Author: Dr. Bob Thiel
Gallup reports that belief in God by Americans keeps dropping:
Belief in God in U.S. Dips to 81%, a New Low
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The vast majority of U.S. adults believe in God, but the 81% who do so is down six percentage points from 2017 and is the lowest in Gallup’s trend. Between 1944 and 2011, more than 90% of Americans believed in God.
Gallup’s May 2-22 Values and Beliefs poll finds 17% of Americans saying they do not believe in God.
Gallup first asked this question in 1944, repeating it again in 1947 and twice each in the 1950s and 1960s. In those latter four surveys, a consistent 98% said they believed in God. When Gallup asked the question nearly five decades later, in 2011, 92% of Americans said they believed in God.
A subsequent survey in 2013 found belief in God dipping below 90% to 87%, roughly where it stood in three subsequent updates between 2014 and 2017 before this year’s drop to 81%. …
The groups with the largest declines are also the groups that are currently least likely to believe in God, including liberals (62%), young adults (68%) and Democrats (72%). Belief in God is highest among political conservatives (94%) and Republicans (92%), reflecting that religiosity is a major determinant of political divisions in the U.S. …
About half of those who believe in God — equal to 42% of all Americans — say God hears prayers and can intervene on a person’s behalf. Meanwhile, 28% of all Americans say God hears prayers but cannot intervene, while 11% think God does neither. 06/17/22 https://news.gallup.com/poll/393737/belief-god-dips-new-low.aspx
So, not only do less Americans believe that there is a God being, many of them do not believe He is interested enough in humanity to assist.
Part of the reason is that the world’s religions do not know why God created anything or why He made humans.
God’s purpose for His creation is for eternity to be better.
His purpose for individual human beings is for them to be able to give love in a unique way to make eternity better for themselves and everyone else. The sufferings and problems individuals face will work for good for those who ultimately will accept God’s calling.
Scriptural and other details about that are in the free online book: The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you?
Now, actually one of the reasons that there became evolutionary atheists is, believe it or not, in the 19th century various male “intellectuals” were looking for excuses to not have to abide by biblical standards of sexual morality. And back then, some of them even admitted that is why they embraced the concept that life randomly evolved without a creator God. And in the 21st century, this has expanded as the LGBTQ+ crowd does not want certain scriptures cited as Bible clearly condemns their agenda.
Actually, the Bible warns that increased atheism and putting aside of God’s reality leads to all kinds of sexually immoral behaviours, including those promoted by the LGBTQ+ and pro-abortion crowds:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:18-32, ESV)
The atheistic way leads to perversion and death.
War is another factor that atheists will point to. Many non-believers point to religions such as Islam, Greco-Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism as major causes of war, which turns many people off to the idea that there is a truly loving God. But of course, all scholars realize that early Christians would not participate in carnal warfare. And in my opinion, this is still true of faithful Christians today (for details, please check out Military Service and the Churches of God: Do Real Christians Participate in Carnal Warfare?).
Furthermore, Protestants do not really believe in sola Scriptura (see Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism) and the Greco-Roman churches do not actually represent the original Christian faith (see Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church)–yet that is what the world thinks represents biblical Christianity–but it does not.
Some who have looked into church history, have become atheists or agnostics because they do not see Greco-Roman Catholicism nor Protestantism as the beliefs of the original Christians.
There are also scholars, for example, like Bart Ehrman, who started out as Protestant but when they learned more about church history, realized that Protestantism simply did not fit with much of the Bible (see also Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God differ from most Protestants) nor church history (see Continuing History of the Church of God). And while he may be more of an agnostic than an atheist, the fact that most of what is considered by the world to be Christianity, is not Christianity, and this turns many off of religion (though it does not necessarily make them atheists).
After getting a doctorate in theology, Michael Feazell, an architect of the Tkach WCG becoming Protestant, said he became an agnostic. So much for his theology and that of Grace Communion International.
Former WCG member, Dr. James Tabor once asserted that the heads of pretty much all theology departments at American universities were atheists or agnostics–that is at least partially because their set ideas about Christianity do not align with history or scripture. But to embrace true Christianity would make them subject to criticism from their peers.
Hence, such ‘scholars’ cannot be seriously expected to teach the truth.
Jesus stated:
39 … Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? (Luke 6:39)
The USA is going in the wrong direction. However, if you want information on genuine Christianity, you can find it in the free booklet Where is the True Christian Church Today?
I would like to add that it is illogical to be an atheist. While there may be many reasons that people may doubt the existence of a personal God, such as the one that the Bible teaches about, the reality is that anyone who concludes that there cannot be a creator/god is being foolish:
1 The fool has said in his heart,”There is no God.” (Psalms 14:1, NKJV)
One of the reasons that it is foolish to conclude that there is no God is because humans should realize that we are finite beings. No human has been to every place in the universe, no human has lived forever, no human has been to every possible dimension that may exist in the universe. Since no human has done that, for any human to conclude that there cannot be a god of any type is illogical. Why? Because no human has enough possible proof that God cannot exist. Doing so with limited “evidence” is foolish.
Furthermore, if the laws of bioscience are accepted as valid, one can easily prove that something outside of those laws (God) was necessary for life to begin and to continue. Amino acids simply did not randomly line up, become alive, realize that they had to eat, realize that they had to have a means to eat, immediately have a way to utilize food (like a properly developed digestive system), realize they had to reproduce for survival of life, and have the means to do so. It is illogical to conclude otherwise.
The Continuing Church of God put out two short animations related to this general topic on our CCOG Animations channel:
Big Bang: Nothing or Creator?
Colleges and universities teach variations of a godless ‘Big Bang theory’ as science. But is it scientific or simply the musing of scientists? The late Dr. Stephen Hawking stated that there was nothing before the Big Bang. Is it logical that nothing became everything? What should have happened then according to scientists? What happens to radioactive materials like uranium? What does the Bible teach about errors called science? Is God’s existence more logical than a godless ‘Big Bang’? Which has more actual proof? In this animation, a university student asks a professor questions and provides information that students and those out of school should know. A free online booklet is also available:
Here is a link to our video: Big Bang: Nothing or Creator?
A Lifegiver or Spontaneous Evolution?
Did life just spring up on its own? Is this possible according to a Nobel-prize winning scientist who believes in ‘spontaneous generation’ and other aspects of evolution? Is there any possibility that life could have just started on its own and thrived to the point of being able to reproduce? Is the academic community biased against those who believe in a Divine Creator God? Does it make scientific sense to believe in the atheistic position? Is there more proof of God’s existence than there is for ‘spontaneous generation’? What about DNA and Charles Darwin? What about the RNA first hypothesis? What about matter, entropy, biogenesis, and abiogenesis? Is evolution possible, probable, or impossible? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.
Here is a link to our animated video: A Lifegiver or Spontaneous Evolution?
We recently also put together the following sermon:
Evolution is NOT the Origin of Life
Is the evolutionary explanation of spontaneous generation, also known as abiogenesis, possibly the origin of life? What about the Drake equation and the Fermi paradox? Does mathematics support the view that RNA. Did RNA come from something alive or did the first living organism come from non-living RNA? Do proteins and DNA need to be present together for cells to work? Did Nobel prize-winning scientist Dr. George Wald admit that spontaneous generation of life is impossible? Have various scientists concluded that “intelligent design” or some type of spiritual “creator” produce the first life? Is Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s assertion that evolution is just as proven as gravity true? Did Charles Darwin admit that many were making a religion out of things he speculated? Did Darwin teach his theory on the origin of life would break down if cells were more complicated than he thought? Is there “knowledge falsely called science”? What did Jesus say was “truth”? Do human beings all share the same blood according to the Bible and scientists? Do many claimed scientists accept myths and call the myths science? Is it logical to believe that God created life as shown in the book of Genesis in the 21st century?
Here is a link to the sermon video: Evolution is NOT the Origin of Life.
Do not let alleged expert deceive you.
The Apostle Paul warned:
20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge — 21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. (1 Timothy 6:20-21, NKJV)
20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: 21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. (1 Timothy 6:20-21, KJV)
Problems of contradictions of what is called ‘knowledge/science’ exist to this day. If there ever is an apparent contradiction between the Bible and what is called ‘science’ remember that the Bible teaches:
4 … Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. (Romans 3:4)
The Bible is scientific and reliable. Not all scientists are. Nor are all theologians.
The Apostle Paul also wrote the following to Timothy about some who were:
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, (2 Timothy 3:7-9)
Believe the truth. Belief in God is logical (see also Is God’s Existence Logical?).
That being said, as Roman 1 teaches, the way of turning against God leads to death.
For those who cling to the false notion that the USA is a ‘Christian nation,’ notice, for example, the following:
During the debate yesterday over the Equality Act, a measure that would create a right to kill babies in abortions and force Americans to fund abortions, Republicans accused Democrats of ignoring Biblical values. And a surprising comment from pro-abortion Democrat Congressman Jerry Nadler confirmed that to be true. …
Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) upset Democrats when he confirmed God makes boys and girls unique.
“When men or women claim to be able to choose their own sexual identity, they are making a statement that God did not know what he was doing when he created them,” the congressman said.
“The gender confusion that exists in our culture today is a clear rejection of God’s good design. Whenever a nation’s laws no longer reflect the standards of God that nation is in rebellion against him and will inevitably bear the consequences,” the congressman said. “We are seeing the consequences of rejecting God here in our country today.”
That promoted a rather shocking comment from Nadler.
“What any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress,” he admitted. https://www.lifenews.com/2021/02/26/congressman-jerry-nadler-gods-will-is-no-concern-of-this-congress/
The current US Congress, to a great degree, despises truth and the word of God.
Notice also the following:
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:
“Because you despise this word,
And trust in oppression and perversity,
And rely on them,
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you
Like a breach ready to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. (Isaiah 30:12-13)
As more and more become atheists, and more and more do not really believe in the God of the Bible, but despise His word, destruction will come.
Do not think that the USA will be able to go on very long like it has.
The USA will fall–and it looks to do so BEFORE 2028 (watch Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028?)
Full article and related items: https://www.cogwriter.com/news/wcg-news/gallup-belief-in-god-in-u-s-dips-to-81-a-new-low/
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