The other day a Jewish colleague in the office sent me this email commenting on an article related to Americans and their belief in God :
I thought this article was interesting. Most notably the statistics. It appears that not everyone who described themselves as Christian or Jewish said that they believed in God. Only 76 percent of Protestants, 64 percent of Catholics, and 30 percent of Jews said they are "absolutely certain" there is a God. However, most Christians who described themselves as "born-again" (93 percent) said they are absolutely certain there is a God. I find it interesting that only 30% of Jews are "absolutely certain" there is a God. I’m definitely in the 70% myself… it’s interesting to note that I have lots of company.
My first response was, "How can you anyone call herself born again and not be absolutely certain that there is a God?!" But my colleague’s honesty led me to more introspection. If I were really honest with myself, I would have to put myself in the 7% of uncertain born-agains.
My self-applied metric, however, is not a written statement of faith, or even a mental assertion, but a real-life test of character. What I mean to say is that I often do things that don’t jive with a confidence that the God I subscribe to is actually there.
I think what we really need is a survey that can discern between what people say and what they really believe. I actually find it pretty amazing that 93% of "born-agains" say they are absolutely certain of God and never, ever act as if he’s not there.
Comments (3)
Here or there
It seems to me that an inherent part of faith is doubt. Ultimately, faith requires that you believe or commit to something that cannot be empirically verified. I don’t think people are comfortable acknowledging that. I find myself in the same boat that you do "I often do things that don’t jive with a confidence that the God I subscribe to is actually there." The only change I’d make to your statement is I would change the word "there" to "here". Unfortunately, I tend to think of God as somewhere else than here, and that creates a distance, and wiggle room for me. It is probably spiritually immature, but that is the truth.
belief in God
Colossians 1:16 always makes really think about my relationship with God. I was created by God and for God. I wasn’t created to do whatever I wanted to do. I have been put here to glorify God and serve him. What is our purpose? This should free us not to have so much fear and anxiety. We are here for Him! We do have purpose in this life! This is very easy to forget when we are living self centered lives…that’s when we do question who God is.
belief in God
Rich,
Good post. I hear what you are saying and it makes sense. The problem I have is understanding something on a cerebral level (like I understand the ideas you express in your post), without having an understanding at the heart level. I came to Christ as an adult and I think that has played a part in the way I question some of the common phrases and thoughts that are commonly used in the Evangelical world. For example, people talk about being "fully surrendered" or living to "glorify God and serve Him" or "Live an undivided life". I understand these ideas, but I find them difficult to translate into behavior and heart-attitudes. How do these things look for a business man, or a contractor, or a parent. Can you have an undivided heart, or truly glorify and serve God, and still work to provide for your family, etc.? At what point is this self-centered? By the way, I don’t mean this to be contentious, rather I’m trying to express the tensions that arise for me when grappling with this.