Why Don’t People Care About God?

John 20:30-31

Many don't know what they believe about God, but still have strong opinions on the topic. Why is it that God and the meaning of life are so difficult to talk about? Can we really know about God?

I have a socially awkward occupation: I’m a pastor. Maybe it’s just my insecurities, but I feel like people I meet for the first time feel uneasy when I tell them, “I’m a pastor.” It’s as if I told them I was just released from prison. They didn’t expect that. They’re not sure how to respond. There’s the autonomic response: “Oh… that’s nice.” followed by quick action to move the conversation on to something else. They’ve never met a pastor before and they’re not really sure what one does. But they figure I must be a very religious person and that makes them uncomfortable.

For a long time it’s been understood that there are some things that you should avoid talking about in public. Politics is one of those “landmine” topics. Many have strong personal opinions about politics. Few are interested in constructive dialogue. Few want to be “educated.” If challenged, they’ll fight for what they’re sure is right.

Religion is another one of those you-should-stay-away-from topics. Like politics, many have their very personal opinions about religion, about God, about what they believe. Few seem interested in constructive dialogue regarding meaning in life, about what is the truly good life, whether there is an ultimate purpose for us, about what will happen to us when we die, about suffering and evil in the world, about hope, and about God. Most have very personal opinions about each of these topics—even though they’ve not given them much serious thought. They just don’t want to talk about it. If forced into it, they won’t fight, they’ll run away.

I have often wondered why it is that it is nearly impossible to talk with family, friends, coworkers, and casual acquaintances about God, and about what I consider are the most important issues in life. At your next “physically distanced” gathering bring up some of these topics—meaning, purpose, what is the good life, what happens after death, Jesus Christ, God—and see what happens. You know what will happen. It will go no where and you will be “socially distanced” from everyone else.

Having given this much thought, here are some of the reasons why I think God is not something people want to talk about. One reason is many don’t really know what they believe—although, strangely, they feel very strongly about what they are very uncertain about. They can’t explain what they believe or why they believe what they believe. It’s just what they believe. It’s what seems good, what seems right to them based on their observations and experiences. It’s their opinion. They can’t defend it and they don’t have to. Their opinion is just as good as anyone else's opinion because that’s all there is—opinion—when it comes to God.

This is a second reason people don’t want to talk about God—because many think no one knows for sure about God. All there is are opinions about God. After all, look at how many religions there are and they all have their own views of God. Even within Christianity, there are thousands of denominations each with their own views. Who’s right? Today, we generally consider people who think they know for sure what God is like as being ignorant, arrogant, rude, and sometimes even dangerous. That kind of fundamentalist thinking is what leads to wars, killing, and terrorism in the name of God. Those who take God and their religion too seriously are fanatics.

A third reason I think people don’t care to talk about God is because they don’t feel any compelling reason to do so. God is irrelevant to them. They don’t see anything good that can come from thinking about or knowing God. They’re getting along fine without God. And those who are struggling in life, don’t see God as the solution to their problems. They equate God with religion and, for many people, religion is just ritual.

I remember having to analyze books in my high school literature classes. One of the questions we would have to answer was, “What was the author’s purpose for writing this book?” Novelists, it seemed to me, never just came right out and told you why they wrote their novel, what their purpose was, what was the “message” of their novel.

Jesus’ disciple, John, told us the purpose, the reason why he wrote his Gospel. Near the end of his Gospel he wrote this:

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31 NIV)

The first reason I suggested why many don’t want to talk about God is because they really don’t know what they believe or why they believe what they believe. Contrary to popular ideas, biblical faith is not a “leap in the dark.” Biblical faith is not opposed to reason, to clear thinking. John’s purpose in writing his Gospel was an appeal to reason and clear thinking. It is as if he is presenting evidence to a jury (his readers) in a trial where Jesus has been accused of falsely claiming to be the Messiah, the Son of God. In his Gospel John is presenting the case, the evidence, the reasons to conclude that, in fact, Jesus is God’s Messiah, just as he claimed to be. John is presenting reliable eyewitness accounts—performed “in the presence” of Jesus’ disciples—of acts that actually happened, that Jesus performed. These acts are “signs,” they are visible, tangible reasons, to conclude that Jesus, in doing these things, in fact, fulfilled the Scripture prophecies that described God’s Messiah and, therefore, he is God’s Messiah.

It’s understandable that many today would not know what to believe about God. Left to ourselves, we can’t know God. All we can do is speculate and form opinions about God. But God has not left us to ourselves. He wants us to know him. Into all our speculations and opinions (darkness) he sent us the Light. He has given us “signs” that point us to him. Through John’s Gospel, God is giving us literal (in “black and white”) and physical signs, in and through Jesus Christ, that reveal God to us so that we can know him.

So the statement of John’s purpose also addresses the second reason many today aren’t interested in God—because what anyone thinks they know about God is only speculation and opinion. Because this idea, that no one can know much of anything for sure about God, has so profoundly saturated us and quenched any spark to seek God, it is difficult for us, it seems wrong for us, to accept that there is truth about God and that we can know it. As I said before, to say you know the truth about God comes across as ignorant and arrogant. But the reason John wrote his Gospel is because he was firmly convinced that what he was writing about God was the truth. This was not just his opinion about God. This was not just “his” truth, what “worked” for him, about God. This is the truth.

Sometimes when I try to talk to someone about God they will cut me off by telling my they don’t believe in God. They think that if they don’t believe in God then he doesn’t exist—end of any discussion. Now if God does not exist, then no matter how sincerely I believe in him, he does not exist. But it is also true that if God does exist, then whether anyone believes in him or not, he does exist.

Truth and reality do not adapt to us. It is up to us to adapt to them.

A four thousand year old tradition does not become truer as the years go by. If it is false or wrong, it simply continues to be a long-standing error. If it is popular, it is widespread. If adopted by the powerful, it is authoritative. But it is still wrong. Acceptance of its right to exist in a pluralistic society does not make it any more correct, and will be of no help to those following it when they finally run into reality. (Dallas Willard)

This leads us to the third reason so many don’t care to talk about God—because they don’t think God has anything good to offer them. There was a time in our country when being religious was respectable. Respectability was once something God offered a person. But our culture (in this part of the country) has completely changed. Now, the seriously “religious” are a disrespected minority. Believing in Jesus was once something that offered people a way out of hell and a way into heaven. But few today, seriously believe in hell. And if they do, they don’t think they’re going there.

John wrote his Gospel because the truth is that by believing that Jesus is God’s Messiah, the Son of God, you may have life in his name. John was not offering the world just another religious option. John was not revealing the magic words to say, pray, believe in or claim—”in Jesus name”—that would keep you out of hell and get you into heaven.

John wrote about what God has to offer us in Jesus Christ. He offers us “life,” lived here-and-now and that will go on for eternity—an eternal quality of life, the life that is life—that is profoundly like the life of Jesus Christ (”in his name,” in accord with his character and the way he lived). This life is the life. It is true life and exclusively found in Jesus Christ. It is your life—everything, all-encompassing, consuming—as opposed to God being just a part of your life. It is life, and light in the sense of being good, and wonderful, and fulfilling, and meaningful, and supremely, eternally, and gloriously satisfying.

The title “Messiah” does not have much meaning for many of us. But what this means for John is something amazing and wonderful. God’s Messiah is God’s best for us. God’s Messiah is his provision for our need. God’s Messiah is his mercy, grace and love reaching out to us and bringing us into a Father/child relationship with him. God’s Messiah is God giving himself—God, the Son—to bring us to himself. God is not satisfied with you giving him religious devotion. He’s not satisfied with your good works. He’s not satisfied with you doing great things for him. He wants you. He will only be satisfied with you. And he offers to you the only thing that will truly and fully, ultimately and for ever, satisfy you—himself. You were created by him, for him. “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you” (Augustine).

John said it is by “believing” that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, you may have life in his name. John presented the evidence, he laid a foundation for believing that Jesus is the Messiah. He was not saying that by simply agreeing with, by giving assent to, or by trusting in the “signs” themselves that you may have life. If you’re dying of thirst, no matter how hard and how sincerely you believe that the glass of water before you is real and can quench your thirst and save your life, it will not save you unless you drink it. Believing that Jesus is the Messiah can only save you, can only give you life, if you take him in, remain in him, drink and feed upon him. How do you do this? Read John’s Gospel about Jesus. Live with Jesus. Follow him. Trust him. Live as if what he said and says to you is true. Live as if what you say you believe is true. Obey him. This is what it means, what it looks like, to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.

The opening words of John first letter are such a wonderful expression of the glorious life John has experienced in Christ and testifies to and so desperately wants everyone to experience.

From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.

We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy! (1 John 1:1-4 MSG)

John wasn’t preaching a Christian religious creed or doctrine. He wasn’t promoting a Jesus-like way of moral living. He was talking about life. He was talking about life with God—”this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.” His intention was that you too would know this joy.

Let me close with a quote from a fictional selection from George MacDonald’s, The Barron’s Apprenticeship that I think is helpful and appropriate to end with.

“Now, Miss Wylder, don't try to convince the young man of anything by argument. If you succeeded, it would do no good. Opinion is all that can result from argument, and opinion concerning God—even right opinion—is of little value when it comes to knowing God. The god Richard denies is a being that could never exist. Talk to Richard, not of opinion, but of the God you love—the beautiful, the strong, the true, the patient, the forgiving, the loving. Let him feel God through your enthusiasm for him. You can't prove to him that there is a God. A God who could be proved would not be worth proving. Make his thoughts dwell upon a God worth having. Wake the notion of God such as will draw him to wish there were such a God….

“Set in Richard's eye a God worth believing in, a God like the Son of God, and he will go out and look to see if such a God may be found. He will call upon him, and the God who is will hear and answer him. God is God to us not that we may prove that he is, but that we may know him; and when we know him, then we are with him, at home, at the heart of the universe, the heir of all things.

“All this is foolishness, I know, to the dull soul that cares only for things that can be proved, ‘You cannot prove to me that you have a father,’ says the blind sage, reasoning with the little child. ‘Why should I prove it?’ answers the child. ‘I am sitting on his knee! If I could prove it, that would not make you see him; that would not make you happy like me! You do not care about my father, or you would not stand there disputing; you would feel about until you found him.’” ■