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...technology advances and people's standard of living rises.
Distraction and materialism. Who needs God? It's not about whether God is real, but rather human nature. Truth is some people who call themselves Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc., are just going along with the culture. So yea if life is going well and they have enough stuff and entertainment they will drift away. Jesus said as much. Read Matthew 13 and focus on verse 22, which says: Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
So to sum it up; The decline in religion and spirituality in the modern age has nothing to do with whether God is real, but rather a disinterest in spiritual matters. It's not that some people are becoming atheists per se, but rather those people just don't care about the spiritual. Their focus is on the things of the world. Not surprising.
Well, if this forum didn't exist, I would not have the opportunity to discuss and learn about religion, spirituality, God and unbelief in the way that it is discussed here.
...technology advances and people's standard of living rises.
Distraction and materialism. Who needs God? It's not about whether God is real, but rather human nature. Truth is some people who call themselves Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc., are just going along with the culture. So yea if life is going well and they have enough stuff and entertainment they will drift away. Jesus said as much. Read Matthew 13 and focus on verse 22, which says: Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
So to sum it up; The decline in religion and spirituality in the modern age has nothing to do with whether God is real, but rather a disinterest in spiritual matters. It's not that some people are becoming atheists per se, but rather those people just don't care about the spiritual. Their focus is on the things of the world. Not surprising.
There is something in that. It has been observed that if you give a man a fish, he will eat that day, but teach him to fish and he will eat every day (and you also save the price of a fish). One might well ruin the analogy by saying that if he can fish for his lunch every day, God can go whistle, but if the fish all vanish, he might get desperate enough to try a prayer...can't hurt, after all.
Amongst all the explaining away and interpreting of stats that goes with trying to pretend that the rush to Doubt isn't happening, we will get the suggestion that people are just too cosy, and maybe a nice world War III would be a good idea, if only a good few repentant souls are saved as the bodies that housed them turn into toast.
I like to think that a general ongoing discussion with voices other than the well - funded authority - orgs. being heard and the relative merits of the cases for and against religion and its claims being aired are having a significant effect, but we shall have to wait for the next tranche of survey stats.
...technology advances and people's standard of living rises.
Distraction and materialism. Who needs God? It's not about whether God is real, but rather human nature. Truth is some people who call themselves Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc., are just going along with the culture. So yea if life is going well and they have enough stuff and entertainment they will drift away. Jesus said as much. Read Matthew 13 and focus on verse 22, which says: Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
So to sum it up; The decline in religion and spirituality in the modern age has nothing to do with whether God is real, but rather a disinterest in spiritual matters. It's not that some people are becoming atheists per se, but rather those people just don't care about the spiritual. Their focus is on the things of the world. Not surprising.
Another way to look at it is more information is available to people than ever before. Those with doubts can research and find information at the click of a mouse. Think about that person 20 years ago. What options did they have if they lived in a predominantly religious town?
The GOD factor is difficult for some to grasp. Being in the material world....technocrats think in material ways. God is not material and does not adhere to physics as we know it. This THING is beyond our comprehension. It can exist yet does not exist. IT can be all powerful or powerless. We think in terms of power...physical power....and technology represents an effect on the natural physical world. No matter how advanced technology gets - there will always be a place for GOD. Only a fool would become fully dependent on high tech. Also I must state to the non-believers .....if a person can not water a plant in crisis - that person will starve. We do not teach our children stewardship of nature....nature feeds and sustains us....YOU can not eat a hard drive.
It can be looked at another way. People today and families are busy trying to make as much money as possible because if you have any other attitude on the way out the door, you'll come last. Money is the largest reason for break-up. The advance of tech things are distractions but if it wasn't the tech things it would be something else , probably more shiny or just bigger, tv homes, boats.
Last edited by alexcanter; 01-26-2014 at 07:18 AM..
I do find it interesting that some people are blaming technology for a decline in a belief in god. I'm sure I could find a few threads that give all the credit to god for new inventions and technology since he inspired them.
The decline in religion and spirituality in the modern age has nothing to do with whether God is real, but rather a disinterest in spiritual matters.
Well, high-ho, now, just a minute, there.
If God is real, and "spiritual matters" are of crucial interest, would not people just naturally take an interest in such things? When have there EVER been lines several blocks long of people waiting to get into churches to connect with god? When has Christianity (for example) EVER represented >= 90% of the world population's religious beliefs? When has your friendly local pastor EVER not had to constantly "encourage" people to pray, study the Bible, donate funds, and act the same during the week as they do in church on Sunday?
Why are "the things of this world" so much more fascinating than the supernatural? Could it have ANYTHING to do with the "things of this world" being real and the supernatural stuff, at the very least, suffering by comparison? Maybe the supernatural stuff doesn't have any reality of its own other than what is sustained by the force of people's will, supported by liturgy and "exhortation" and hellthreat?
It makes sense that some small percentage of dysfunctional and self-destructive types would not develop a normal, healthy interest in "spiritual things" but this notion that spirituality is so ephemeral, so non-obvious, fragile and counterintuitive that MOST people throughout MOST of history don't subscribe to it with the devotion and ardency that the church has ALWAYS fantasized about, suggests very strongly that there is no "there" there.
And now ... wait for it ... here will come someone who will flatter themselves and their superior spirituality by quoting "the natural man receives not the things of god, for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned". But you still have to keep in mind the whole PURPOSE of god is supposedly to save ALL his beloved humans from certain destruction and to have them always with him in paradise. If this purpose has any meaning at all, spiritual discernment is something that people would see value in, seek out as the priceless thing that it is, and persist in seeking until they have it. And they would see the benefits all around them, by observing the virtual absence of Christians among the imprisoned, divorced, suicidal, angst-ridden and unfulfilled. What a motivator THAT would be.
...technology advances and people's standard of living rises.
Distraction and materialism. Who needs God? It's not about whether God is real, but rather human nature. Truth is some people who call themselves Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc., are just going along with the culture. So yea if life is going well and they have enough stuff and entertainment they will drift away. Jesus said as much. Read Matthew 13 and focus on verse 22, which says: Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
So to sum it up; The decline in religion and spirituality in the modern age has nothing to do with whether God is real, but rather a disinterest in spiritual matters. It's not that some people are becoming atheists per se, but rather those people just don't care about the spiritual. Their focus is on the things of the world. Not surprising.
Christians should be ecstatic as to how it is all panning out. After all it is written that there will be an increase of knowledge, folk will become lovers of themselves, the great falling away and so on and THEN THE END WILL COME.
This has pretty much been the song and dance of the last century and yet here we still are.
Perhaps folk are realising that despite all the smoke and mirrors, there really is nothing to fear. The religious folk are on a roll of getting it wrong consistently and b/c pronunciations are now forever embedded on the internet, they have nowhere to hide their lies and deceit.
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