Signs Christianity will be dead in 40 years
The Barna Group released research yesterday that could indicate the death of Christianity within 20 years if some issues aren’t addressed. To be specific:
- 90% of those 45 and older consider the Bible a sacred text
- 81% of those 26 to 44 consider it sacred
- 67% of those 25 and younger believe so
Even more alarming:
- 58% of those 64 and older consider the Bible to be completely accurate in all the principles it teaches
- 46% of those 45 to 63 consider the Bible accurate
- 39% of those 26 to 44 trust the Bible’s accuracy
- 30% of those 25 and younger believe the Bible is completely accurate in its teaching
I would submit that if we don’t have a firm belief in the Bible as our foundation, then Christianity—at least as Christ embodied and taught it—will be dead in two generations. There was the interim generation of Joshua, when the Israelites stayed somewhat true to the teaching of Moses. But after Joshua came the period of the Judges, which is described in the last verse of that book with the sad commentary: “everyone did as he saw fit.” Without a standard for our lives, that’s exactly where we’ll be and upcoming generations don’t consider the Bible a trustworthy standard.
The church is starting to do a lot of things right these days, refocusing on being missional rather than institutional, concerned about making an impact on the community rather than just what happens inside their walls. But we can’t lose the foundation upon which everything else is built, or we’re nothing more than another caring non-profit organization.
The same study showed that 56% of those 25 and younger believe the Bible teaches the same spiritual truths as other texts considered sacred. As long as that’s true they have no reason to follow the Bible instead of the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, or the Mormon text. And Christianity as we know it will be dead.
