Christianity in American - a Mile Wide and a Scintilla Deep

My son is a wonderful young man with an amazing love for the Lord. As a teenager, he was blessed to go on two evangelical mission trips, one to Zambia, and the other in downtown Los Angeles. He makes this rather astute observation. In Africa, Christianity is rare; evangelism is direct, simple, and the fruit of conversion is evident. In Los Angeles, almost everyone is "Christian" and the fruit nearly nonexistent. Desperate, depraved people would agree that Jesus was the Son of God on their way straight to hell. These Los Angelians knew the language of Christ but not the love of Christ.

Mark Twain once said that the Platte River was "a mile wide and an inch deep." In America, "religion is a mile wide and an inch deep."

Recent surveys have calculated the about 80-85% of Americans self-identify themselves as Christians and up to 90% believe in a personal relationship with God[i]. The United States has the largest number of Christians in the world[ii]. Given those statistics, we should be able to rest in homefront evangelism. The Good News is the battle is won. There may be a stragglers but America is indeed a Christian Nation. A mile wide.

There are approximately 300 million people in the United States[iii]. If 85% are Christians; that's 255 million Christians. Of these self-professing Christians, 75% or 191 million purport to pray to God at least once a week. "Once a week" doesn't mean that they're waiting for Sunday service to roll around for prayer. Only 47% of self-proclaimed Christians attend church at least once per month. Moreover, only 31% of monthly churchgoing Christians believes the Bible is the Word of God[iv]. An inch deep.

31% of the 47% of the 85% is 12.3%. 31 million of the 255 million self-identified Christians believe the Bible is Truth. The same surveys noted that 10% of people who refused any religious identification also believe that the Bible was the Word of God. Christians claim to believe the Bible at a rate slightly higher than agnostics and atheists. 85% of Americans may know who Christ is but very few know Christ. Mile wide and an inch deep.

As bad as that sounds, it actually gets worse. As Christians who believe the Bible, we still don't translate belief into action. Jesus gives Great Commission to Christians in all four Gospels and in Acts. We heard it; we believed it; and yet, we don't do it. According to the late Bill Bright of Campus Crusade, only about two percent of Christians regularly share their faith with others[v]. Mile wide and a scintilla deep.

Missionary expeditions to the nations are good. Witnessing Christ to the "leftover lost" 15% of our nation is great. However, the challenge of our time is evangelism at the electric company, grocery store, and in the church pew.

We begin the battle by tackling the issue at its root, "Christian self-identification." We have all noted the mobile definitions of words like "hot," "cool," "radical," etc. However, we failed notice what was happening to the word "Christian." Like "cool" and "rad," the word "Christian" shifted in American cultural understanding.

The definitional plumline of the word, "Christian" comes from the Bible. The first use of the term, Christian is in Acts 11:26. "There in Antioch the Lord's followers were first called Christians[vi]." Therefore, in order to understand what Christian is one has to fully appreciate what a "follower" does. Of course, the first thing a follower does is "to follow" or "walk behind." Repeatedly, Jesus said, "Follow me." Those that followed put down an old way and took on a new one. Whatever was their current activity or preoccupation- fishing, family, occupation, or treasure, they put it aside. Each one placed Christ at the forefront of the line and took a subordinate position behind Him. Therefore, the first sense of "follow" is to be subordinate to or submitted to the Leadership (Lordship) of another.

The second sense is "to be united on the same path." Most often when Jesus said, "Follow me," the Bible uses the Greek word, akoloutheō[vii]. This word comes from the Greek Alpha (as a particle of union) and keleuthos (a road) - same road. The Christ road map is the Bible. Christ's teachings and examples are detailed in the Bible. In order to be on the same road as Christ, one must follow the Bible. John 12:26 says, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be[viii]." A true servant will look to the road map to determine the directions to the destination.

By Biblical definition, in order to be a Christian, one must be a person submitted to Christ, striving to do what He did in as described in the Bible. A Christian must be a "Christ Follower."

There is a shift in the meaning of the word, "Christian," away from its Biblical root to a new "belief/respect" laden meaning. A "Christ Follower" is a very different person than one who believes about Christ. Many miss the full meaning of Romans 10:9[ix]. "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved." Believing in one's head is not a heart belief. After all, a historian may believe in the existence of Christ. Existence is not the Christ issue. Moslems not only acknowledge His existence, they respect and pay homage to His teachings. However, they are neither submitted to Christ nor are they on the same path. Agreeing with Christ does not make one a "Christ Follower." Agreement is not the Christ issue.

The Greek word used for "believe" in Roman 10:9 is pisteuō. It means not only "to have faith in" but by implication means "to entrust[x]." To entrust[xi] means to give over to. Therefore, when one entrusts his heart to Christ, he gives his life over to Christ's leadings. Many of America's 85% Christians have either a historian's belief or a Moslem's respect without having entrusted. Entrusting Christ involves submission and obedience. The word shift has replaced entrusting with acknowledging.

This shift is peculiar to only two religions- one of which is Christianity. I believe- most people believe, that Buddha, Mohammed, and Haile Selassie existed. In fact, I'm certain they existed. I even admit that some of their teachings, while not Truth, are true. Nevertheless, based on those criteria, I wouldn't claim- no one would claim, that I was a Buddhist, Moslem, or Rastafarian. This fuzzy identification word shift only occurs in two religious groups- Old Testament Believers and New, Judaism and Christianity.

Although I used the twentieth century terms, "cool" and "rad," the origins of this word shift predates twentieth century. The term, "Judeo-Christian," first came into usage in the mid-1800's as "a term invented as a pejorative... for agnostic anti-Christian use: ... the polemical effectiveness of the term lay in lumping Jews together with Christians, the latter of whom would be presumed to be offended by the association[xii]." The term was brought into the mainstream by Thomas H. Huxley during the evolution debates of the 1890's. Huxley, best known as Darwin's Bulldog, also coined the term, "agnostic." "So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of 'agnostic.' It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the 'gnostic' of Church history.... To my great satisfaction the term took.[xiii]" Given the satisfaction he felt about how well "agnostic" did, how much greater would he be satisfied with the worldwide acceptance and embrace of the derisive term "Judeo-Christian."

The Oxford English Dictionary recognized the popularization of the term by including it in its 1899 edition. The word shift had already moved the words "Judaism and Christianity" away from their Biblically rooted meaning towards definitions encompassing "a particular sociological tradition" or "a set of cultural characteristics." God created Jewish-ness when initiated His covenant relationship with Abraham. The Old and New Testaments clearly indicate by the first century Jewish-ness became defined by "rule keeping." By the time of Hitler, Jewish-ness was primarily a racial identifier. Today, Jewish has almost entirely become a cultural identifier. "Jews view themselves not only as members of a faith system, but as part of a peoplehood, culture, civilization, nation and more.[xiv]"

The American concept of Christianity has undergone the same type of de-covenantization as Judaism. Beyond the belief/respect murky Christian identification of the past, the embrace of the term "Judeo-Christian" has introduced "peoplehood, culture, civilization, nation and more" to Christian identification. In the case of Christianity, the "more" has become an American political identifier.

The political tone to the phrase, "Judeo-Christian" began in the late 1930's as a rallying cry against anti-Semitic Nazism and Fascism. In the post-war, "Judeo-Christianity" originally stood as the counterweight to the atheistic nature of communism and tyranny. However, the theistic nature of the dispute was soon lost in the political and economic verbiage. In the battle against the economic philosophy of socialism and political philosophy of communism, the phrase "Judeo-Christian" was reduced to shorthand for "Capitalistic Democracy." In the sixties and seventies, the term was used to embody ideals of racial harmony and equality. It is used extensively in the writings of D. H. Smith, the writings of NAACP President Benjamin Hooks and throughout the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. President Jimmy Carter and Jesse Jackson evoke the phrase, "Judeo-Christian" to bring about political reconciliation between African-Americans and the Jewish communities.

In the 1980's, "Judeo-Christianity" found its most impacting voice in the Great Communicator- President Ronald Regan. The phrase, "Judeo-Christian" resonated and rooted itself in the American Conservative Political Movement. It soon moved even further from its Biblical roots to encompass estate planning, tax reform, immigration policy, military strategy, etc. As a nation, we have devalued the meaning of "Christian." If we believe Jesus existed and was a good teacher or if have the correct political worldview- liberal or conservative, we identify as Christian.

Missionary expeditions to the nations are good. Witnessing Christ to the "leftover lost" 15% of our nation is great. However, the challenge of our time is evangelism at the electric company, grocery store, and in the church pew.

255 million Americans identify themselves as Christian. However since only 31 million of these "Christians" regularly attend church and believe the Bible, one seriously questions the nature of this identification. The socio-political use of the phrase has corrupted the Biblical foundation of the term. The challenge of the Church is to evangelize and bring into Christ-Following relationship over 220 million Americans who identify themselves as Christians. These Americans will agree with the evangelist/witness that Jesus is the Son of God. Their response to "Jesus is Lord" will be "I know. Praise God. Me, too. My grandmother went to church every Sunday. Amen." However, there will be no evidence of submission to Christ and their path will be skewed away from Biblical truth.

I suggest we first address the problem by redefining the answer to the identification question. We must make clear that socio-political responses are no longer acceptable responses to religious identification. Only a zealous guard of our language will allow the word, "Christian" to again mean "Christ Follower." Until we began to disallow this word shift, we will continue to have 250 million "Christians" agreeing themselves straight to hell. We will continue to be a nation with religion "a mile wide and an inch deep."

[i] Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life, The American Religious Landscape And Politics, 2004; Baylor Religion Study 2006, American Piety in the 21st Century: New Insights to the Depth and Complexity of Religion in the US; US Census Bureau 2005 population estimates, Revised December 20, 2006

[ii] Ash, Russell. The Top 10 of Everything, DK Publishing, Inc.: New York (1997), pg. 160-161; December Advance Newsletter, 1996, Kainos Press; Adherents.com.

[iii] US Census Bureau 2005 population estimates, Revised December 20, 2006

[iv] US Census Bureau 2005 population estimates, Revised December 20, 2006

[v] Bill Bright, New Life Resources / 1995 / Paperback, Page 65

[vi] King James Version

[vii] James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 1890). G190

[viii] King James Version

[ix] American Standard Version

[x] James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 1890). G4100

[xi] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

[xii] James O'Donnell, Georgetown University, Provost, Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0852. Wednesday, 26 Dec 1990, ISI Conference, German E-Mail (3/80), 20 Dec 90

[xiii] Huxley, Thomas H, Collected Essays, 237-239. ISBN 1-85506-922-9.

[xiv] Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, Jewish-Christian Relations, International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, ©2007 The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise,