According to recent Pew research belief in God is dropping dramatically in America, and the people at MSN think millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) are to blame. According to the polling data a third of the millennial generation doesn’t pray and only a little over a quarter of them attend at least one religious service per week. The majority of those surveyed also claimed that religion isn’t very important to them, identifying with the statement that it is “not too” or “not at all” important in their lives. Pew Research is usually accurate and I have no basis for believing this research to be otherwise, but to assert that millennials are to blame for this lack of faith is misguided. This week we’ll examine the lies that our culture has foisted upon this generation that is leading them into a downward spiral of spiritual death.

Lie #1: All paths lead to God.

It has been the mantra of our culture over the last half century that “all paths lead to God”. This was asserted by liberal theologians and politicians in an attempt to undercut evangelicals who share their faith. Of course that is not the stated reason for this argument, which is an attempt to get diverse religious groups to coexist peacefully. The truth is, most religious groups do peacefully coexist in America, and even worldwide with the exceptions of places where Islam has or desires control. If all religions lead to a satisfactory afterlife with God then Jesus is not “the only way” and there is no longer any reason to convert anyone to Christianity. It dovetails nicely with the second big lie.

Lie #2: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

We have looked at this lie before, but not from this angle. This lie encourages one to compartmentalize their faith from the rest of their life. Be a spiritual person, they say, but that person on your own time. My high school principal once told me that he is a man of faith, attending Mass each week. Yet when he walks into his office Monday morning he hangs his coat of Christianity up by the door and becomes an agent of the county school system. The school systems beliefs and morality are all that matters to him during the course of the day, until he puts his coat back on and leaves in the evening. The truth is, a faith that doesn’t speak to every part of one’s life is no faith at all. Which leads us to the third lie.

Lie #3: No one religion has all the answers, but all of them contain some truth.

The first lie encourages people to keep their faith to themselves, the second encourages them adopt other faiths as necessary, and the third drives one to study other religions in order to try and piece together elements of truth to live by – in other words “invent your own religion.” This leads to the abandonment of one’s religious faith in favor of what the Old Testament calls “doing what is right in your eyes.” This replaces faith in the divine and replaces it with faith in one’s own ability to determine truth and goodness on their own. Sound familiar? It should, it’s exactly the lie the Serpent spoke to Eve in the garden: “God knows that when you eat from [the forbidden tree] your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil” (Genesis 3.5).

There is nothing new about these lies, there is nothing truthful in them, and there is only one result in following them (eternal damnation). As harsh as it sounds, as close-minded as it may appear, it is as true as 1+1=2. Tomorrow we will see just how insidious these lies can be.