There are quite a few things keeping people away from Jesus, and here are thirteen of these barriers.
What gets attached
The majority of people hardly meet Jesus through a spontaneous decision to read the Bible, and instead, they discover Him through people first. It has quite an effect on them.
According to the Pew Research Center, many people who left their religion claim to have done so because of negative experiences they’ve had with religious people.
Data from Barna shows that younger people in particular view Christianity as being judgmental or even hypocritical. As such, before they’ve even heard what Jesus said, some people already see a connection between Him and behavior they don’t agree with. That first impression stops them from ever exploring any further.
The line many won’t cross
47% of non-religious Americans who left their childhood religion claim they did so because of negative comments towards LGBT+ people.
The rate jumps to 60% for younger adults, while it goes as high as 73% for those who identify as LGBT+. It seems that, rather than being a side issue, the apparent lack of acceptance for LGBT+ people causes some to step back.
Jesus is often presented as being part of that same system. As a result, the separation goes beyond the church to include Him for some people, preventing them from learning more about Jesus Christ himself.
The standard that feels out of reach
Another big issue is what Jesus says about things like anger and forgiveness, which some people take as being rather extreme. Even Jesus’s comments on what people think are too much for some young people, and research from Barna found that a lot of younger adults take issue with that.
They tend to describe Christianity as being unrealistic and sometimes too restrictive. These opinions come from such teachings by Jesus. For these individuals, accepting Jesus already feels impossible, so there’s very little reason for them to try to learn more about the faith whatsoever.
Trusting the record
The hesitation appears in some people before they’ve heard about Jesus’s words, as they question whether the accounts about him are reliable. After all, the Gospels were written in the first century.
The majority of historians do broadly agree that Jesus existed, but some people still question the ideas of transmission and authorship related to Him.
Skepticism towards religious teaching is a big problem for non-religious Americans, according to the Pew Research Center. Someone who isn’t confident in the texts themselves is far less likely to take the person in them seriously. They question whether there’s anything worth believing.
What it may require
It’s a common idea for some Americans that following Jesus would involve giving up control over one’s own life. They summarize His teachings about self-denial and sacrifice as meaning that you need to give everything up. It doesn’t matter that such an idea might not necessarily be true.
Research shows that many Americans associate Christianity with losing their personal freedom, which causes problems before someone looks at the details. They’ve already decided what the outcome would be. Unfortunately, they’re not interested in going down that road, so they make up their mind to ignore it altogether.
No questioning
There are also those who simply stop asking about Jesus, rather than reaching a hard ‘no’ with Him. It’s something that a lot of Americans start doing early.
Data shows that younger people often see churches as places where they’re not able to express doubt, at least not openly.
It forces them to hold back with their questions. Anytime they feel as though asking questions about Jesus will shut things down or make things awkward, they decide it’s better not to bother with it all. The result? It’s simple. The conversation with Jesus never truly gets off the ground.Â
Who He’s for
Somehow, a few people picked up the idea that Jesus only belongs to a certain group of individuals. You’ll see it in the way that some people talk about Him and gather around Him.
It seems that some people think that only those who seem to ‘fit’ a certain image worship Jesus, and it’s something that you can see in the data.
The Pew Research Center has found that religious participation often clusters around specific groups. It’s not hard to see that pattern. As a result, those who don’t see themselves in that picture choose not to participate, and they decide that such a belief system doesn’t really work for them.
The pace of everyday life
You won’t find many people waking up and deciding to read a Gospel. Real life fills the space first, including work and errands, all stacked back-to-back.
In fact, the American Time Use Survey has found that many Americans report having very little free time, and what time they do have left isn’t necessarily for religion. They prefer spending it on easy things.
But that’s the exact opposite of what it takes to read something like the life of Jesus, as you need a different kind of attention for that. It asks a lot more from you. Because of that, many Americans decide to delay it, again and again.
The lack of a starting point
Rather than deliberately avoiding Jesus, the problem for some people comes from knowing where to begin. The Bible isn’t one book.
That fact alone makes it hard for some Americans to know how to approach the question of Jesus, even when they’re actually interested in learning more, so they don’t bother doing it at all.
They genuinely believe there’s no clear entry point and, as a result, they lack the momentum to find it for themselves. Nothing really builds when they lack the encouragement to learn more about Jesus.Â
The delay between effort and response
Of course, that’s not true for everyone, as there are some individuals who do actually try, and they read the Bible a little. They might even pray.
But then, nothing obvious happens, and there are no clear answers or strong feelings that they can point to, so they give it all up.
Lacking a definite answer to prayer hurts many Americans, and a lot of them are left behind as a result. Can you blame them?
Most of the interactions we have in life come with near-instant feedback, but prayer doesn’t, meaning that the effort starts to feel one-sided. It doesn’t take long for people to stop continuing.
The overload of competing information
You’ll get more information than you might actually need when you look into Jesus online. There are hundreds of different takes and different angles, all of which say something slightly different about Him.
It’s quite easy to feel overwhelmed by it all. Many Americans feel confused because they’re coming into contact with so much conflicting content on the same topic.
It makes people stall, although the problem isn’t exactly that they don’t care. No, it’s simply unclear for them where to start or who to trust. Having too many options causes decision fatigue that freezes the process before it actually begins.
The reading problem
Unfortunately, people don’t talk enough about the reading challenges of the Bible, as you’re expected to meet Jesus through the text itself. There’s an assumption that you should learn about Him through long passages and conversations about religious moments that don’t always explain themselves right away.
Data shows that 28% of American adults are at a Level 1 or below in reading, the lowest proficiency level, making more complicated texts harder for them to follow. A dense Gospel is one they don’t bother to keep reading.
The lack of direct access
The reality is that nobody today hears Jesus in the language he actually spoke. He taught in Aramaic, and his words were recorded in Greek, but the majority of people read them in English, so his words are two steps removed before someone starts engaging with them. Every part of this linguistic puzzle involves certain choices.
Someone who reads a sentence in the Bible is already working with an altered version of it, where the translators have chosen what to include and exclude. It creates a distance from the start that some people would rather not deal with at all.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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