New Study Reveals the Impact of a Daily Connection with God
By Movieguide® Contributor
A newly released segment of the 2024 State of the Bible Report found that Americans, especially young Americans, who daily engage with scripture rated significantly higher on a Human Flourishing and Hope metric.
“Those in Gen Z who do engage with scripture, not only do they score higher on the Human Flourishing scale than other young adults who don’t read the Bible – but they have the highest score of any generation,” said John Farquhar Plake, the American Bible Society’s Chief Innovation Officer and editor-in-chief of the State of the Bible series.
“There’s more research to be done here, but this suggests that the unique challenges keeping young adults from flourishing are countered by a regular connection with God in scripture,” he continued.
Another tenant of Christianity – forgiveness – was also associated with higher rates of human flourishing as a focus on positivity helps people find more joy in life.
“Those who ‘strongly agree’ that they can forgive others are a full two points higher on the overall flourishing score (7.6 to 5.4) than those who ‘disagree strongly,’” the report states. “We find a similar pattern when we turn to Hope Agency, with a huge disparity between the scores of those who strongly agree or disagree with the forgiveness statement.”
These findings bear witness to the fact that humans were created to be in community with the Lord. While society promotes the idea that money, fame, and hedonistic happiness are the pillars of human flourishing, this study proves that these things are insignificant in the face of a relationship with Christ.
Because of this, Christians can take solace in the fact that they can be content whatever their circumstances, as Paul teaches – regardless of whether they are at the height of society or they have been exiled to a faraway prison.
Movieguide® previously reported on Gen Z’s interaction with faith:
The 2023 State of the Bible report shows that Gen Z is still interested in learning about faith, though the number of those willing to do so is declining.
“The majority (56%) of younger Gen Z adults (ages 18-21) reported being curious about Jesus and/or the Bible, whereas only 34% of older Gen Z adults (22-26) said so,” the report revealed. “These percentages are down from 2022 when around 77% of all Gen Z adults showed curiosity in Scripture.”
While the interest in faith is trending negative, the data shows that Gen Z is more interested in the Bible than the general population may think.
Nearly half of Gen Z says that the Bible has transformed their lives. Forty-nine percent of those aged 18-21 report this to be true, while 52% of those aged 22-26 say the same.
Despite the impact of the Bible, Gen Z still struggles to find a true foundation in God.
