aren’t they reading His word and attending His … Continue reading