Admin
|
There has been a Shocking Decline of Christianity in America. Hes this been Prophesied in Matthew 24:9-13??
Posted : 19 Jan, 2012 06:03 AM
*Perilous Times and The Great Falling Away!
How Will The Shocking Decline Of Christianity In America Affect The
Future Of The Nation?*
Is Christianity in decline in America? When you examine the cold, hard
numbers it is simply not possible to come to any other conclusion.
Over the past few decades, the percentage of Christians in America has
been steadily declining. This has especially been true among young
people. As you will see later in this article, there has been a mass
exodus of teens and young adults out of U.S. churches.
In addition, what "Christianity" means to American Christians today is
often far different from what "Christianity" meant to their parents and
their grandparents. Millions upon millions of Christians in the United
States simply do not believe many of the fundamental principles of the
Christian faith any longer. Without a doubt, America is becoming a less
"Christian" nation.
This has staggering implications for the future of this country. The
United States was founded primarily by Christians that were seeking to
escape religious persecution. For those early settlers, the Christian
faith was the very center of their lives, and it deeply affected the
laws that they made and the governmental structures that they
established. So what is the future of America going to look like if we
totally reject the principles that this nation was founded on?
Overall, Christianity is still the largest religion in the world by
far. According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, there are
currently 2.2 billion Christians in the world. So Christianity is not
in danger of disappearing any time soon. In fact, in some areas of the
globe it is experiencing absolutely explosive growth.
But in the United States, things are different. Churches are shrinking,
skepticism is growing and apathy about spiritual matters seems to be at
an all-time high.
Before we examine the data, let me disclose that I am a Christian. I am
not bashing Christians or the Christian faith at all in this article.
In fact, I consider the decline of Christianity in America to be a very
bad thing. Not everyone is going to agree with me on that, but
hopefully this article will help spark a debate on the role of religion
in America that everyone can learn something from.
Unfortunately, the reality is that most Americans spend very little time
thinking about religion or spiritual matters these days.
Just consider the following quote from a recent USA Today article....
"The real dirty little secret of religiosity in America is that
there are so many people for whom spiritual interest, thinking about
ultimate questions, is minimal," says Mark Silk, professor of religion
and public life at Trinity College"
This is backed up by the numbers. For example, a survey taken last year
by LifeWay Research found that 46 percent of all Americans never think
about whether they will go to heaven or not.
To most Americans, faith is simply not a big deal. This is particularly
true of our young people. Those under the age of 30 are leaving U.S.
churches in droves. The following comes from a recent CNN article....
David Kinnaman, the 38-year-old president of the Barna Group, an
evangelical research firm, is the latest to sound the alarm. In his new
book, "You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and
Rethinking Faith," he says that 18- to 29-year-olds have fallen down a
"black hole" of church attendance. There is a 43% drop in Christian
church attendance between the teen and early adult years, he says.
But it isn't just young people that are leaving American churches. The
proportion of Americans that consider themselves to be Christians has
been steadily declining for many years. Back in 1990, 86 percent of all
Americans considered themselves to be Christian. By 2008, that number
had dropped to 76 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of Americans that reject religion entirely has
absolutely soared. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the
number of Americans with "no religion" more than doubled between 1990
and 2008.
So what is going to happen if these trends continue?
Dave Olson, the director of church planting for the Evangelical Covenant
Church, has made some really interesting projections regarding what is
going to happen to church attendance in America if current trends continue.
According to Olson, only 18.7 percent of all Americans regularly attend
church right now. If this number continues to decline at the current
pace, Olson says that the percentage of Americans attending church in
2050 will be about half of what it is today.
Other research has produced similar results.
According to a study done by LifeWay Research, membership in Southern
Baptist churches will fall nearly 50 percent by the year 2050 if current
trends persist.
If you are a Christian, you should be quite alarmed by these numbers.
But what is happening to the faith of our young people should be even
more alarming for Christians.
The American Religious Identification Survey by the Institute for the
Study of Secularism in Society & Culture at Trinity College is one of
the most comprehensive studies on religion in America that has ever been
done.
According to that study, 15 percent of all Americans say that they have
"no religion".
That is up from 8 percent in 1990.
That is quite a change.
But the move away from religion is particularly pronounced among our
young people.
One recent survey found that 25 percent of all Americans between the
ages of 18 and 29 say that they have no religion.
Obviously the Christian faith is not winning the battle for the hearts
and the minds of our young people. The cold, hard truth is that in
America today, the younger you are, the less likely you are to consider
yourself to be a Christian.
Large numbers of young Americans that went to church while they were
growing up are now leaving U.S. churches entirely. A recent study by
the Barna Group discovered that nearly 60 percent of all Christians
between the ages of 15 and 29 are no long actively involved in any church.
But not only have they left the church, our young people have also
abandoned just about all forms of Christian spirituality.
Just check out the results of one survey of young adults that was
conducted by LifeWay Christian Resources....
.65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by
themselves either.
.65% rarely or never attend worship services of any kind.
.67% don't read the Bible or any other religious texts on a regular basis.
If this does not get turned around, churches all over America will be
closing their doors. When the survey above first came out, the
president of LifeWay Christian Resources stated that "the Millennial
generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships."
But it is not just church that our young people are rejecting.
The reality is that they are also rejecting the fundamental principles
of the Christian faith.
One survey conducted by the Barna Group found that less than 1 percent
of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 23 hold a Biblical worldview.
The Barna Group asked participants in the survey if they agreed with the
following six statements....
1) Believing that absolute moral truth exists.
2) Believing that the Bible is completely accurate in all of the
principles it teaches.
3) Believing that Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not
merely symbolic.
4) Believing that a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying
to be good or by doing good works.
5) Believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth.
6) Believing that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the
world who still rules the universe today.
Less than 1 percent of the participants agreed with all of those statements.
That is staggering.
But it is not just young adults that are rejecting the fundamentals of
the Christian faith.
Even large numbers of "evangelical Christians" are rejecting the
fundamental principles of the Christian faith.
For example, one survey found that 52 percent of all Americans
Christians believe that "at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to
eternal life".
Another survey found that 29 percent of all American Christians claim to
have been in contact with the dead, 23 percent believe in astrology and
22 percent believe in reincarnation.
Without a doubt, the religious landscape of America is changing.
Over the past several decades, church attendance has been steadily
declining, the percentage of Americans that consider themselves to be
Christians has been going down, and the number of people that hold
traditional Christian beliefs has been dropping like a rock.
� Matthew 24:3,9-13:� The disciples asked Jesus, �What will be the sign of your Coming and the end of the age?? Jesus answered�.. {During the 1260-day Great Tribulation} �Then *YOU* will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and *YOU* will be hated by all nations because of Me.� At that time many will turn away from the Faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of *MOST* will grow cold,{THE GREAT APOSTASY} but he {The Called, Chosen & Faithful-Rev 17:14b} who stands firm to the End will be saved.�
Post Reply
|
