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Personally I see it as similar to the Judges cycle. There was a similar falling away about a hundred years ago, though not to this extreme. I have no doubt we're going to be shaken back into shape. There are still plenty of faithful people God can use.
There is a positive side. When following God's instruction is the standard for all, regardless of faith, then it is much harder to get real conversions. The greatest boom in Christianity was a time not when the laws and society reflected Christ's teachings but when they were mortally hostile. People who converted under that environment were all in and totally on fire.
People in the West now no longer believe the Bible. This is true of the general public and also true of modern Christianity where there seems to be a great loss of faith in regards to the trustworthiness of the Scriptures. Why do you believe this is the case?
...it's called the Falling Away; and although the apostasy from Christianity is picking up pace as we move through time, it has already been going on for a long while... (i.e. Renaissance, Enlightenment, Post-Modern Angst)
Interesting point of view. The book of Revelation doesn't really describe a revival in the last days, however. It seems to portray a society mortally antagonistic to God.
OK - why has there been such a great falling away?
I don't think it's a matter of Christians not believing the bible, but rather them not believing the fundamentalist literalist interpretation of the bible, which was itself a rather recent and very American phenomenon. This is a positive step in my view.
As for those outside of the church, look to the culture. Sex and greed and pushed as the very keys to the good life. Sex, drugs, money, and power are the new American values. For many people growing up today this is really all they know. Little do they know that following that path leads to all kinds of problems and sorrow.
So naturally, Christianity, which calls for fidelity, sobriety, contentedness and charity and humility, is not going to be popular.
People in the West now no longer believe the Bible.
This is true of the general public and also true of modern Christianity where there seems to be a great loss of faith in regards to the trustworthiness of the Scriptures. Why do you believe this is the case?
People in the West now no longer believe the Bible. This is true of the general public and also true of modern Christianity where there seems to be a great loss of faith in regards to the trustworthiness of the Scriptures. Why do you believe this is the case?
People in the West now no longer believe the Bible. This is true of the general public and also true of modern Christianity where there seems to be a great loss of faith in regards to the trustworthiness of the Scriptures. Why do you believe this is the case?
I suspect that you actually meant to make a statistical statement like:People in the West now no longer believe the Bible.
Can we become a little more precise, please?This is true of the general public and also true of modern Christianity where there seems to be a great loss of faith in regards to the trustworthiness of the Scriptures.
The most self-suggesting explanation for a statistical decline (provided there is such) of people who believe the bible to be taken literally would be that it clashes with established facts. And/or that in the era of information, facts are easier accessible to everyone than they used to be in earlier times.Why do you believe this is the case?
People in the West now no longer believe the Bible. This is true of the general public and also true of modern Christianity where there seems to be a great loss of faith in regards to the trustworthiness of the Scriptures. Why do you believe this is the case?
I don't have it at my fingertips, but I have seen surveys that indicate that 100% of the members in some denominations believe the Bible to be totally accurate; and even those who, in other denominations, believe that there are some mistranslations in certain non-critical areas, think that the Bible is nevertheless "trustworthy" for all essential purposes.IPersonally, in my 57 years, I don´t recall having met a single person in real life who believed the bible to be "trustworthy" as a document that´s to be taken literally. That´s purely anecdotal, though - so I´d be interested in reliable statistics.
I didn´t mean to question that there are such people(there are quite a few of them here at CF, after all).I don't have it at my fingertips, but I have seen surveys that indicate that 100% of the members in some denominations believe the Bible to be totally accurate; and even those who, in other denominations, believe that there are some mistranslations in certain non-critical areas, think that the Bible is nevertheless "trustworthy" for all essential purposes.
I didn´t mean to question that there are such people(there are quite a few of them here at CF, after all).
The fact, however, that I haven´t met anyone of that sort in real life - not 50 years ago, not now - doesn´t allow me to observe an increase or decrease. For that, I would need reliable statistics.
Christianity has been declining in virtually all parts of the world except third world countries and this will likely continue, as people acquire further knowledge of the world we live in.
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