{"id":4641,"date":"2014-11-18T05:35:59","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T03:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?p=4641"},"modified":"2014-11-17T23:05:02","modified_gmt":"2014-11-17T21:05:02","slug":"atheist-church-and-4-other-signs-atheism-is-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/atheist-church-and-4-other-signs-atheism-is-dying\/","title":{"rendered":"Atheist Church and 4 Other Signs Atheism is Dying"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By 2025 there will be over 6,000,000 fewer atheist world-wide, that&#8217;s\u00a0a loss of about 1,700 atheist a day over the next ten years according to a\u00a0report on the status of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gordonconwell.edu\/resources\/documents\/StatusOfGlobalMission.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Global Missions in 2014<\/a>\u00a0 by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gordonconwell.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gordon Conwell Theological Seminar.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I began researching this trend recently after watching <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/feJ8GZIjwCo\" target=\"_blank\">this video<\/a> from Zach Anner about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sundayassemblyla.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sunday Assembly<\/a>, which is basically a secular\/atheistic attempt at doing church!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/feJ8GZIjwCo?rel=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>More Atheist Want to Practice Religion<\/h2>\n<p>Zach&#8217;s video on Sunday assembly reveals a surprising aspect in atheism and secularism. It&#8217;s obvious that our atheistic friends want something more. They long for the relational element that most religions offer. Ironically they are trying to become more like their friends who believe in God but do it in a way that doesn&#8217;t require God.<\/p>\n<p>These kinds of attempts to bring morality and religiousness into atheism are not new. All you have to do is study the history of the former Soviet Union and you will see how they tried to replace <a href=\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/why-the-toppling-of-lenin-in-kharkiv-is-more-significant-than-you-might-think\/\" target=\"_blank\">God with Lenin<\/a>. You&#8217;ll also find that they tried to replace the Bible with the Communist Manifesto and other writings of Marx and Engels.<\/p>\n<p>What we do know is that these attempts to make atheism religious never last, just like atheistic communism didn&#8217;t last!<\/p>\n<h2>Low birthrate<\/h2>\n<p>Atheism and it&#8217;s secular worldviews lack any real motivation for procreation and thus tend to have very low birth rates. Some ideas which atheists promote lend to this lowered birthrate such as:<\/p>\n<h4>Sterilization<\/h4>\n<p>Atheist are known for promoting programs that encourage voluntary and sometimes even <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Compulsory_sterilization\" target=\"_blank\">compulsory sterilization<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4>Emphasis on education and career<\/h4>\n<p>They also emphasize science, education and careers as a very high value for the individual. These values tend to put off childbearing until much later in life.<\/p>\n<h4>Abortion<\/h4>\n<p>Ironically abortion is an issue that many atheist have spent much of their life trying to promote but in the end it&#8217;s the millions of abortions that will kill off the atheist population!<\/p>\n<h2>Historic Atheistic Countries Changing<\/h2>\n<p>Our world is changing and many countries that used to be bulwarks of atheism have completely changed their allegiances. The most notable of these is the former Soviet countries.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s astonishing to realize that a country, where just 30 years ago you could be shipped off to the gulag for practicing your religion, \u00a0now has a president who unashamedly talks about his faith and often is seen interacting with church leaders. Yes, I&#8217;m talking about Vladimir Putin, who not only claims to be a Christian but has taken a strong stand against issues like homosexuality.<\/p>\n<p>Another country to consider is China which is considered to be an atheistic country, yet Christianity is booming there! Some even say that within 15 years China will be the worlds largest <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/asia\/china\/10776023\/China-on-course-to-become-worlds-most-Christian-nation-within-15-years.html\" target=\"_blank\">Christian nation!<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Growth of Major Religions<\/h2>\n<p>We know that atheist aren&#8217;t reproducing physically but atheistic evangelists aren&#8217;t doing much for their cause either. According to the study by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gordonconwell.edu\/resources\/documents\/StatusOfGlobalMission.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary<\/a> all major religions are experiencing major growth.<\/p>\n<p>The strongest per year growth is in Christianity 1.29%, Hinduism 1.38% and Islam 1.81%. This is opposed to a .03% annual growth of atheism and it appears that number is falling.<\/p>\n<h2>Survival of the Fittest<\/h2>\n<p>Ironically this is a question of survival of the fittest. As it turns out atheism isn&#8217;t the fittest for human survival and flourishing. Maybe that&#8217;s because God made man as a worshiper and gave him certain laws to live by. Turns out that societies who try to stick to at least a few basic Biblical principles do better and last longer!<\/p>\n<h2>Evangelism Is Changing<\/h2>\n<p>The death of atheism doesn&#8217;t mean that the church&#8217;s task in evangelism just got easier. What it means is it&#8217;s changing!<\/p>\n<p>The Christian&#8217;s job is to communicate the gospel and in order to do that effectively we need to be aware of the major cultural beliefs around us. Much depends on where you live and what crowds you mingle with but I&#8217;m guessing you are coming up against atheism less and less.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not suggesting that we abandon our arguments for God&#8217;s existence of for an intelligently designed universe.<\/p>\n<p>What I am suggesting is that we pay more careful attention to the teachings of people like Muhammad, Buddha, Dalai Lama, Ekhart Tolle, Deepack Chopra, and Oprah Winfrey. They are the religious teachers of our world today. Understand them if you want to reach the world around you!<\/p>\n<h2>Question: Do you think atheism is dying? Why or why not?<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By 2025 there will be over 6,000,000 fewer atheist world-wide, that&#8217;s\u00a0a loss of about 1,700 atheist a day over the next ten years according to a\u00a0report on the status of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gordonconwell.edu\/resources\/documents\/StatusOfGlobalMission.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Global Missions in 2014<\/a>\u00a0 by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gordonconwell.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gordon Conwell Theological Seminar.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[350,10],"class_list":["post-4641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-atheism","tag-evangelism"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/atheist-church.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-1cR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":416,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/why-i-came-to-ukraine\/","url_meta":{"origin":4641,"position":0},"title":"Why I came to Ukraine","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"August 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Why did you come to Ukraine?\" I was asked by one of the mothers as I drove a van load of kids out to camp last month. The mother, who was a self proclaimed atheist, couldn't imagine why someone would want to leave their home country and come halfway across\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ministry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9402,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/evangelism-training-in-balakliia\/","url_meta":{"origin":4641,"position":1},"title":"Evangelism Training In Balakliia","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"May 29, 2018","format":"video","excerpt":"It's not often that you meet a church with such a thirst for the gospel. This past weekend I traveled to Balakiia where we led an evangelism training seminar with Light of the Gospel Church.\u00a0 This town lived through a serious of explosions last year that\u00a0damaged nearly every building in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ministry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/33710703_10156485673269809_2534051651195502592_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/33710703_10156485673269809_2534051651195502592_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/33710703_10156485673269809_2534051651195502592_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/33710703_10156485673269809_2534051651195502592_n.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5203,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/ministry-in-nickolaev-ukraine-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":4641,"position":2},"title":"Ministry in Nickolaev Ukraine -Video","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"March 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It's always a challenge to get out of the house on time for church on Sunday morning with five kids in tow. This past Sunday we left the house a couple of hours earlier than usual so that we could visit a partner church in the city of Nickolaev. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;New&quot;","block_context":{"text":"New","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/new\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/DSC03037.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/DSC03037.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/DSC03037.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17007,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/russian-missiles-hit-near-our-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":4641,"position":3},"title":"Russian Missiles Hit Near Our Church","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"August 23, 2023","format":"video","excerpt":"Around 2:00 AM on Sunday morning several Russian missiles hit historic downtown Odesa, Ukraine. Three of the missiles hit about 200 yards for our church. By God's grace our facility was not damaged. All around hundreds of windows were broken out, rubble lay in the street and a think layer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ukraine&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ukraine","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ukraine-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5520,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/will-same-sex-marriage-and-the-lgbt-agenda-bring-persecution-to-churches-in-the-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":4641,"position":4},"title":"Will Same-Sex Marriage and the LGBT Agenda Bring Persecution to Churches in the US?","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"July 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Just 30 years ago the USA was considered to be a nation that operated out of a Judeo\/Christian worldview. On the other hand the USSR was considered to be a godless atheistic nation where persecution of the church was common. 30 years later and ironically theses two countries have flip-flopped.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;New&quot;","block_context":{"text":"New","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/new\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Desktop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Desktop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Desktop.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8123,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/what-is-the-purpose-of-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":4641,"position":5},"title":"What Is the Purpose of the Church?","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"June 26, 2017","format":"video","excerpt":"Why do you come to Church? Why do you participate in the life of the Church? Why are you here this morning? When you think of the Church, what kind of purpose comes into your mind? As fallen people we often tend to\u00a0derive our purpose from temporary activities. While these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sermons&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sermons","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/maxresdefault-10.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/maxresdefault-10.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/maxresdefault-10.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/maxresdefault-10.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/maxresdefault-10.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4641"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4655,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4641\/revisions\/4655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}