Are you leaving Christianity too?

 

 

There is a trend in the world with more and more people who were at one time Christians turning their backs on their faith and walking away.

 

Are you one of them?

 

Secularism is on the rise. That much we know. But added to it, many once Christians are now also walking away. 

 

I cannot speak for where you live, but here in the UK, regular church attendance, that is once a week, all denominations combined, is about 5% of the population. You can hardly call us a Christian nation, although many would identify themselves as such when asked in the street. Often church attendance is limited to baptisms, weddings and funerals; and these are considered as social occasions and not religious in any context.

 

Many are Christians just because their parents were Christians, or because they were brought up this way, or because it is a badge they wear when asked what they are. Christians in name only but not in fact. Even if they do attend church.

 

Some, especially the young, identify themselves as not believing in anything. They may call themselves atheists, agnostics, non-believers or whatever; but what is significant is that they wear their particular badge with pride. It's as if to believe in a living God is an antiquated notion that is long past its day. 

Christians are leaving the faith for many reasons. Some because they have had an argument with their priest or vicar and have left the church not to return again.

 

Others because they have suffered a tragedy, illness or death in their lives and blame it all on God for not looking after them. (If my protector does not care about me why should I care about Him?)

 

Whilst others have had a dispute with family or loved ones and do not accept their relatives' faith and have as a result distanced themselves from them.

 

And others have become too busy with the pressures of life, or by the alluring pleasures it offers, that they have just neglected their faith never to return again.

 

Whatever their reasons, many Christians are leaving the faith yet believing, in all consciousness, that they are good people really, and destined to Heaven ... eventually ... for eternity.

 

But there's more ... 

 

Aside from Christians leaving Christianity; there's another growing trend in the world of not wanting to know about God or to learn about Him and follow Him. It's as if the whole world has put their hands on their ears and are shouting " La ... La ... La ... I don't want to know!"

 

Christianity is mocked, derided and banned in many lands and new generations are encouraged to distance themselves from it. Time was when you would find a Bible in every hotel room. Now many such establishments have removed the Bibles so as not to offend their clients. Churches and preachers are teaching a new watered-down type of Christianity where anything goes as long as you are happy, comfortable and not offending anyone.

 

"Not everyone who calls me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do what my Father in Heaven wants them to do." Matthew 7:21.

I've never heard of God

 

We have now reached the stage on earth where almost everyone has heard of God. There may be pockets of people here and there who have not heard of God, but by and large the great majority of people have heard of God.

Some of these people may have heard of God but do not really know God. He appeared on their "radar" at some stage in their lives but they never bothered to find out more. Maybe because they're busy, maybe it's inertia; but for some reason or other they did not attempt to find out and learn more.

Others have heard of God and tried to understand and learn more about Him but decided that considering the evidence, or lack of it, God does not exist. They are sure of this and will not be persuaded otherwise. Some amongst this group, not satisfied with their decision and conclusions, have taken it upon themselves to convince everyone to their way of thinking. They see it as their mission in life to persuade everyone that God does not exist and will use every means at their disposal like disdain, contempt and ridicule to back their argument and persuade the vulnerable to their way of thinking.

There are those who "semi-believe" in God. They've heard of Him and decided to keep their head down in case He punishes them, like He did often times as recorded in the Old Testament. 

And there are those who believe in God enthusiastically and have experienced His presence and love in their lives.

Whatever group we belong to, and there are those who fluctuate from group to group; that fact remains that the large majority of the world has heard of God.

Now the thing is this ... let us assume for a moment that God exists and that one day, individually, each one of us gets to meet Him face to face ... regardless of which group we belong to ... what will we say?

What will you say?

Now look here ...

 

Years ago, I knew a Member of Parliament who often started a discussion, or to make a point, by saying, "Now look here ... ... ..."

He did not mean it in a patronising or demeaning way, to put you down or in your place. He was just making a point. A bit like today people who start by saying, "The thing is ... ... ..."

So I'll borrow his phrase and start with:

Now look here ... There isn't one person in the civilised free world that has not heard of God or Jesus. Everyone has heard of Jesus. Every generation since the Old Testament has had an opportunity to hear about God and Jesus.

But many do not believe.

I was thinking about that the other day. These people are not non-believers because of ignorance. Because somehow they've never heard of God. They have made the conscious decision not to believe.

At some point in their lives they heard about God, and His Son, Jesus, and either dismissed the whole "thing" as irrelevant to their lives, or consciously and deliberately decided not to believe. To them, God and Christianity are either nonsense or a human invention of some sort, a fairy tale without substance.

When a comedian on TV makes fun of Christianity, sometimes bordering on the blasphemous, he not only has decided that God does not exist, but is confident enough to ridicule the very notion and mocks those people who believe and practice their Faith. He has consciously decided to openly joke about belief in God and Jesus. He cannot in any way have the slightest doubt, or possibility of one chance in a million millions, that he might be wrong. To his mind, he is as sure as sure can be, that God does not exist. And, whether deliberately or not, his public utterances are influencing vulnerable young minds who are yet struggling about their beliefs.

He won't be able to say, "Oops ... I'm sorry ... I didn't mean it!" when he meets his Maker.

He reminds me of the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes in the Bible. They were learned men. They studied the scriptures and the writings of the Prophets of the Old Testament. They knew, and probably believed, about God. They knew the Birth of Jesus was prophesied as the Son of God. Yet, they deliberately, obstinately, and in defiance stood against Christ time and again and accused Him of getting His powers from the devil. (Matthew 12:22 onwards).

So now look here ... most non-believers, in my view, do so as a conscious decision. No one is an atheist by accident any more than no one is a Christian by accident.

So what should we, Real Christians, (if we are such and not by name only), do about this?

Pray ... pray ... and pray again. Many a person changed his mind,

(Check out Saint Augustine on the Internet. He changed his mind and eventually turned to God and became a leading figure in the Church).

Christianity in retreat

 

It grieves me to note that Christianity is in retreat, and there's very little our churches and their leaders are doing about it. Very often we see the Bible misinterpreted, behaviour that is un-Christian, and challenges and mocking at the very notion of the existence of God; and nothing is said by our elders for fear of upsetting people.

There are those who believe that the Old Testament is no longer relevant to today's modern society; and what was said then is no longer appropriate in a modern world.

Some believe that Jesus did not really mean it when He said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." It was all imagery, they say. God loves everybody. He even loves and forgives the devil.

Such interpretation of an "all loving" God is wrong and dangerous. Of course, God loves everybody. But this does not entitle those very same people whom God loves to turn their back on Him and not love Him back. They can't say, "I can do what I want because God will always love me anyway!" They can't interpret God's love to suit them and invent their own alternative gods, be they materialistic or spiritually un-Biblical.

Some voices, in some cases within the Church itself, do not believe in the virgin birth. Christ was not born through the Holy Spirit; they say. It was all a story by the Gospel writers to explain that He was blessed by God. 

Some Christians do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God, born of God; begotten not made, consubstantial to the Father, as we recite in the Credo. He is now considered by some as a teacher, a wise man, a blessed man; and not the Son of God. And some Churches allow this false belief and teaching.

Others, also within the Church, have hinted that the Resurrection is also imagery to explain that "we are all born again". It did not actually happen, but it is a story to explain that we are all put right with God as long as we are good in our life and the way we live.

The many teachings of Christ about Heaven, hell, marriage, divorce, sin and so on are being re-interpreted by a modern society to suit its selfish needs.

Slowly, but surely, such watered-down Christian teaching is permeating through society and the apparent silence from prominent Church leaders becomes yet another step in the march of retreat.

At a recent funeral I attended, someone at the lectern prayed, "I thank the Universe for the life of (the deceased)".

The priest left this un-challenged. He did not, (gently), explain that "the Universe" (whatever that is) had nothing to do with the life this individual led.

Humanity has always searched for a supreme power to explain its existence and its inadequacies. From earliest time people have worshipped the sun, fire, volcanoes and other man-made gods as they progressed in their quest for the one living Creator God we have come to know and worship.

Today, it seems we have gone full circle and some prefer to revert back to idolising nature, the Universe, Mother Earth, celebrities like musicians, sports personalities and the like, or even materialistic things not too dissimilar to the golden calf in the Old Testament.

They prefer to worship anything apart from the true living God Who created us all.

NOTE: If you agree with this article please invite others to read it here. Thank you.

Not Now ... I'm Busy!

 

There's a saying that life is like a toilet paper roll. The nearer it comes to the end the faster it goes.

You know how it is. We're all very busy these days doing this and that and the other thing and trying to get our head round doing more jobs on our "To Do" list. 

It's not like when we were children and things moved so slowly and a week was as long as a year especially when we're waiting for something nice like a birthday party, or a visit to the cinema or park or whatever. 

These days time moves much faster it seems and all the days and weeks seem to blend together and another year is over.

We really don't have time to go to church ... every Sunday. Life's too busy for that. 

A recent survey said that in the UK regular attendance to church, all denominations, is about 5% of the population. Yet, I guess many people consider that they are Christian at heart, good people really, and they will certainly go to Heaven. Whatever they believe Heaven is.

We all need rules to keep us safe and to live an ordered life. Can you imagine the chaos if you went out in the street and drove wherever you wished and ignored traffic lights and road signals? 

In Christian life too, we have some rules to follow, known as the Ten Commandments. One of them says that we should keep one day a week holy. This means that we should make an effort to attend church regularly and not just fit it in when the golf game has been cancelled. 

Being a Christian means loving God and obeying Him and respecting His rules. How would you feel if your friends only come running to you when they need help and the rest of the time they ignore you because they're too busy? It is the same with God. Many use God as a convenient insurance policy for when things go wrong.

Christianity is not an optional extra. It is not a badge one wears to identify them when asked.

You are either a Christian or you are not. Hiding behind the badge may fool others, including you, but it certainly will not fool God. If you say you're a Christian and you don't go to church then you're not a Christian.

And one more thing ... as someone once said, going to church does not make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

Christianity is a way of life, a Mission, an eternal destination. Christianity is difficult. It is not for the faint-hearted and the timid. Christianity is hard work; but with a good pension plan.

The message may be hard to swallow but that's the way it is.

Christianity is not what it used to be

 

Maybe it's my imagination, but Christianity isn't what it used to be.

There was a time when people behaved somewhat differently regarding their Christianity than they do now. For example, you'd go to a hospital or a school and you'd see a Crucifix or a Cross on the wall.

In our school all the pupils and teachers used to gather in the big hall every morning for prayers and a hymn before we went to our class for lessons. We said prayers at lunch time, led by the headmaster or a teacher, before we ate.

Women used to wear a hat or a veil on their heads when in church.

The sermons were more relevant to life as it is. The priest used the theme of the Gospel of the day and made what he said relevant to how we live and how we should behave. These days all he does is repeat the Gospel we've just read and does not add or explain anything. I know one priest who manages to put me to sleep with the first sentence of his sermon. I am often suddenly awakened with a sharp elbow in the side.

In them days men would stop and take their hats off if a funeral hearse would pass in the street. People would do the sign of the Cross when passing a church.

Priests used to visit their parishioners at home, not just when they were ill, but at all times just for a cup of tea. Often people would invite priests for Sunday lunch, and they were always there at special events like wedding anniversaries. Now priests seem to be always too busy with administrative work, and Ecumenical Meetings and don't seem to have time for their parishioners.

These days it's all different. Maybe it's me. Perhaps I got it all wrong. I've been lucky to have known some good priests in Olden Days ... 

But let's not focus on those around us. How about us Christians? Yes, you and me! Whatever happens in the world what is our Mission here in this life ... right now?

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28-19:20

Who will teach them?

 

When I was at school, not so many centuries ago, we used to start the day with "Assembly". 

The whole school would gather in the big hall. Because there were so many of us all the pupils used to sit on the floor because there was no room for chairs to accommodate everyone; or even enough time to put the chairs out in rows like a cinema, and then take them away after Assembly.

My job, as a lead pupil, was to organise two other pupils to stand at the door and hand out hymn books to all coming in, and to collect them afterwards.

All the teachers stood/and sat on chairs, on the big stage up front. The hall was used as a theatre when we had plays or concerts.

Every morning at Assembly we waited for the Head Master to come in and walk all the way up front and walk up the stage from the side and stand in the middle of the stage. At that point we would all stand up and sing the hymn for the day. The music teacher played the piano.

After the hymn there was a Bible reading. Then school announcements, then another hymn. And so we left in an orderly fashion to our classrooms. The whole event lasted about 15 minutes.

Every day started with a Christian based assembly.

Now ... ... ... 

I wonder how much Christianity is really taught in schools. Not much I am told. In a lot of businesses it is forbidden to talk religion at work. I know it was so when I worked in London; it was frowned upon.

Some youngsters get Christian teaching in church either on Sundays or in preparation for certain events like First Communion, Confirmation or such. However, I read somewhere that in the UK regular church attendance is about 5% of the population.

So I ask myself: Who will teach them?

If there is a generation growing up with little if any Christian education; how will they grow up with Christian values and principles? How will they teach the next generation after them about God and Christianity?

I know of several people who not only have they stopped going to church, or believing altogether, having been brought up as Christians; but they have also not bothered to pass on the Christian beliefs which their parents instilled in them to their off-springs. 

Their attitude is that their children will have to make up their own minds on what to believe when they grow up.

When your decision upsets others

We live in strange times where people are easily offended and we have to walk on egg shells so as not to upset anyone. It seems whatever we say, or do, will make someone unhappy, or draw criticism of some sort. So we try our best to please everyone.

FACT 1 - You cannot please everyone all the time. You cannot even please everyone some of the time. There will always be someone who is not pleased whatever you do.

FACT 2 - Someone should have the courage to tell people to grow up and not act like a spoilt child.

FACT 3 - Everyone is afraid to do what Fact 2 suggests in case they offend someone else.

Let us now consider what happens when we make a very personal decision affecting our lives which somehow offends others to the point where they either distance themselves from us, avoid us, or outright oppose us.

Many people decided at some point in their lives to become Christians. They may have been brought up so by their parents or made the personal decision at some stage as they grew up. In times gone by, this would not have raised many eye brows.

Not so today. Being a Christian has in many cases alienated friends and family members. In some cases it has caused upheavals within families even leading to marriage breakdowns.

This causes untold pressure on all involved, not least on the Christian person.

In a marriage, particularly, when one spouse wishes to attend regular church services, or bring up the children in the faith, whereas the other spouse vehemently opposes such a decision.

Often, as children grow up, they may move away from the faith they were brought up in and prefer to follow the modern trend of unbelief. This results in a great divide between parents and offspring, or indeed between siblings.

The tension can of course extend to other family members or friendships too.

So what is a person of faith to do?

The choice is, as always, perfectly clear albeit at times difficult for some individuals. One has to choose between God, or pleasing one's family or friends.

If they cannot accept your decision to follow your beliefs and your faith, that is their problem, not yours. As much as it must hurt, as much as it may cause a drift amongst people, you have to choose your God above all else. 

I have known friendships and even marriages break down over this. But at the end of the day the choice has to be made by each individual in each circumstance.

"And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet." Matthew 10:14

Above all ... and this is important ... pray for those who oppose you because of your faith.

I don't believe ...

I believe ... ... ... that the reason that the world is in the state it is in these days is because too many people have ceased to believe.

There was a time, yonks ago, when people believed in things. And that belief, however true, or however tenuous, kept people focussed, either individually or collectively, and the benefit or outcome of that focus was for the good of society in general.

Wait a minute till I read that last paragraph again. You might wish to do the same. I think it is important in what I am about to say next.

You see ... in far away times, people believed in things. They believed they should work hard and better themselves. They believed in the family. Looking after their own ... wives, children, siblings, parents or grand-parents. They believed in education. They believed in country. They believed in society ... we're all in this together and all that ... only then, they truly meant it.

They believed in responsibility. Theirs as well as that of others. They knew the difference between right and wrong. They encouraged the former and punished the latter. 

Some even believed in God ... many more than these days it seems. They believed in His omnipotence as Creator of everything. They obeyed His rules. Some believed in Jesus His only Son. 

In them days I speak of, they also believed in the devil; for he exists all right. You can't believe in God and not believe in the devil.

They also believed in Heaven and hell. In a final judgement. They even believed in eternal life after our physical bodily death.

And then things changed ... gradually but surely ... they changed. 

I don't think people believe in anything these days. 

I doubt many believe in personal responsibility. Whatever happens in life it is always someone else's fault. The Government, my parents, my teachers, the education system, my health, my bad luck, God even ... it is His fault that this is happening to me ... it is never my personal responsibility.

They certainly don't believe in the family considering the increasing number of divorces, children born out of wedlock, dysfunctional families, uncaring parents and children and so on. Not forgetting of course abortions, euthanasia and the increasing number of elderly people left to fend for themselves or packed into a care home to look after them. I guess a good slogan for such homes should be "We care so you don't have to!"

People don't believe in, or know, right from wrong any more. It is all right to do this as long as I am not found out. It isn't wrong really. 

They don't believe in society. There is no such thing as society, country or collective loyalty. It is all me ... me ... me ... As long as I am OK and I can do my thing my way.

Many certainly do not believe in God any more. 

The tenets of life have become easy and simple. We are born. We live. We die. Period. Full stop.

There is no such thing as Heaven or hell. A God with a beard sitting on a cloud somewhere judging people. Sending some to hell; where devils with horns and tails, wielding three pronged forks, prick people in the backside as they push them into fiery furnaces. The imagery of burning fires consuming tortured souls no longer holds much credence these days.

People generally no longer believe in all that. It is stuff of folklore. Legends. You might as well believe in tooth fairies or other such tales.

People no longer consider the devil as an evil spirit intent on wreaking havoc and chaos throughout the world. They don't believe it because they don't necessarily believe in spirits ... souls. They don't even believe they themselves have a soul (spirit); how can they be expected to believe in good and evil spirits like angels and demons?

The main focus in life these days seems simple enough. Materialism. Consumerism. Comfort. Possessions. Gratification ... I'll leave you to add some more words here ...

Of course, I am not saying that everyone is behaving in the way I have described; but it seems to me that the pendulum is fast swinging towards a significant number to make a difference throughout the world.

The devil ... I guess he is silently smiling.

God, I believe, is still in control of events, and will always be. He is allowing it to happen because in a way, we have asked Him to. We have told Him, in no uncertain terms, to keep out of our lives.

Let us not test His mercy and patience too much.