Are Americans Losing Their Faith?
At the end of August, buried among the headlines of riots and viruses, a three-thousand person survey found that 52% of those that responded did not believe that Jesus was God in the flesh, but only a good teacher. The headlines read, “52% of American Adults Do Not Believe that Jesus Was God.” In this same survey, it was revealed that over 30% of evangelicals did not believe Jesus was God. Is this concerning?
In one sense, we should be concerned about the decline of faith in society. The Bible says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). As a rule of thumb, lawlessness increases proportionally to the decrease of faith. I do not know of anyone who wants to live in a lawless society. So, inasmuch as faith is decreasing, we should be concerned about the relative lawlessness of our communities and how to address such issues.
On the other hand, the Christian knows that faithfulness means walking a narrow way that most will not walk. Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). The majority are and always have been under the dominion of Satan. “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). The good news is that we do not have to live that way. We can make a choice to follow Jesus despite what the world does. “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward” (Hebrews 10:35).
God bless you, and I love you.
Kevin Cauley