But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)

Religion On Campus Fades

The heading in a recent news article reflected the trend that most U.S. adults avoid church, and college students are becoming increasingly disassociated with “organized religion.” Young people suggest religion has not played a significant role in their lives as they begin to form their opinions of life. The changing world values and technologies of the modern age have shifted the attention of young minds away from the values of their upbringing to the desires of self-expression, rejection of establishment, and buying into a culture bent on canceling anything that offends. This new trend is an old path with a fresh coat of asphalt. In the 60s, the same song filled the airways with the hippie movement and protested against the Vietnam war. Women’s liberation, Black Panther, social injustice, and defiance against law and order were the mantra of the day fighting against the establishment. Now the grandchildren of that lost generation are putting on the same clothes with a different style.

There is an appeal for “religious organizations” to adapt to the needs of young people. According to James Cavendish, a University of South Florida sociology professor, churches need to be “less emphatic and less absolutist in its religious pronouncement about issues, whether it be abortion or sexuality,” according to James Cavendish, a University of South Florida sociology professor. There is agreement that what are termed “religious organizations” need to adapt to the needs of young people because they have never represented the pattern of the New Testament church. All of the denominations (Protestant churches) have become social, political, and moral bastions of self-serving, accepting institutions catering to the whims and notions of the masses. Instead of men adapting to the word of God, the will of God must bend to the will of men. That is total nonsense (if I may be so bold).

The popular saying among many is they are “not religious, but they are spiritual.” Religion has become a melting pot of blending the spiritual notions of carnal desires to become the new gods of modern America. It is impossible to be a follower of Jesus Christ and believe abortion is a right. The Bible teaches God created man in His own image, and when a woman has an abortion, she commits murder. Those who argue against this do not defend their belief with scripture but with their own opinions. Accepting sexuality at any level is what society demands. Homosexuality (and all of its cousins) is condemned throughout scripture, but “religious organizations” bow down to the social pressures to accept the perversion as viewed by God. It must be understood that sexual intimacy outside of marriage is condemned, infidelity is condemned, and men with men and women with women is condemned. That is what God says. But that is not the opinions of the liberated, spiritually conscience minds of those who are not religious.

Fundamental to the failure of the modern view of religion is that men have created their own totems of what they want to worship. Instead of men drawing themselves to the Lord God, they demand God come down to their level and become the god of human wisdom. The angels laugh at the absurdity of man’s plight. Created higher than humankind, the angels worship God as sovereign and supreme. Jesus tells a woman from Samaria that worship is based on a clear, demonstrative, and power model: worship must be according to truth, and it must be according to spirit. Anything less is vain worship.

The newest polls showing a decline of worshipers is not new. When men begin to fill their hearts with their own self-deluded grandeur and worth, there is no room for God. They will boast in their arrogance until they die, and then they will discover that God must be worshiped according to spirit and truth. It is a sad commentary to see so many souls lost in the wilderness of pride, believing they are their own gods. Two things are certain: there is a God, and you are not him.