Economist Letters

Sadly this link doesn't pull up the actual letter that caught my attention in this week's print copy of the Economist, but it was someone suggesting that the increase in church attendance and religiosity in the States was entirely driven by "non-spiritual" factors such as movement into suburbs, and a need for community from somewhere.

I'm quite sure this is true. The Bible is clear that Christianity is not man seeking God, but God seeking man. On our own, we try to avoid God, and keep Him out of our lives as much as we can. Right now I'm blogging and not doing something useful like communing with God in one of various ways (prayer, reading Bible, reading Christian-based literature). Thankfully God reaches out to us, and provides Jesus to take the punishment we deserve for this rejection of God (eternal separation from God and all He's created - i.e. everything - since that's what we short-sightedly want isn't it?!).

Thankfully Christianity isn't about what I do, but about what Jesus did.

So, just like part of my attendance at church is the social side of things (going to the pub after church), I'm sure a big part of the US attendance is similarly motivated. It's human nature after all, and what the Bible predicts fully well.