Does Jesus impact your life?

[abide]

If He doesn't--and you identify as a Christian--you're not the only one. I read this website w/ data from the Barna group (I think that's right, anyway). The dude who heads/owns this group is a Christian sociologist. Right up my alley.

Anyway, what they found is disturbing. Christians get divorced at the same rate as non-Christians. Christians--at least in large surveys--hold many ideas contrary to The Christian Worldview. Christians even take Rx mood elevators at roughly the same rate as un-believers.

So, I asked myself: does Christ really impact ***your*** life? Answer: Not enough. I don't mean that in a pseudo-humble sort of way, either...I'm just being honest. Hopefully, I'll get better.

What do you all think about this? Do you think its just because the US is still largely a "Christian" or at least "religious" nation? I mean, its not yet cool or common for those in the US to be agnostic or atheist. I read that's much more common in many European countries now. My point there is that if we're all expected to believe in something, and Christianity is that primary "something" that we're exposed to, and it still has a certain respectability to it, then maybe its just that these "Christians" are only nominally "Christian" anyway. Maybe if you asked people in post/non-Christian nations--nations where Christianity isn't such a big, mainstream deal--they'd have more a Christian worldview, since identifying as Christian would be a bigger deal. Kind of like Catholics in Catholic countries often inherit their identity and it doesn't really mean a whole lot, I guess.

Or is that how a lot of modern Christians are? Church on Sunday, yoga on Monday, Therapy on wednesday...that kind of thing?

Anybody have thoughts on this?

Your question is a pertinent one. I do realise that at times we can have a religious look which does not have to do with the way we really live. This is what Christ called HYPOCRISY. Jesus said that our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees. We can attend church for the right reasons but it may not have the impact on our lives, nor Christ may not be the centre.
In my church, they are against jewellry. When I first became a member I took out my ear rings, because I felt I should not be offending them.. But I have been studying the bible and never can see the rationale for such. (The church I was in prior to this one wore earrings.) My elder told me, take those out, he was trying to be funny. I told him I am not your wife...so leave me alone. He said I am compromising my faith. Straining at a gnat and swallowng a camel. They are sins within the church that needs to be dealt with and yet earrings and bracetlets can become such a big thing...majoring in minors.

The thing for some people is that their Christianity is an outward show. I believe my focus should be on Jesus and that is where I intend to place it.

 

[Christ_empowered]

What's with the earrings thing? That strikes me as ridiculous. I can see why you'd go along with it, though...better to submit to proper authority than be left alone, or be in a wayward church. Still, I'm glad you found a better church.

I think I liked this research (I should google search it and post a link...I'll get around to it sometime soon) because it took me back to high school. Back then, there was this organization called Young Life that would meet at a local YMCA. Praise The Lord, all that...except kids were getting stoned in the parking lot before coming in to praise The Lord and the program didn't seem to make any impact on peoples' behavior.