Last week, Psychology Today published an opinion piece, trying to disguise it as science, showing that atheism will replace religion. So, given that this would threaten my own job security, I thought I’d better check it out. And now, having read it, I’d like to thank the author for once again demonstrating the axiom, “Often, when scientists reach the mountaintop of discovery, they find the theologians who have been waiting for them there for thousands of years.”

Statistical Theology

The author, Nigel Barber, points out the increase in atheism in “developed” countries and cites, “Anthropologist James Fraser proposed that scientific prediction and control of nature supplants religion as a means of controlling uncertainty in our lives.”  In the Lutheran Church, we call this, “The Theology of the Cross” (which, incidentally, happens to be the central topic of our current Sunday morning Bible class). In short, it’s through suffering that God calls us back to Him. When we consider most of our lives to be happy and content, we see no need for God. When things get bad, though, we tend to remember how much we need Him. This study simply demonstrates statistically what Luther said 500 years ago and the entire Old Testament history of Israel exemplifies. (Read the Book of Judges for a great example.)

Fun with Statistics

While increased intelligence and atheism tend to follow the same trends, still only 36.6% of the most elite professors consider themselves atheists, which means that, while many of our intellectual elite don’t believe in God and tend to worship the human mind and its accomplishments instead (which makes sense, considering their field), the majority still believe in God. Further, since the birth rate among religious people is considerably higher than that of atheists, and since children tend to inherit their parents’ beliefs, atheists will eventually disappear simply through their own parenting plans.

That said, atheism is growing in America (I couldn’t find worldwide historical trends.) Atheism is growing at a slow-but-steady rate. And while this rate, if trends continue (and historically, we know these trends tend to fluctuate, so it’s unlikely), Protestant Christianity will last another 258 years, but it’ll be 780 years before the flying cars are all being driven by atheists.

God of Science

Many scientists, the more they learn about creation, come to the conclusion that our universe points to God. While God did not give us the Bible as a science book, we should expect that the Creator of the universe should know a thing or two about it, and the more we compare the Bible to science, the more we learn that the universe affirms the truth of the Bible.

Got Guilt?

While many religions sadly promote guilt, only the Bible can actually cure guilt. A psychologist can tell you not to feel guilty or tell you that you have no reason to feel that way, but the only actual solution for guilt can be found on the cross, where our guilt was nailed, killed, and left for good (Colossians 2:13-15). Until the world comes up with another solution, our own eyes tell us of the evil and suffering in the world, and our consciences tell us that we are accountable for our sin, and if we’re accountable, we must be accountable to Someone, Who can only be God. But thank God that He has provided the solution that we could not (Romans 5:7,8).

When the Hammer Falls

As a pastor, I’m there in the best times (weddings, births) and the worst times (funerals) in people’s lives. I’ve seen the power of God in those situations, and true the the Theology of the Cross, it’s during the funerals that the promise of God’s love and the assurance of the resurrection shines clearest. Because no matter how bad things get in our lives, we know that it will get better, that Jesus will one day return to take us to a new heaven and earth, free from pain, suffering, and corruption (1 Corinthians 15:51-54). Nobody else can offer that assurance.

Promise Made

Finally, we have the promise from the Creator Himself that the Christian church will continue (Matthew 16:18). He kept His promise to suffer for our sin made way back in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15), and He has kept all His promises since. God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18), so we can trust that, one day, atheism will disappear as the Son of God replaces faith with sight. Until then, we persevere and seek to love our neighbor, whether Christian, atheist, or anything else, as we love ourselves.

Image by thriol via Flickr

Originally written for Shepherd of the Ridge Lutheran Church, apply these ideas to your local context.

For some reason, people often think of faith and reason being contradictory, that somehow, when you become a Christian, you must check your brain at the door. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our reason is a gift from God, and He calls us to use that reason to His glory.

In order to do so, we go to Holy Scripture in faith, knowing God is the truth, and His Word is the truth by which all other truths are judged. As we read Scripture, we use our reason to understand it and interpret it, seeing how it fit not only into the lives of its immediate historical audience, but our lives today. We look to see the life of Christ, how God prepared the people for His coming and prophesied about Him that we may recognize Him, and how He still comes to us today.

But we can approach Scripture in two ways, and yes, there’s a right and wrong way to do so.

The “Majesterial Use of Reason” places human intellect above and beyond God’s knowledge and wisdom. Man’s knowledge, based on our limited experience and only what we can detect with our impaired senses, is considered the truth by which we judge the Bible. If something in the Bible doesn’t fit with our understanding of reality (or it makes us uncomfortable), we reject or change it. Of course, placing human reason above God’s not only reflects incredible hubris, it mirrors the words of Satan to Eve: “Did God really say…?”

With the “Ministerial Use of Reason,” reason becomes a minister, or servant, to the Word. The Word directs and guides us. We set aside our presuppositions and expectations and let God speak to us. If we understand a passage in such a way that conflicts with another passage of Scripture, we know we’ve misunderstood it and need to read it again, as God knows all things and cannot lie. But still, we use our reason and look out into His creation, see what we find there, and see the hand of the Creator and the beautiful work He has accomplished.

Ultimately, His Word points us to our sin and the price Jesus paid to free us from it on the cross. He assures us that we can rest firmly in the knowledge that He has created all things, sustains all things, and has redeemed humanity with the death of Christ, followed with the promise of eternal life.

May our Lord keep you in the one true faith to eternal life and bless you with ability to see His work and point it out to others that they too may praise Him for His excellent work.

Originally written for Shepherd of the Ridge Lutheran Church, apply these ideas to your local context.

As people live longer, we continue to strive for greater health advances and more longevity. Some futurists even suggest that a lifespan of 200 or more years may become the norm to those born within a few decades. In a recent episode of the Today Show (Sorry–I can’t find a link to the clip), a researcher suggested that the human DNA has no “death gene” and so, by eliminating disease and accidents, life expectancy can extend toward a thousand years. This lack of a “death gene” sounds a bit simplistic, but at the same time, it doesn’t surprise me.

God created human beings for immortality. Had Adam and Eve avoided the temptation to disobey God regarding the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3), we would all live forever on this world. That our genetic structure seems to reflect this just confirms what we’ve known for thousands of years. It also shows the distinct possibility that our bodies after the final resurrection may well be very similar in composition to their current composition, except that it will lack the corruption that causes us to die–which is something called “sin,” a spiritual condition that modern microscopes can’t see.

But while we’d all certainly like to be healthier, and while we treasure life because it’s a gift from God, we need not incessantly pursue an escape from death. When Jesus died on the cross, He conquered death once and for all. He submitted Himself to death to turn it inside-out, and His resurrection proved that death cannot overcome the Lord of Life. Although Jesus raised Lazarus from death, Lazarus died again years later, but one day, He will raise Lazarus, you, and me to live forever, free from sin and free from death forever.