earlier, it was over 50%.
According to PEW Research Center: Over time, people have generally become less religious, according to research. Pew reported 26% of Americans were unaffiliated with a religion in 2019. ... During that same period, mainline protestant churches' share of the religious-affiliated population fell from slightly more than 18% to about 15%.
Hebrews 10:25
The number one reason to encourage Christians to find a good church is because the Bible instructs us to be in relationship with other believers. If we are part of Christ's body, we will recognize our need to fit into the body of believers.
And... it is with this suggestion that I have my disagreement and have had disagreement for many years...
WHY?
Because, there are so many religious hypocrites in the Church that I find it offensive that I have to attempt to fellowship with them, not to mention socialized.
I remember that this hypocrisy awareness started when I was in high school and was aware that my father was a DEACON in the Methodist Church and theoretically was supposed to be setting the standard by which the rest of us measured ourselves... What I saw was an adulterer and an alcoholic and someone who survived from political administration after the other (especially Republican because he was a Democrat) by violated or disregarding his integrity...
Now, I love my father and he has done a lot for me and set up a Trust Fund for my sister and I to use after our mother's death... but, in comparison to our mother, our father hardly ever acted like a Christian.
Consequently, I paid attention to how other people in the Church acted both inside the Church and outside of the Church. As a result, I realized that these so-called Christians were not the Christians with whom I wanted to fellowship in the name of Jesus.
I am sure that there are many others who feel like me... I have read the Bible cover-to-cover and I am appreciative of all the gifts that God has given to me and I try to be a good Christian in everything I do, think, and say... knowing that I fail with this goal all the time.
I believe and have faith in that belief.
And, while Jesus is our Christian Savior, I am not sure that my way to an afterlife is not just through HIM... but, through a constant belief in a Creator... and, since there is this religious trinity, then by default when one believes in God one also believes in God and the Holy Spirit. That's the belief that Christians need to hold on to.
