"You believe that there is one God. Good for you! The devils also believe that, and they tremble with fear." (James 2:19)
Dr. D. James Kennedy:
The vast majority of people who are members of churches in America today are not Christians. I base it on the empirical evidence of 24 years of examining tens of thousands of those people on what they are basing their hopes of eternal life, and it's not Jesus Christ! It is merely their own morality, their own piety and their own goodness."
It is a fact that Christianity shares the largest slice of the belief pie in the world today:Â
Christianity (31.0%)
Islam (24.9%)
Unaffiliated (15.6%)
Hindu (15.2%)
Buddha (6.6%)Â
It is a fact that no country has more Christians than the United States, with nearly 240 million souls of 327.
However, a recent survey by LifeWay Research proved that the majority of American Christians are, in fact, 'heretics'!Â
Proof #1. In general, American Christians appear to agree that Jesus died on the cross for sin and that He rose from the dead.Â
Proof #2. Most of them, however, think that "religious belief is a matter of personal opinion, not about objective truth".
Proof #3. 52% say that "most people are basically good".
In fact, Romans 3:10 says, "No one is righteous not even one."
Proof #4. 51% say that "God accepts the worship of all religions, including those who believe in many gods".
In fact, John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
Proof #5. 78% say that "Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God the Father".
In fact, John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
So, which Bible that the majority of American Christians actually read? Which God in whom they believe? Which Christ in whom they have faith? Or which one in whom they don't?
American Bible Society and Barna Group also found a fact that:
32% of American Christians never read the Bible
12% read it less than once a year
8% read it once or twice a year
8% read it three or four times a year
6% read it once a month
8% read it once a week
13% read it several times a week
Only 14% read it every day
So, it is evident that many of the nearly 75% of the country who call themselves "Christians" don't take their faith seriously!
A study in 1995-1996 may offer a hint:
71% of Christians in the US converted before the age of 14
Back in 1937, Jesse Overholtzer founded Child Evangelism Fellowship, an organization that focuses on evangelizing children between the ages of 4 and 14 years. The "4-14 window" is believed to be "the most receptive and often the most effective agents for mission in evangelizing their peer group".
A 2003 Barna research showed that children are "the most population segment to minister due to their spiritual 'teachability'
and 'developmental vulnerability'".
"The implication of these findings is clear," claims Barna. "Anyone who wishes to have significant influence on the development of a persons moral and spiritual foundations had better exert that influence while the person is still open-minded and impressionable
in other words, while the person is still young."
Bryant Myers and Dan Brewster also argue that "global evangelism programs should target younger children for conversion because the clay is still soft and children need our attention more urgently than any other group of people".
However, scientists point that children's "teachability and vulnerability" may be attributed to their brain development condition. Humans' brains are in fact still developing, even until ages 11-14, their brains are not steady enough for high level reasoning and decision making.
Introducing salvation to the premature without teaching its significance in Christian faith is nothing short of oversimplifying.
Teaching the uncritical to accept a genuine depiction of salvation has proven to be indoctrination and "mythification" (causing to become a myth).
While it is obvious that 4-14 window proves to be the golden window for evangelism and every other ism, it also poses the greatest risks of superficial conversions and false understanding of the faith. Not to mention manipulating children into confessing faith in ideas they're clueless about.
Not surprisingly, it was found that vast majority of those making decisions for Christ at a young age were falling away from the faith.
Rev. Ray Comfort revealed that in 1991, the first year of the "Decade of Harvest", a major denomination with 11,500 churches in the US managed to harvest 294,000 decisions for Christ.
At the end of the day, the churches could only find 14,000 in fellowship and simply couldn't account for 280,000 of their decisions.
Data from the Southern Baptist Convention in 2001 indicates that they are currently losing 70%-88% of their youth after their freshman year in college.
70% of teenagers who are involved in church youth groups stop attending church within two years of their high school graduation.
Report from Southern Baptist Council on Family Life in 2002 reveals that 88% of the children in evangelical homes leave church at 18.
Tom Bisset interviewed Christian kids and asked them when, why, and how they abandoned their faith:
Finding #1. They left because they had troubling, unanswered questions about the faith
Finding #2. They left because their faith was not "working" for them
Finding #3. They left because they allowed other things to take priority
Finding #4. They left because they never personally owned their faith
Precisely as described in Matthew 13:5-7:
"Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings."
Referensi:
https://biblehub.com/james/2-19.htm
https://livingwaters.com/true-and-false-conversion/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States
https://thefederalist.com/2016/10/10/survey-finds-american-christians-actually-heretics/
https://biblehub.com/romans/3-10.htm
https://biblehub.com/john/14-6.htm
https://biblehub.com/john/1-1.htm
https://news.americanbible.org/blog/entry/corporate-blog/state-of-the-bible-chapter-7
https://www.barna.com/research/top-10-findings-teens-bible/
https://www.christianpost.com/news/more-americans-overall-are-reading-the-bible-but-many-christians-are-reading-it-less.html
https://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/ages.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_evangelism_movement
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-7-things-to-know#:~:text=Although%20the%20brain%20stops%20growing,the%20last%20parts%20to%20mature.
https://livingwaters.com/hells-best-kept-secret/
https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/are-young-people-really-leaving-christianity/
https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/how-can-we-instill-a-faith-that-endures/
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/family-life-council-says-its-time-to-bring-family-back-to-life/
https://www.challies.com/articles/why-christian-kids-leave-the-faith/
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/13-5.htm
