Is God Dead In America?

In the name of Jesus. Amen.  

On April 8th of 1966, TIME Magazine had a cover that said, 

“Is God Dead?”

The magazine asserted that the concept of God in the Western world was no longer relevant to so-called modern people.  The magazine contended that science and secularism were usurping traditional religious beliefs; could religion remain important and relevant in a secular and materialistic world?  Needless to say, the article and magazine sparked a lot of controversy and conversation.  

Sixty years later, this begs the question, is God dead in America?  

To some people, yes; to others, kind of.  

You see, some in America outright reject God and Christianity.  These would be people like the atheists.  For them, God has always been dead; He does not exist.  However, there is a growing segment in America called the ’Nones’ (i.e., N-O-N-E-S). Not NUNS but NONES.  These people do not necessarily associate with Christianity or any religion but are still spiritual.  They classify themselves as spiritual but not religious.  Chances are, you know someone like this.  

Now, why mention this?  I say this because rejecting the Christian faith like an atheist is not as easy as one might think as well.  It is pretty tricky.  You see, if you reject Christianity – if you say that God is dead – a person’s whole philosophical and ideological framework must transform.  

Let me try to explain this as simply as possible.  

If a person rejects Christianity, then a person must figure out their existence, identity, purpose, morality, and what happens after they die. For example, if God is dead, how did we get here?  Was it a big bang, did we merely evolve, or was it something else? If there is no God, what is our purpose here on earth, and who defines that purpose?  If there is no God, who are we as humans – are we just a collection of cells on a big rock wandering through space, or is there something more to being human?  When we die, if there is no God and there is no afterlife, what happens then?  Do we stop existing?  And finally, if there is no God and no heaven or hell, is there such a thing as good and evil – if we don’t exist after we die, can we just do whatever we want because morality is undefined? 

Again, if God is dead, it forces a person to have to come up with a bunch of different answers to these fundamental questions. This – again – takes a lot of work.  And that is why there are so many people who classify themselves as Nones.  In other words, these Nones reject Christianity but will also hold on to certain beliefs, practices, and values because, frankly – it is just easier that way.  They don’t want all of Christianity, but they also do not want to go through all the work to figure out all the tough answers to life's big questions. Thus, they keep many parts of Christianity. 

* * *

As you heard in Genesis 1 and 2, God created the world in six days through His Word—“Let there be light.”  He created the world and gave order to the plants and animals. He created mankind and gave mankind purpose. Genesis 1 and 2 answer many of life's big questions: how we got here, who we are, and our purpose.   

The Nones, as previously stated, will reject parts of Genesis 1, 2, and even chapter 3 while keeping other parts. They will say that Adam and Eve are myths, but at the same time, they will believe that we are here because of a supreme being.  They will diminish the story of the serpent in the garden bringing forth sin through Adam and Eve’s eating of the fruit, yet at the same time, they will acknowledge that the world is every bit as bad with sin as Genesis 3 says it is.   Like Thomas Jefferson, they will cut out the parts they don’t like but keep the parts they do like.  Again, it is just easier that way.     

Tragically, this copy-and-paste kind of Christianity is not just held by the Nones but has worked its way into the Christian Church as well.  Tragically, 53% of Christians believe the Bible contains helpful accounts of ancient myths that are not literally true, yet at the same time, these same Christians believe that God created mankind.  And – get this - around 70% of Christians ignore Genesis 3, believing that everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God, yet at the same time, they believe that there is evil in the world that will be judged on the last day.   Frankly, what we see among the Christian Church in America is surprisingly familiar with what we see among the Nones in culture.  Tragically, the American Church is playing fast and loose with God’s Holy Word, with the majority of Christians believing that the Bible has no authority to define truth or tell us what we must do but instead believe that religious belief is a matter of personal opinion.   It seems that many Christians are indistinguishable from the None.  

There is a significant problem with this, though. Once we start slashing, diminishing, undercutting, and omitting scripture like Genesis 1, 2, and 3,… it is like knocking over a card in a card house. Once you remove one card, the whole house falls. Jesus is right, a little yeast will leaven the whole lump.  

Dear Baptized Saints, please sit up in your pew and listen up!  We must guard ourselves from reading and interpreting the Bible in ways that are different from how Jesus read and interpreted it. For example, where does Jesus speak of Adam and Eve as mythological figures? Where does the Apostle Paul tell us that God’s Word is a mere ancient guideline without authority in our lives?  Where do we see Jesus picking and choosing what scripture portions he deems valid while discarding other parts that are mere myths?  Furthermore, what gives us the right to toss portions of the Bible in the trash but then keep different parts of the Bible for ourselves because it is just more convenient that way?  God have mercy on our arrogance and pride - our thinking that we can discard what we don’t like but keep parts we like.  God have mercy on us when we discard inconvenient parts of Scripture but keep other parts because we are too lazy to answer life’s tough questions ourselves.  Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on all of us and the Christian Church in America.

So, this begs the question: can we trust God’s Holy Word? Can we trust Genesis 1, 2, and 3?  Yes, we can!  But how can we be so sure?  We can be sure because the tomb is empty.  

Baptized Saints, the fact that Christ has risen from the dead changes everything.  If He were still dead in the tomb, well… He would be no different than a mortal, and His words would be no different than all the forgotten words of mankind, and we would be having a different sermon today.  Actually, if Christ were still dead in the tomb, we wouldn’t be here in this church. But Christ did rise from the grave. He defied the laws of death, and so we listen to Him.  Because of the resurrection, we must take Him and His Word seriously.  

Baptized Saints, please hear this carefully.  In the New Testament, Christ never suggested or treated Adam and Eve’s story as symbolic or mythological.  Instead, He treated them as real historical figures.  Furthermore, when you read Genesis 1, 2, and 3 – when you hear God speaking in Genesis, the same words that were spoken to create the world are the exact same words that came out of the mouth of Jesus in the New Testament.  Listen carefully; Jesus is not only the center of the Scriptures, but He is also the author of Scripture.  And so, when we hear God’s Word in Genesis 1, 2, and 3, we hear Jesus.  And in the New Testament, when we hear Jesus rebuke the wind and the waves, chastise death and speak authoritatively over demonic spirits and diseases, that Word is the same Word in Genesis 1, 2, and 3.

And so, you can trust Genesis 1, 2, and 3 because Jesus not only upheld it, but as God’s eternal Word, Jesus spoke in Genesis 1, 2, and 3.   

Baptized Saints, as we read the beginning of Genesis and the rest of Scripture, the Lord answers some pretty big questions for you and me. Regarding your existence – you and this world are not accidents but created by God. Regarding identity – you are different from plants and animals. God breathed life into you, and you are people whom Christ died for. Regarding purpose and morality - you are called into particular vocations to serve your neighbors in godliness.  Regarding life after death - at your last breath, the Lord will take you home to heaven to await the resurrection of your flesh.  All this is most certainly true, for it is what God’s Word says to you from Genesis to Revelation.  And we can trust this Word… because Christ, He rose from the dead.  The tomb is empty.    

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.