One thing that I have learned while in ministry, that is, No two people will agree 100% of the time. We can find examples of this throughout the Bible. David and Saul. Paul and Barnabas. Yet you can respect a person as a person of the "Household of Faith" or the office in which they hold. This is how I feel about T. D. Jakes. I may not always agree with him, but I respect him as a person and a teacher of the Gospel. I do believe that he is a man with Godly wisdom. With that said, the following is an article that he posted recently on his blog. I certainly agree with what he wrote. I have been trying to get "Church" folks to see these things for a while.
Several months ago I had the privilege of appearing again on “Larry King Live.” He asked me a very poignant question, “Is this a Christian nation?” I immediately replied, “No. This is a nation with a lot of Christians in it.” Many times majority groups think that their views control the country, which for me as a Christian is a great idea. But what happens when and if the numbers switch and we aren’t the majority? The founding fathers created a democratic system that separated church from state so that, as a country, we could avoid the slippery slope of getting into the business of telling people what to believe. That is a job they left to be determined by the individual, the synagogue, the mosque and the church!
A country that has one national religion as its only compass is much more of a theocracy than a democracy. That kind of tyranny leads to witch burning, spiritual genocide, forced and fraudulent expressions of faith, and God knows what else. As wonderful as faith is, faith out of control can be lethal.
I love democracy because it is designed to keep the government from telling me when and how to serve communion, and it allows room for debate without dominance. Religious people will never agree on everything within or outside of the bounds of the church. Democracy allows that debate without polluting it further with political intervention as long as that debate doesn’t infringe on another human’s rights. Lately, it is my view that religion has become increasingly a servant to politics, and whenever a flame is needed to move a candidate or party closer to power, they ignite the flame of the faith community by playing on controversial issues and fear. This isn’t new religious jargon; it’s the same lingo that moved the civil rights movement forward. It disannulled the religious language that slave owners used to justify their hideous abuse of African men and women in our history. Communism enforced an atheistic view that denied its citizens the pursuit of an open practice of faith.
More wars have been fought over the name of God, the will of God and through the people of God than any other issue confronting mankind. Holy wars dominated the dark ages and filled the trenches of battle fields with the blood of young, hopeful men breaking the hearts of their parents - all for God.
Recently, a very interesting article pointed to the decline of people of faith in this country. Aside from independent churches and Pentecostal groups, there is an alarmingly growing disinterest in faith. Why do you think these groups have seemingly escaped faith? According to recent statistics, faith in general has declined amongst Americans, and our citizens seem more and more disillusioned with it in any form. Only a few groups of faith seemed to be holding their own.
Denominationalism seemed to be hemorrhaging, and this was beyond Christian groups, but also incorporated other forms of faith in general. In Luke 22:31 Jesus tells Simon that Satan has desired to sift him as wheat but that He prayed for him that his faith fail him not. There are many possibilities as to why the numbers looked so bleak. Here are a few for consideration. They aren’t all congruent; pick the ones that reflect your view or add your own:
- Religious people and their self-righteous piety have lost the respect of the secular world.
- We only show up to fight other people in the press, but never to love anyone or help anyone. We appear angry and militant.
- Or is it the opposite, we aren’t radical enough?
- We have not remained relevant in a society that is ever evolving.
- We have allowed our message to become contaminated with politics and self-interest.
- We are too focused on capitalism and greed.
- The numbers are lessening because the country is growing and constantly taking in new people and groups from other parts of the world.
- The coming generation isn’t raised with the faith views that we were as children.
- Historically, the more economically secure a society becomes, the less faith centered it is.
- Faith groups are locked behind stained glass windows while other groups and ideas have taken their messages to Hollywood and elsewhere, reaching people where they are, rather than asking people to come to them.
- The growing emphasis on education, which includes a more evolutionism approach to creation and a scientific view of the world, moves people from the ambiguous explanations of faith.
- America needs revival.
- Faith is leaving organized religion and becoming a matter of personal relationships that are seemingly more meaningful than associations incubated behind hallowed walls.
Now I am not saying that these are the reasons for the decline in faith, but rather possibilities. I want you to weigh in on it and share what you think contributes to the decline. Or do you think there isn’t a decline at all? Is it more aptly stated that our country has more diversity and with it comes the infusion of more and more people whose views are less traditional? Are we as people of faith losing our majority rule in this country? Has faith failed America as it threatened to do with Simon? Has it failed you? Are you less or more committed to your faith? If you are committed, are you less vocal about that faith? Do you witness more or less nowadays than people did when you were young? I would love to hear from non-Christians, agnostics, Christians, Jews, Muslims and any others who may be lurking in the shadows of my database. Thanks for thinking, writing and sharing. Ignorance is a curse to any people.
