“Provoking Christian Insights” series

Part 12

“He Expects”

“Not everyone who says; “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven  … only he who does the will of My Father…God,” Matthew 7:21

We are building for eternity

The Brownsville Revival Evangelist, Steven Hill, often like to say; “a lot of people know a lot about God. But not a lot of people know God.” I suspect that there is a lot of truth in that statement. A Boston University professor agues that Americans, though ‘spiritual,’ are woefully ignorant about religion.

Last week in Sunday School, Rev. Duane Lee talked about preaching about Hell while studying the 10^th Chapter of Revelation. He said; “I was told while studying Homiletics that if I didn’t have tears running down my cheeks while preaching against Hell, I wasn’t a good preacher.”

I know that I skipped some of the small group sessions because my interest was there socially, but when I heard about the Revelation class and who was teaching it, I wanted to go and learn.

Often, at the coffee shop, when the topic of conversation turns to religion, the comments turn my stomach. I can’t believe what some people believe about religion. There is a man of Indian descent there who seems to know more about Christianity than some of the churchgoers who get into the discussions.

The most often and correct writers to this column are not Christians but Jews. Some of my churchgoing friends seem to think that just showing up is all that is important. I used to sit and wonder why people would be brought into the church with no obvious further learning requirements.

A delightful surprise is when someone comes into the church and zooms right past others with their hunger for God and the desire to do His will.

Newsweek (March 12, 2007) “Steve Prothero is the kind of professor who makes you want to go back to college. During an hour lecture of his Boston University course “Death and Immortaility,” 200 students sat rapt last week as his train of though led him from the Docetics (early Christians, who believed that Jesus was all-God, not flesh), to reincarnation, to Disney World, to Hindu cremation rituals, to Plato’s accou8nt of Socrates’ trial, to “Beauty and the Beast,: to a hypothetical suicidal bunny, to a discussions of the merits of exile versus death for a man such a Socrates.

“Prothero’s new book “Religious Literacy,” a work whose message is far more sober than its author’s affect. In spite of the fact that more than 90 percent of Americans say they believe in God, only a tiny portion of them knows a thing about religion. When e began teaching college 17 years ago, Prothero writes, he discovered that a few of his students could name the authors of the Christian Gospels. Fewer could name a single Hindu Scripture and almost no one could name the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.”

This man made it his job to figure out what his students didn’t know and to teach it to them. He began giving religious literacy quizzes to his students, and subsequently, to everyone he knew. All most everybody failed. 

My point is that in a world where almost every political conflict has a religious underpinning, Prothero writes that Americans are selling themselves short by remaining ignorant about basic religious history.

Watching the late evening news most people don’t know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite or even the name of Mormonism’s holy book, according to Protero. He believes that world religion courses should be taught in schools, and every American should take a Bible course.

In a column by Helen T. Gray in the Colorado Springs Gazette (July 21, 2007), D. G. Hart, a church history scholar is quoted as saying “America is awash in faith,” American spirituality is a mile wide but an inch deep.

David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group in a recent study said, “Most Americans do not have strong and clear beliefs,” he said mainly because, “they lack a consistent and holistic understanding of their faith.”

Results by the Christian research company tell the some of the story:

“Sixty-six percent of Americans believe God is best described as the all-powerful, all-knowing perfect creator of the universe who rules the world today. This is down from 71 percent a year ago and represents the lowest percentage in more than 20 years.”

Worse: Eighty-three percent identified themselves as Christians, but yet only 49 percent of them said they were absolutely committed to Christianity.

One-third strongly disagreed that Jesus sinned. Two-thirds either said Jesus sinned or weren’t sure.

One-quarter endorse the belief that Satan is a real spiritual being. Two-thirds said he is not or weren’t sure.

Within a week of the survey, 83 percent said that they had prayed, 43 had attended a religious service; 41 percent had read the Bible outside a religious service; 22 percent had had volunteered free time to help a congregation or other nonprofit organization’ and 20 percent had attended Sunday school. Fifty percent had donated to a congregation in the last year. These numbers changed little from the previous year.  

“Most Americans have one foot in the biblical camp and one foot outside it,” Kinnaman said. “They say they are committed, but to what? They are spiritually active, but to what end?”

Religion a la carte

I knew a fine Catholic woman who once told me she was “a Cafeteria Catholic,” a term I had heard but didn’t know people practiced it. Now, many years later, I hear the same thing happening in protestant circles. It is evident how increasingly eclectic Americans are about their faith, picking and choosing beliefs according to their needs and preferences said Hart. Can we pick and choose how we serve God?

Hart wrote that there was a weakening of biblical and doctrinal knowledge among evangelicals that is affecting religious practices and morality. “They are the more conservative group, so you would expect them to hold on to biblical truths more than others,” said Hart.

“If evangelicals are becoming shallow, what does that mean for the future?” Said Hart. But there is good news as well, 61 percent who took the survey said they had personally explained their faith to someone else in the last year with the hope that the person would accept Jesus Christ as savior. This rate compares with those who took the test in previous years.

Note this; there is concern that church attendance will wane.

“For young people, no none enjoys participating in things they believe are just for show or just for the ritual of it,” Kinnaman said. ‘If beliefs don’t matter, then actions don’t matter,” this is a no-nonsense generation.

David Roozen of the Hartford Seminary said the emphasis on pluralism and interfaith relations will further strengthen picking and choosing faith. “If all religions are the same … why bother?” Roozen said. 

If your congregations wants to be vital, you have to be as attuned to the “consumer” as to your historical faith,” Roozen said. Mega churches are doing this and this is where the pockets of vitality can be found, he said.

Worship, concern, and the work have to be real

The changing world is altering faith. I see strengthening in the mainline faith. Prothero sees Americans who have enough religious knowledge to debate ethics positions using holy texts to understand Biblical references in political speeches, and to question their own beliefs about God-and to encourage others to question theirs.

It is no secret that God created Heaven and earth with a free will. Satan and his minions fell because they used their free will to sin against God. We have the right to use our free will to please God and be what God expects of us.

Kenneth H. Maahs in his book; “The Message of Revelation for a New Millennium …of Angels, Beasts, and Plagues,” writes about Rev. 20: 1-4 citing Earnest Stoffel’s writing, explaining evil’s origins writing:

“Man is made free to say Yes or No to God. “No” is the great dragon evil wherever it is found. And “No” has become a power on earth. The question is whether or not “No” is strong enough to overcome.”

“Can “No” be overcome? The ultimate judgment on “No is that it is to be bound, cast into the pit, shut out of history sealed up.” For a thousand years “No” will cease to inflict its sulphurous presence upon the inhabitants of the earth.

One thing is constant, until the White Throne gives us its judgment, the war against evil continues and like it or not we are a part of it. We must “preach against Hell with tears in our eyes.” The only things you can take to heaven with you are souls that have been won to Christ. The work and the worship have to be real. It is what God expects of us.

INSPIRATION: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph 6 10:12)

Write: croneis@earthlink.net