If you are one that shouldn't be a hard question. I've been reading George Barna's book "The Seven Faith Tribes" in which he divides adults in the United States into seven different groups, depending on their worldview. The two largest groups are those he terms "Casual Christians" and "Captive Christians". Barna defines Casuals as those who "profess to be Christians but are notably lax in their beliefs and practices." Barna defines Captives as "those whose consistently biblical beliefs and Christlike behavior validate their commitment to being followers of Christ." Casual Christians make up about 150 million of the roughly 225 million adults in the United States. Captive Christians make up around 36 million. The other groups are defined as American Jews, Mormons, Pantheists, Muslims and Spiritual Skeptics (atheists and agnostics).
I found the research on the Casuals to be particularly interesting and it begs the question what is a Christian? If you go on the internet you can find all kinds of interesting things about what a Christian is -- people try to pin Hitler as a Christian. People claim to be Christians who also believe in new age and other cultic beliefs. There was even a situation in the Episcopal Church where a priest became a Muslim and now claims she is both. Confusion is rampant.
Some of the statistics on casuals are interesting.
89% said they prayed in the last week.
52% said that their faith had transformed them.
71% said their faith is important in their lives.
74% said they had made a personal commitment to Christ.
72% said that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the universe and still rules it today.
67% said that their primary purpose is to love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul.
85% are concerned about the moral condition of the United States.
Those are pretty good numbers so far but the we also find some less comforting trends.
Only 25% believe the Bible is the Word of God.
Only 35% believe in absolute truth.
Only 34% had read the Bible in the last week.
Only 67% believe that Jesus is alive today.
Only 18% belive that commitment to a body of believers is important.
Only 18% of Casuals say they attend church, pray and read the Bible in a typical week.
Casuals give, on average $151.00 a year to the church they attend.
Only 2% have a biblical worldview.
Some other issues that Barna brings out in his book but doesn't supply statistics for are that the majority of Casuals don't believe in Satan or the Holy Spirit and that Jesus sinned while on earth.
In Matthew 28:19 Jesus told His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. The King James versions says to teach all nations but the literal translation of the Greek is disciple. A disciple is one who believes their teacher and follows their example. While the Bible does use the term Christian in a couple of places other terms are used for more frequently for followers of Christ like disciple or believer. The real impact of faith in Jesus should result in relationship (fellowship) with the Lord. One of the points Barna makes in his book is that Casuals "have an arm's-length relationship" with the Lord. Apparently God is distant and there is little impact or reality in their daily lives. The wonderful truth is that Jesus died to bring us into an awesome daily relationship with God. We can and should live in that reality.
It's not surprising that we see such spiritual confusion among this group when their beliefs about God's Word are so tenuous. I've always found that to be an interesting issue. People who pick and choose the parts of the Word they believe. My question is always if you rejects certain parts as being untrue why do you believe the parts you trust? Jesus said "whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock." The Word of God is a rock we can build our lives on!
In the coming weeks I'm going to be looking at particular issues concerning God's Word and why you can trust it!
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2 comments:
I think, ultimately, while we argue over degrees God calls us to a wholehearted commitment to Him. We want to follow Him when it works for us but not when it is hard or difficult or it goes against something we feel. I have friends who struggle with whether or not we should just accept homosexuality as okay. They know what the Bible says but it's their feelings that cause them to agonize over the issue.
I think one issue we have is that we want to be taught things that make us feel good about ourselves. Churches don't teach much about sacrifice and taking up your cross anymore. I'm afarid that we have bought into the me me culture where all of life exists for my happiness.
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