Reinforcing Relationship

The apostle Paul was attempting to accurately transition the church in Galatia out of religious practice into a relationship with a living, vibrant God who called them into a relationship with Him through Christ.  In Galatians 3, we read:
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have you suffered so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain?
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?--
6 just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."

The Bible tells the story of a loving, Creator God who wants to have fellowship with the human beings He has created.  When humanity fell in the Garden, He set into motion His plan of restoration. Jesus came to show a fallen world the way to God.  Time after time, His people forgot Him, even though He showed up in a number of ways.  And, even today, though we have perhaps encountered Jesus and have been born again, yet we forget His goodness and love.   He wants to renew and restore our relationship and He enables us to grow in Him consistently.

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Religious practice is no substitute for a relationship with the God of the universe, Maker of heaven and earth, who calls us into fellowship with Himself through His Son. 2nd Timothy 3 says:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Pew Research Center has been following the emergence of the so-called religious "nones," and in the summary of a recent survey, it opens by saying, "Perhaps the most striking trend in American religion in recent years has been the growing percentage of adults who do not identify with a religious group. This new survey reveals that 78% of these religious “nones” say "they were raised as a member of a particular religion before shedding their religious identity in adulthood."

In this study, Pew decided to dig a bit deeper to find out why people are making these decisions.  It found that:

About half of current religious “nones” who were raised in a religion (49%) indicate that a lack of belief led them to move away from religion. This includes many respondents who mention “science” as the reason they do not believe in religious teachings, including one who said “I’m a scientist now, and I don’t believe in miracles.” Others reference “common sense,” “logic” or a “lack of evidence” – or simply say they do not believe in God.

One out of five people surveyed expressed an opposition to organized religion in general, and a similar percentage indicated they were religiously unsure.  Responses from those people who contend they are religious in some way include, "I believe in God, but in my own way," or those who describe themselves as “seeking enlightenment” or “open-minded.” Several said they are "spiritual” if not religious.

One-in-ten of these religious "nones" would consider themselves "inactive" religiously, many of them who apparently just got out of practice and some who say they are too busy for church.

There are several thoughts that came to mind when contemplating the results of this study.  First of all, I think we have to recognize the spiritual reality that organized religion cannot offer peace and satisfaction in the soul; an encounter with the living God is what's important.  Religion can lead to relationship, but Jesus is calling us not ultimately to religious practice, although holy living and worship will flow from a right relationship with God through Christ.

We have to strive to express and experience the reality of a living Savior.  Perhaps people drift away because that have not seen evidence of that reality.  It's more than just a jubilant encounter, but a day-by-day abiding in Christ, as we are attracted by Him and transmit that attraction to people around us.

And, we also can recognize that science and Bible not contradictory - I believe that science is the documentation of principles and events that we find documented in the pages of the Scriptures.  We can be convinced that evidence of God's ways and His handiwork can be found in science.   Science should not be used to reason away or rationalize Biblical evidence, but to reinforce truths about God that we discover in His Word.