I’m in a Minority: I Attend Church. Why do Folks Fall Away from it?

There Are Many Reports Today about People not Living Spiritually, and Rejecting Relating to God. Why Is This?

Yes, reports today say that people are not living spiritually, as they have in the past, and they reject relating to God.

There are other reports about even Christians turning away from their faith, and not knowing what to believe. These reports include even more young people who were raised in religious homes, but when they get off to school they turn their back on their old way of life.

Why do you think this is?

Articles address this. I’ve put together a list of reasons from articles I’ve read that shed some light on this issue. The following are reasons I’ve found as to why people turn away from religious faith.

— — Science is more appealing to people than is faith or religion, — — People value individualism over tradition, — — Wide access to diverse beliefs not found in most religions, — — Secular humanism and even secular religion are on the rise, — — Disappointment is encountered in churches and religions, — — People chase material success over spiritual influence, — — Social values change and people change with them, — — The need for evidence not provided in religion, — — As travel increases it opens minds to other options, — — People question dogma: things said to be established authoritative truth, — — Education challenges ideals and encourages questions, — — Celebrities influence others to think the way they do, — — People seek spirituality outside of established religions, — — The desire for personal freedom leads to questions about religion and faith.

Choices Today Are Almost Overwhelming

So many choices today it can be confusing. Every church seems to have a different slant on the Bible and on spiritual issues.

I’ve come to call it ‘The Second Tower of Babel.’

The Tower of Babel is found in Genesis 11 when people formed so many different opinions and seemed to be contentious over different things they could believe. They even built a tower to show God they could reach heaven by themselves without any need for him.

God confounded them by giving them different languages so they had more difficulty discussing opinions.

There are so many churches to choose from. They all differ from each other to some degree, and all claim to be right.

The temptation the devil gave Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 said they didn’t need God. He said, and tempted them by declaring: “You can be like God.”

So, striving for human independence and sovereignty has been with us since the earliest days of creation.

How We Normally Make Choices

I’m a lawyer, and I know lots of people don’t think the way I do. We are trained in legal reasoning. It has nothing to do with logic. Many of us are educated beyond our intellects. This doesn’t always mean we’re smart. We’re just educated.

But one thing I’ve always stuck to is to simply get the FACTS, and then the CHOICE and the DECISION aren’t as difficult.

If you give someone a choice between say 2, 3, or 4 things, they can get the facts, think about them, and usually decide what they believe and what is best for them.

But if you give someone say 25 choices it’s overwhelming and they often just choose not to choose to make a decision at all. They ignore it.

Making a Choice in Christianity Can be Hard

Even the internet has become like ‘a religious guru’ today, giving us many articles about religion, about God, and about spirituality to think about.

These are both pro and con articles — good and bad — favorable and unfavorable when it comes to these issues. There are so many choices they can be really confusing.

And it’s said there are well over 200 Christian denominations of mainline churches in the U.S. today, and if you consider those that are not mainline denominations, this number might be at least 20 times 200 or 4,000.

Other methods of considering churches greatly exceed this number.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia looks at worldwide religious denominations in general, and not just U.S. Christian church denominations.

It says there are close to 40,000 religious denominations worldwide, but then they end with an escape clause saying there are so many that they may have missed some.

And be careful of all the choices you see on the shelves of bookstores. They are more overwhelming — and most of these claim to be conservative, mainline-type Christian churches only.

They have other special sections for various types of religious thinking.

I’ll have other things to say about this subject shortly. We have drifted so far from what Christianity used to be, that again, it’s like ‘The Second Tower of Babel.’

Chrisitianity used to be spellbinding, captivating and consuming. Today it’s anything but spellbinding, captivating and consuming.