What's happened to Christianity?ˇ
Well, unfortunately, while we have made a lot of progress over the past 2,000 years, some habits are hard to break.
Sure, we got rid of the witch hunts, the Spanish Inquisition, the wholesale conversion of the American Indian, and Irish Catholics are no longer fire-bombing Protestant churches. At the same time, the divide between "us" and "them" continues to Christians are supposed to represent Christ to the world. But according to the latest report card, something has gone terribly wrong. Using descriptions like "hypocritical", "insensitive", and "judgmental", young Americans share an impression of Christians that's nothing short of . . .'unChristian'.
One of the recent Barna Group studies found that 38 percent of American adults label themselves evangelical, but only 8 percent of them actually meet the criteria that Barna has established which is as follows: Those include saying their faith is very important in their life today; believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; believing that Satan exists; believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches; and describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today.
Just 8 percent! Seems like something has happened.
What has happened in America can be debated. In one corner are those that believe that our doctrine, or the lack thereof, has pulled us down. The reasoning is that since people aren't properly schooled in the Bible nor doctrine nor creed, error has crept in. Whether Lutheran, or Reformed; Premillennial, Postmillennial or Amillennial, Charismatic or Bible-thumping, there are those that believe that the root of our problem is a lack of theological training.
They are entitled to their opinion but I think it's a matter of the heart.
When Jesus was asked which was the greatest of the commandments, He replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:36-38). The primary motivation of this religion of ours (and I still like to think of it as not a religion but a relationship) is love. Jesus went on to say, "and the second is that you are to love your neighbor as yourself."
The church is dying in America where we have more seminaries, schools, and bibles than any people at any time; also more radio and TV stations with the gospel taught and preached 24 X 7. The church is alive and growing in China, throughout Asia, South America and Africa where the people have nothing compared to us.
But they do have love.
