Survey says that 93% of Americans believe in God. Yet when asked if this omnipotent God created the Heavens and the Earth or if God stretched out His hand, created man and then breathed life and a soul into his being there is less assurance. According to a children's book The Great Prehistoric Search “… apes evolved into humans through a gradual process called evolution ( EDC, 2003; p. 7). Educational curriculum requires instruction in Darwin's “Theory” of Evolution although the “theory” part is frequently omitted. According to Dr. Niles Ethridge, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is just as proven as the fact that the Earth is a globe. Making anyone who does not believe in evolution members of the Flat Earth Society.
Christians have been pushed to the sidelines of public debate and the cultural conversation. We are frequently confused by fuzzy logic and the pronouncements of spin doctors and talking heads. God said that we are to love and honor Him with all our hearts, all our strength, our minds and our very souls. Our philosophy of life is built on our belief in a Creator or our disbelief. Our Genesis determines All our basic life decisions.
How did we get to a place where Christians appear to be a minority; where social values are relative and moral absolutes are scorned? One of the major stumbling blocks to living in a coherent society is that we hold beliefs that are in direct opposition. We claim to believe in God and yet our schools teach as science and provide data that “prove” that mankind is nothing more than a randomized chemistry experiment. We are children of an omnipotent God on Sunday. On Monday, we are evolved apes who clawed our way to the top and intend to stay there. In an effort to cope with this philosophical conflict, many people have adopted fuzzy logic. We apply different rules in different circumstances. It's a kind of lobotomy. Matters of faith are considered personal and never touched by elements of science. In large measure we are a society that claims to be religious but isolates faith.
The political division written into the Constitution was to prevent a State Religion (i.e., The United Church of America) not a denial of God or faith. However, in a culture that requires scientific, verifiable data, religion and faith have been given a limited role in the “real” world. We believe our high tech solutions make us intellectually superior. We sneer at the poor uninformed people of ancient civilizations who believed that Zeus threw thunderbolts. Today we watch the storm tracker channel on high definition television or on our computer and watch the storm on a street by street grid.
Yet has human nature changed? Over two thousand year ago the prophet Jeremiah warned Judah. “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods whom you do not know and then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations?' " (Jeremiah 7: 9-10).
The Israelite's were guilty of worshiping God and Baal. On the Sabbath they offered sacrifices to the Lord Jehovah. However leaving no stone unturned ( No pun intended) they worshiped Baal, the fertility god of the Canaanites to ensure their crops were plentiful. Americans don’t worship a stone idol but we worship technology and material things, as defined by how we spend our time and money. We live in a technologically advanced society that is firmly rooted in the pleasures of fast food, fast talk, SUV's, HDTV, designer drugs and the consequences of Aids, obesity, no-fault divorces, abortion and child pregnancy.
The fancy term for such duality of thought is syncretism. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a twentieth century German theologian put it very simply, “there is only one reality.” Separating spiritual life from physical reality has a devastating effect on a culture. Our failure to understand this is part of the problem.
Americans know that the Bible is very old and has been translated many times. Contemporary critics speculate that with each translation myths were incorporated. Even religious scholars debate the meaning of specific words. Does “day” mean 24 hours or a long period of time? Our children want to know about dinosaurs and when they come in the Bible. Confused by the claims of scientific data many have declared the Bible pre-scientific and no longer relevant in a High Tech World. We kept silent as the Ten Commandments were dragged from the courthouses of our country. We pretended it didn't matter when our children were taught that their progenitors were not men of faith but chimpanzees.
America is divided into camps of confusion. A literal group believes God created the universe and mankind in six 24-hour days. A second camp believes that life evolved from random interaction in a gradual process WITHOUT a Creator. This group rejects any supernatural agent (i.e., God) and claims science as its foundation. A third group holds God as Truth and science as an avenue in the pursuit of Truth. Our society is suffering under the strain of a materialist philosophy that has claimed the scientific high ground and declared the Bible a collection of myths.
Many Americans have a queasy feeling about any conversation that involves the Biblical story of creation and the Theory of Evolution. We believe in God but didn't the discovery of fossils, the Big Bang, and the Monkey Trial prove the Bible got it wrong? Every society is tested. Each culture makes a decision whether to weave its society around God or put its faith in chariots of iron.
What do you believe?