29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men.
30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.
31 Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
32 And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him."
We are called to live a life of obedience to the Lord - abiding in Him, according to John 15. Connected to our Savior and reliant on the Spirit of God to practice what we say we believe. If we are walking in the authentic Christian life, I believe that can make a strong statement to the people with whom we interact. As we speak truth and radiate the nature of Christ, walking in the love of the Lord, we can truly testify to what God can do.
In a culture where Biblical truth is not reflected to the degree that we would like to see, we can be challenged to live with a sense of passionate obedience to the direction of Scripture. Here are some words from 1st John 2:
4 He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Are we seeing a decline in the practice of religion in America? Tobin Grant, who studies trends in religion for the Religion News Service website says that we are in the midst of what he calls a "Great Decline" in religiosity in our nation. And, today, in response, we can choose to see the glass half-empty or half-full regarding these statistics.
First of all, I found an article he wrote from December about the rise and fall in American faith practice over the past few decades. He said that America in the 40's was about as religious as we are today. He writes:
As we would suspect, religiosity declined in the 60's, in which religious institutions were being questioned. That decline continued until the end of the 70's, then leveled off. But, as Grant points out, over the last 15 years there has been another decline in religion - sharper than the one in the '60's and '70's. He says that church attendance and prayer is less frequent, the number of people with no religion is growing, and there are not as many people who say that religion is an important part of their lives. But this decline, which he describes as a "Great Decline, " has not been as sharp as the rise in the '50's.
In a more recent article for RNS from early this month, Tobin Grant quotes the latest General Social Survey, or GSS, which shows that since 2012, there are 7.5 million Americans who are no longer active in religion. He points out three measures that correlate with the statistics regarding the percentage of Americans who left religion increased between 2012 and 2014, reaching its highest level in decades.
Those measures:
When asked for their religious preference, 21% of those surveyed said "none."
Also, 34% of Americans never attend a worship service, other than weddings and other ceremonies. This is a 3.4 point increase from just a few years earlier.
Observation. While this news may on the surface be discouraging, we can take this diagnosis and consider our response. Interestingly enough, in the 1940's, there was a decline in religion, but there were not nearly as many ways to communicate religious material or trends in mass media. When mass media did proliferate in the '50's, there were positive message that were being sent. Such is not the case today - with the opportunity to transmit and receive material through the Internet, we can be exposed to and influenced by information that contradicts our Christian worldview. There are a variety of religious ideas that are circulating around the Internet, so it's not surprising that some of these are taking hold.
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In a culture where Biblical truth is not reflected to the degree that we would like to see, we can be challenged to live with a sense of passionate obedience to the direction of Scripture. Here are some words from 1st John 2:
4 He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Are we seeing a decline in the practice of religion in America? Tobin Grant, who studies trends in religion for the Religion News Service website says that we are in the midst of what he calls a "Great Decline" in religiosity in our nation. And, today, in response, we can choose to see the glass half-empty or half-full regarding these statistics.
First of all, I found an article he wrote from December about the rise and fall in American faith practice over the past few decades. He said that America in the 40's was about as religious as we are today. He writes:
The war had put a halt on many of the things that increase religiosity, particularly marriage and procreation. Churches, just like other organizations, were slowed by drain on resources and volunteers during the war. The post-war years turned this around. The economy improved. The baby boom ensued. And religion grew.
The 1950s were also a time when America began to see itself as a Christian nation in a cold war with atheistic communism. President Eisenhower joined a church after being elected, becoming the first president to be baptized while in office. In 1954, the phrase “under God” was added to the pledge of allegiance to signify the religious stance of the country.He said that in the '50's, "Magazines including Life and McCall’s featured issues on religion and a so-called religious revival. Some even labeled it the 'Third Great Awakening.' Sociologists noted the rise in religiosity..."
As we would suspect, religiosity declined in the 60's, in which religious institutions were being questioned. That decline continued until the end of the 70's, then leveled off. But, as Grant points out, over the last 15 years there has been another decline in religion - sharper than the one in the '60's and '70's. He says that church attendance and prayer is less frequent, the number of people with no religion is growing, and there are not as many people who say that religion is an important part of their lives. But this decline, which he describes as a "Great Decline, " has not been as sharp as the rise in the '50's.
In a more recent article for RNS from early this month, Tobin Grant quotes the latest General Social Survey, or GSS, which shows that since 2012, there are 7.5 million Americans who are no longer active in religion. He points out three measures that correlate with the statistics regarding the percentage of Americans who left religion increased between 2012 and 2014, reaching its highest level in decades.
Those measures:
When asked for their religious preference, 21% of those surveyed said "none."
Also, 34% of Americans never attend a worship service, other than weddings and other ceremonies. This is a 3.4 point increase from just a few years earlier.
He also relates that the percentage who never pray is also up slightly. Nearly one-in-six Americans never prays.
So, what three words can we take away?
Observation. While this news may on the surface be discouraging, we can take this diagnosis and consider our response. Interestingly enough, in the 1940's, there was a decline in religion, but there were not nearly as many ways to communicate religious material or trends in mass media. When mass media did proliferate in the '50's, there were positive message that were being sent. Such is not the case today - with the opportunity to transmit and receive material through the Internet, we can be exposed to and influenced by information that contradicts our Christian worldview. There are a variety of religious ideas that are circulating around the Internet, so it's not surprising that some of these are taking hold.
Optimism. But, there is cause for hope. Well, for one thing, we can use the same communication tools to share God's truth. And, when we see that people are practicing faith less and praying less, we can view that information as a large potential group of people to come to know our Savior. If people are being repelled by religion, perhaps they can be won by love - the love of God's people and the message of truth.
Obedience. Finally, we can impact our society by being people who live our lives with authenticity and conviction, obedient to what our Savior has taught us and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls us to go - so we respond by sharing our faith. Jesus calls us to love - so we love with His capacity. Jesus calls us to walk in His steps - so we obey! I think a convicted faith can be a contagious faith. Jesus reserved some of His harshest criticism for the hypocritical religious leaders. That can challenge us to live what we believe and walk with radical obedience to His truth.
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