In the past, I have written blogs pertaining to survey data about Christian belief in the United States (U.S.) and the world. Much of the data has shown a decline in belief over the years.

I recently learned of another survey with an interesting question. Rather than just addressing belief in general, this question dealt with the depth of belief The recent survey data pertains to research conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. NORC is one of the largest independent social research organizations in the U.S.

In a 2022 survey, NORC reported that not quite 50 percent of Americans say they have no doubt about the existence of God. In 2008, this same survey topped out at just over 60 percent, having no doubt in the existence of God. A 12 percent drop-off is quite significant in only twelve years.

I have recently been made aware of some vestiges of “Seed of Satan” theology within Church of God circles. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this thinking—adherents of this belief think the different races came to us through different original parents. “Seedline” believers think Cain was begotten by illicit sexual activities between Eve and Satan the devil. Cain then became the father of the Jewish people. Some also believe “colored people” were around prior to Adam and Eve. There are some other similar ideas out there.

I read an interesting fruit fly study that got me thinking about how stress may impact humans. The study was conducted by Christi Gendron, a neurobiologist at the University of Michigan.

Gendron conducted a study on how living fruit flies respond to the sight of dead fruit flies. The research was published in the journal PLOS Biology. Apparently, neurons in the flies' brains make them age faster after seeing dead flies. Scientists believe this relates to perceptions within the brains of animals causing physical reactions in their bodies.

Recently, Geoffrey Hinton, known by some as the godfather of AI, announced his retirement from Google. Hinton, 75 years old, pioneered research on neural networks and deep learning. Neural networks are computer systems that attempt to mimic the neural networks that our brains use. It is a type of machine learning process known as deep learning that uses interconnected nodes like human neurons in a layered structure that attempts to mimic our brains.

There is an interesting scripture in 1 Kings 22:19-23 that says the following: "And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee."

Once again, another false Christian leader has led his flock astray. Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, a former taxi driver turned pastor, allegedly taught the world would end soon, and starvation would get his followers to heaven. Presently 103 of his followers bought into the idea and are now dead in Kenya. Hundreds of others involved with the group are still missing.

Police launched an investigation into the Good News International Church after being tipped off. Nthenge was preaching to his followers in a forest near the town of Shakahola. Fifteen starving people were found alive, four of whom later died.

Many Christians today believe you are a Christian if you believe that Jesus lived and died for us and rose from the dead. Scriptures cited for this idea are Romans 10:9, 1 Corinthians 2:2, and John 3:16. Now let me be clear, I agree with these scriptures, but what does it mean to believe in someone or something?

Some seem to be concerned by the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in late March, but some may have missed something that was said during that meeting. Describing their discussions, Putin said, “We are in favor of using the Chinese yuan for settlements between Russia and the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.” So, what’s the big deal?

Soon after reporting a $1.8 billion loss to shareholders Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th largest bank in the United States (U.S.), experienced a run on its deposits. SVB became the largest bank to fail in the U.S. since the 2008 financial crisis. A couple days after the failure the Biden Administration promised that all depositors would have access to their money after the weekend of the collapse.

About two days after SVB collapsed a second bank, Signature Bank of New York, also collapsed and was afforded the same protection for their depositors.

According to recent federal research, nearly one in three high school girls said they had considered suicide. This is a 60 percent increase from stats only ten years ago. This same research found 15 percent of these girls had been raped. Another six out of ten girls were so sad or hopeless that it caused them to stop regular activities.

This data comes from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They surveyed a nationally representative sample of public and private high school students.

In a new memo dated January 26, 2023, current U.S. Strategic Command leader General Anthony Cotton, acknowledged that China had surpassed the United States in the number of its Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launchers but not in the number of its actual ICBMs nor the number of nuclear warheads equipped to them.

"The number of land-based fixed and mobile ICBM launchers in China exceeds the number of ICBM launchers in the United States," Cotton said in the memo.

In a few of my blogs over the past three years, I have addressed the decline in church attendance and the percentage of Christians in the United States and the United Kingdom. After reading a recent article, I think it is important to continue to address this subject moving forward. I think it is important because I believe the decline of Christianity anywhere will impact society.

The recent article I read focused primarily on the increase in the closure of churches in the United States. According to Lifeway Research, 4,500 Protestant churches closed in 2019, and only 3,000 new ones opened. This information is from 2019, the last year data was available to draw from, and this is the first year church numbers have not grown since Lifeway began doing this type of research.

With the rise of Christian nationalism in the United States today, there is an ongoing debate in various forms of media as to whether the United States originated as a Christian nation. Many of the early settlers who came to America came from states (nations) that were known as confessional states. This means that the monarch of those nations decided the religion of their people. The early leaders of our country were aware of the problems this caused in Europe with many conflicts that arose over religious differences.

As promised—more alleged biblical discrepancies to address.Let us begin by taking a look at 1 Chronicles 10:6. This scripture tells us that Saul, his sons, and his house died all together. Compare that with 2 Samuel 2:8, which mentions another son of Saul, Ishbosheth, after Saul and his sons, and his house had all died. How could there be any one remaining from Saul’s house in 2 Samuel?

Back in October 2022, a study was published by Stanford researchers reporting that scientists had transplanted clusters of human neurons into the brains of newborn rats. The cells even grew and formed connections. The purpose of the study was to learn about human brain development and diseases affecting the brain.

The clumps of human cells, known as "organoids," grew into millions of new neurons and wired themselves into their new rat nervous systems. Once the organoids had plugged into the brains of the rats, the animals could receive sensory signals from their whiskers and help create command signals to guide their movement.

One of the criticisms some nonbelievers make about the Bible is that it has contradictions and discrepancies. In my years of bible study, I have learned that this is not the case. The alleged discrepancies in the Bible can be resolved.

What I will begin doing in some of my future blog posts is to address some of these alleged discrepancies and their resolutions. The first one I will address has to do with King Ahaziah of Judah.

The discrepancy centers around II Kings 8:26 and II Chronicles 22:2. In the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible II Kings 8:26 tells us that Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became King, and he reigned in Jerusalem for one year.

A January 2020 poll of more than 1,300 US adults finds that about one-third (32%) of US adults say their ideal relationship is non-monogamous. Millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) (43%) are particularly likely to say their ideal relationship is non-monogamous, though an equal percentage (43%) of Millennials say that their ideal relationship is entirely monogamous.

According to YouGov data, when asked in September 2016 about their ideal relationship, 61 percent said it would be completely monogamous. In January 2020, that number dropped slightly to 56 percent. With these statistics in mind, it is not surprising that Ethical nonmonogamy (ENM) is growing in popularity.