Let God Be True

Last week I heard a discomforting report. A new Gallup survey of American religious practices reported that for the first time, less than half of adults in the U.S. belong to a church, synagogue or mosque. While I am not worried about the decreases in the latter two groups (if members of those faiths became Christians), the drop in Christian church affiliations is greatly concerning. Roman Catholic affiliations dropped 18 percentage points, and Protestant churches lost 9 points.

Ever since the first similar survey in 1937, the percentage of adult church affiliation has stayed around 70%. That is, until 2000, when the numbers began to slip. As our society has become more secular, atheistic, and anti- Christian, more and more people reject traditional worship. They may claim to be “spiritual but not religious,” but their words and actions reveal they deny any claim that God has on them. They are consumers of spirituality, picking and choosing what sounds good or makes them feel good about themselves, rather than bowing before a righteous God.

We can point to many reasons for it, including the banishment of religious values and practices from schools and public venues; the almost fanatical allegiance to naturalism/scientism, which people look to for answers to life’s questions; the fallacy that fairness and neutrality mean denying any devotion to Christianity; the post-modern idea that there is no objective truth; the constant slamming of Christ, Christians, and Christian symbols in our movies and television shows; the addiction to approval in the social media, which are increasingly hostile to people of faith; the scandals of Christian leaders who fall sexually or “fleece their flocks” to become wealthy; and the increasing compromise of Christian churches who sell out or soft-sell the faith in order to be acceptable to an unbelieving society.

There are probably other contributing causes to the decline of church membership, but my purpose today is not to study or attack those reasons, but rather to assess what it means for us as Christians to now be the new minority. I think the following points are worth considering:

1. Truth is not determined by popular vote. Even if the “vote” were 99% against Christianity, the remaining 1% would be right. I learned that back in first or second grade when our teacher asked the class, “Is the sun closer to the earth during the summer, or during the winter?” Everyone in class except me said, “Summer.” But I said, “Winter.” The other pupils all laughed at me for being so obviously wrong – until the teacher said, “You’re right, Richard, it is closer during the winter.” I learned to stand for the truth, even if my view is not the popular one.

This is true in many areas, including science, math, and history, but no more so than in matters of the Christian faith. What God has revealed to us through his words and actions is truth, even if no one believes it. As Paul proclaimed in Romans 3:4, “Let God be true though every one were a liar .” Even if no one on earth believed in God or his Word, that would not change the objective reality that God lives and reigns as our Creator, Judge, and Redeemer. Of course, whether a person has faith in God or not changes their subjective reality, because their destiny is subject to their faith. John 3:18 says, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

2. Christianity has always been in the minority, even though in certain times and places the majority of people have considered themselves to be Christian. Today, even though Christianity is the largest religion in the world, two-thirds of mankind is not Christian, either in name or faith.  Certainly, our society, and the world, would be better off if we were all devout Christians who practiced our faith in worship, family, service, and daily life, but the Bible warns us that we should expect opposition, and that the number of those saved will be a minority. In Matthew 7:13, Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.” And in Romans 9:27, Paul quotes Isaiah concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.” And as for opposition and persecution, Jesus warned us, saying, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. . . If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul [the devil], how much more will they malign those of his household” (Matthew 10:24-25). Just as Christ was himself maligned and persecuted, so we should not be surprised to receive the same treatment.

3. There are serious implications for our country.  One of our founding fathers, John Adams, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Unfortunately, we have “sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:7) by ignoring God and pushing him out of our public life. As a result we have brought upon ourselves many of the problems we now face, such as drug use, division, and violence. In the Old Testament, God offered to spare Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of 10 righteous people, but destroyed those cities when not even that many could be found (Genesis 18:22-33, and 19:23-25). Is there some number of faithful people for whose sake God will spare the U.S.? Have we dropped below that number already, and if not, what is the cut-off? Are the setbacks our country has experienced lately signs of God backing off, removing his protective hand from us? And do we look to him for the solutions, or to ourselves and our government? The good news is that God is merciful, such as when he spared the wicked city of Nineveh – because they repented and turned to God (Jonah 4). Let us pray for his mercy, and for a revival of faith among those who profess Christ.

4. We have our work cut out for us. We need to become more assertive in presenting and defending the faith. We can’t assume people will flock to church or act according to Christ’s teachings. We can’t assume that the level of Christian faith will continue as it has been, or that decisions in the public arena will be made with respect to what we believe. On the contrary, we should expect continued and growing opposition to all things Christian. Therefore, we need to be engaged with our society, not by accommodating our faith to its godless attitudes, but by showing the superiority of Christ to anything else the world offers. Sometimes, faithful Christians fall into a defensive, fortress mentality, determined to defend the faith against all attacks. That is my own inclination, and I enjoy the field of Christian apologetics, which defends the faith with evidences, history, and logic. But we need to remember that it is not us who need to defend anything: rather it is the enemy – Satan and those who fall for his lies – who should be on the defensive. They have the failed theology, but we have the truth. That’s why Christ could tell his disciples that “the gates of hell will not prevail” against the Church (Matthew 16:18). Gates are for defense, so the implication is that Christ will prevail against the enemy through his triumphant Church. We are part of that Church, and therefore let us take the fight to the enemy, for the best defense is a good offense. “Onward, Christian Soldiers!”

Let us obey Christ’s command to take the Gospel to all creatures, showing love and respect, serving people’s real needs, and teaching them God’s Word – all with the power of prayer – all while ourselves continuing to worship actively in our churches, then maybe – just maybe – the next survey will show a change in the right direction!

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Matthew 5:10-12; John 15:20; John 16

P.S. For my Australian readers: yes, I know, for you the sun is closer in the summer.