Brent Rogers, Kojima Japan

Gallup poll of Japan finds Christianity on the upswing

Christian Examiner staff report

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LOS ANGELES — Six percent of Japan’s population now claim to be
Christians, according to a new Gallup survey that is described as the
most extensive ever taken there. One pollster called the results
“stunning,” much higher than reported in previous polls.

The Gallup Organization also said that researchers were surprised by
the high numbers of teens who claimed the Christian faith, while the
traditionally dominant religions, Buddhism and Shintoism, though still
claimed by many adults, suffered declines among teen-agers.

Some respondents answered that they belonged to more than one religion.

“In my 50 years of polling, there has been no study that I would
consider as important as this one, because it provides insight into a
fascinating culture,” George Gallup Jr. said in a news release.

The poll, conducted in association with American Trademark Research
and MJM Group in 2001 for use in a documentary that is expected to be
released later this year, yielded some surprising statistics on
Japanese attitudes toward religion, morality and spirituality, they
said.

Of the 30 percent of adults surveyed who claimed to have a religion,
75 percent considered themselves Buddhists, 19 percent Shintoists,
while 12 percent considered themselves to be Christians. Adjusted for
the entire population, including the non-religious, 6 percent are
Christians.

Researchers were especially surprised at the large number of Japanese
youth who claimed the Christian faith. Of the 20 percent who professed
to have a religion, 60 percent called themselves Buddhists, 36 percent
Christians and followers of the traditionally dominant Japanese
religion, Shinto.

Pondering morality
In using the “stunning” label, Gallup, who assisted with the poll,
noted of teen-agers: “these projections mean that 7 percent of the
total teen-age population say they are Christians.”

The poll also delved into popular attitudes toward a variety of
subjects related to morality, spirituality and general views about
life.

“According to the social scientists in Japan, this was the single
largest study ever attempted,” said Bill McKay, one of the
documentary’s producers and project research director. “The entire
study examined preteens, teens, young adults, adults and seniors.”

McKay said they were warned by Japanese experts that the design of the
questionnaire, which included socially delicate and highly personal
questions, would not be answered by their targeted group.

“However, it was our professional hunch that the Japanese were ready
to talk and when they did they told us more than we had asked for,”
McKay said. “The data is the most revealing look behind the face of
Japan and shatters many WWII myths of the Japanese culture.”

Pollster Gallup agreed.

“Most Japanese, judging by their responses to scales on happiness, are
neither “very happy,” nor “very unhappy,” he said. “There is a degree
of fatalism in their somber mood. Teen’s perspectives on life tend to
a sense of nihilism to an alarming degree. A note of hopelessness is
found in the responses to a number of questions. And there is little
evidence of eternal hope, although a considerable number do believe in
some form of life after life.”

On matters of morality, Gallup noted a strong relativistic streak.

“Like much of the rest of the world, the Japanese tend to take
relativistic views on ethical matters,” the pollster said. “There is
little belief in ‘absolutes,’ and this is true across the
all-generational groups. In the ‘hierarchy of crimes,’ those related
to economic and family matters far outweigh those related to sexual
activity.”

Researchers were also surprised by teen attitudes which reflected an
especially pessimistic outlook on life. While 22 percent of U.S. teens
in previous Gallup surveys often wondered why they existed, the number
for Japanese teens was 85 percent. Similarly, while 76 percent of U.S.
teens always see a reason for their being on Earth, only 13 percent of
Japanese teens agreed with the statement.

A surprisingly high 11 percent of Japanese teens wished they had never
been born, a figure that comes in at 3 percent for U.S. teens.

How are you? You are doing great! You are here!
You are able to come.
You chose to come.
There was something here to come to.

The mere fact of your being able to get up and get here is an amazing blessing that you likely take for granted. Unless you are aware of a recent case of someone being injured, paralyzed, or killed, it is very easy to just think it natural that you can be here today.

Or unless you have heard about religious repression in places where meetings like this have to be held in secret, and in much smaller groups, like China or North Korea. Yesterday’s Times told of a lady in North Korea allegedly executed for distributing Bibles in North Korea.

Or unless you have recently been in a location where you just cannot find a group to meet with.

So, you are doing fine.

Last week, in Searcy, in front of several hundred people, a middle-aged man took a teenage girl out into this tiny pool of water and pushed her face and whole body under the water very briefly. The audience not only was not shocked, but they actually applauded this kind of behavior. You are doing great because you know what this was. In Japan, we don’t see baptisms much. Our neighbors have lived their whole lives without ever seeing a child of God being born into a new life with Christ.

In fact…

All of that to say, you are doing fine.

I hope you thank God every day for the privilege and ability
to have this kind of fellowship on a regular basis.

Not at all to make light of your particular situation with your health, your job, or lack thereof, forced furlough Fridays, or foreclosure, or whatever you maybe facing. I am just trying to impress on you that you have so much to be thankful for in being able to be here today. You have many blessings you may rarely even think abut!

How are you doing?, though, is not really the question I want to deal with. The question is :
How are you and Jesus doing?
What’s new with you?
What’s new with you and Jesus?
What are you doing these days?
What are you and Jesus doing these days?

Well, you may say, Jesus is up there in Heaven getting a place ready for me. I am down here trying to get ready for my place in Heaven. And that is how Jesus and I are doing.

If that is the extent of it, I am really glad you came today, because today w will look at how it really is with you and Jesus, according to Scripture.

What is a soul worth?
What is your soul worth?
Whose life is it anyway?
What is your life?
How does Christ fit in?
How does Jesus influence your calendar, your tax returns, your address, or your conversations?

What is the kingdom of God worth?
The soul you save you may be your own.
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field …The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls…
What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and yet lose his own soul?

Before you can answer How are you? You need to know — Who are you? You are a sinner saved by grace. You have been set free from not only the punishment you deserve for your sin, but also from the power of sin in your life. You are in a position of privilege and great blessing.

Who is Jesus? Jesus is almighty God, the Creator of the world, the Word made flesh, the crucified and risen Savior.

What is this human life we are called to live and present to God?
Life is an undetermined length of time divided by nature and our choices. Life is a long string of choices about deeds and words.

How are you and Jesus doing? If you have not thought about this question lately, here are some things you should know about you and Jesus.

First, you and Jesus are in it together …
He is your Helper, and money and people have no power to separate you from Jesus.
In case you are worried about money, let us start there. Hebrews 13:5 5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”6So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
Because we have this promise, we are doing okay. Because God is always with us, we are dong great. Money comes and goes. Incomes rise and fall. People are given forced days off and income cuts. Houses and jobs come and g. It happens not only in California, but also in apan. In our prefecture, city employees were given a 10 percent pay cut but still have the same amount of work or even more. In our company, too, salary cuts are about what we can afford, not how much we work.

But with God and with Jesus on our side, we are not going to be left alone. We will not be homeless. We will be at home with God, even if wealth has left us.

So today we are talking about Jesus and you.

Jesus and your life

Your life and Jesus.

Your life and the life of Jesus

If you need a title, Jesus and You will work.

Today we will consider some verses that may have become old hat or almost by-words or automatic, but have lost their power to amaze and astound.

So let us look at John 14

Jesus is the Life Because we always hear way, truth and life, it may be easy to forget that Jesus is the Life. Do we ever stop and think about what it means for Jesus to be the life? The life- when do we say this… Man, this is the life…! It usually has to do with relaxing, not working and with eating and drinking, not worship. Usually with something we rarely get to do but wish we could do more.

Jesus is the Life! God will never leave us! Jesus is the Life! How are you and Jesus doing now?

Jesus came to give abundant life. Full life! Amazing life! Jesus came to give us a life lived every day knowing our purpose and knowing that when we fail to accomplish that purpose even for one day, we are forgiven and the next day we can know that we are living in the will of the Creator if we choose to follow him.

A careful study of John 14 is essential to understanding how you and Jesus are doing, really.

Already we have referred to the amazing verse 6 where Jesus says he is the life!!!

In John chapter 14, Jesus begins saying goodbye to the 12. We have the little-understood promise of the Holy Spirit. Then in verse 19, a phrase so small in this rich text that we often miss it –

A powerful statement of why we live and why we can live – Because I live, you also will live!!! Wow! We could preach and ponder all day on this. This is how you and Jesus are doing. His life makes your life possible and gives it purpose.

v. 20 The Father is in me and I am in you and you are in me.
I am in you! Jesus is in you! Jesus is in me. Those words are almost too much to compute. Our finite brains have trouble getting around the idea of God being in us.

Then in verse 23, the Eternal Father, strong to save, the Creator God, Jehovah, and the Son will come to live with us and make their homes with us. We are so much looking forward to being at home with God, we may forget that he is at home with us.

How are you doing now?
How are you and Jesus doing?
How are you and Jesus and the Father doing?

Where have you been taking God and Jesus Monday through Friday, and on weekends, and on vacation?
Are you always aware that they are at home with you? They are masters at creation and renovation. Are you letting them in to do their work? Are you letting them into the family room? Your inner room? They love to give life and to give new life!

Jesus is not just a carpenter up in the great by and by getting your heavenly home ready, he is ready and willing to go to work on his home here, inside you.

We need to pray, Heavenly Father, be at home in me, and let me be aware of you. Help me to welcome you.

Leaving John 14, let’s go to a couple other passages

Gal 2:20 Christ lives in me. How do you reckon Christ lives in you?

We have a lot of stuff living in us.
Like a virus? A bacteria? A tumor? A pacemaker? An artificial heart?

I have been crucified with Christ,
I live
I mean not me, but Christ lives in me.

I am just the physical representation of Jesus doing his deeds where I live, where I go, where I work, where I play.

I am the body Christ uses to get around in, to do his teaching,
his healing,
his helping,
his serving,
his giving of life and hope and all the things he did. He is not retired or tired. He is not just choosing the drapes for our home in the clouds. He is here and working and he is multiplied because there are so many of us.

The life I live
I live by faith in Jesus

So when I ask you How are you and Jesus doing?, I want to get you to try to think about to what extent have you given Jesus room to work in your life. How are you decisions affected by faith in Jesus?

Are you driving him around, but making him stay in the car when you get there?
Is Jesus in the trunk all week, then in Sunday morning, he gets to sit up in the passenger seat?
Is he driving where you tell him to go? Is he driving?

Some of you are letting Jesus drive you wherever he wants to, but only AfTER you have driven to the race-track. Okay Jesus, anywhere on this track is fine. That is not disciple – ship.

After you plan your work time and your evenings and weekends, singing All to Jesus I Surrender is a little bit late. Jesus, what are you doing after 8 pm on Sunday evening? Oh wait, I need to get to bed early.

After you budget for the essentials and the fun, and the savings, then asking Jesus to guide you as you spend the rest is a little backwards.

How have the decisions you made over the past week been impacted by the Jesus that lives in you? The conversations you had and didn’t have. The way you spent your time?

How are you and Jesus doing?

I want to return to the driving analogy for a moment. I want to suggest that proper relationship is that we are the car and Jesus is the driver. Of course God also supplies the power, but we arethe tires and the grill and hood. We are what people see, but Jesus is in control.

So, what have we said?

The Lord is with you. You don’t have to worry about what money or people can do.

Jesus is the Life!

Jesus came to give abundant life.
Jesus is why we live.
Jesus is how we can live.

Jesus and the Father live in us, make their home in us, and are at home with us.

I have been crucified with Christ, but Christ is living his life in me.

Now all that was either introduction or conclusion, here is what I wanted to say. You may think I have been dancing all around it, and maybe I have, but it all serves as commentary for this most amazing verse.

Col 3:3 We have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then…
CHRIST IS OUR LIFE!!!

That is what I wanted to say — –

CHRIST IS OUR LIFE!!!