Americans in general believe they are a religious nation on a mission of doing good in the world. The United States is a superpower, a leader among leaders. But it also has some of the world's highest rates of divorce and domestic violence, percentages of people in jail and burdens of public and private debt. There is an obvious disconnect between what Americans profess and the reality of how they live.

Starting off 2011 with a lot going wrong, it is not surprising many Americans are mad at their spouses, criminals and Wall Street bankers who have plunged them into the worst economic problems in 80 years.

But surprisingly, many of them are also mad at God. They are blaming Him for the mess.

A CNN report on Jan. 1 said that a recent series of studies show a surprising number of Americans are angry at God, especially about life's personal disappointments.

Many Americans get angry at God when what they want to happen doesn't happen, even after they pray. Julie Exline, Case Western Reserve University psychologist and lead author of the report, was surprised that even atheists and agnostics also feel anger toward God.

From the beginning, many Americans have believed they are "God's people." But that idea is wearing off, as 20 percent of Americans now say "none" to the question: What is your religion?

Perhaps not surprisingly, young people, strongly affected by an entitlement culture of instant gratification, are particularly angry at God according to the study. He doesn't give them everything they want when they want it. They think He should deal with people on their terms. In other words, they would like God to be different than they think He is. But how would they know?

What is the cause for anger against God?

Religious people today know less now about the substance of faith—spiritual knowledge of the Bible—than any other generation in American history. It is because they don't understand Him that they have less confidence He is there on their behalf. And without biblical understanding, they will not understand the terms of His relationship that brings blessings. Without the Bible, they can't see the causes for their problems or understand that He will not bless them when they expect it.

They don't know how to think about God. They don't know how to relate to Him and be heard and blessed. Without the Bible, they have lost the terms of relationship. In their ignorance, they get angry.

A false grace for an ignorant America

For over a decade, researchers have noted a shocking decline in knowledge and belief in the Bible by Christians in America. Even before 9/11 in 2001, religious researcher George Barna concluded that 90 percent of American Christians no longer had a "Christian worldview."

"The Christian body in America is immersed in a crisis of biblical illiteracy," he warned. "How else can you describe matters when most churchgoing adults reject the accuracy of the Bible, reject the existence of Satan, claim that Jesus sinned...?"

In a substitution for biblical truth, Americans have broadly adopted a fuzzy idea that Jesus gave them cheap grace. Knowledge and obedience to biblical truth is now irrelevant in many people's minds. The Bible does not teach that "all you have to do to be saved by grace is believe in Jesus." This is a false assumption and untrue.

This "pop" grace is not biblically defined but has become a meaningless catchall for permission to define the relationship with God and other people in our own self-indulgent terms. This false grace sets up a false premise, making it possible for people to rationalize sin and disrespect toward God.

When the false belief systems this grace spawns fail to deliver success, people become angry. Unfortunately, they direct their angry disappointment against God. But He is not the cause. Their spiritual ignorance is the cause. That is exactly what the Bible says: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children" (Hosea 4:6).

True grace establishes God's law in your heart

The gospel of the Kingdom of God brought by Jesus Christ is a message of true grace—based upon active faith in the message He brought (John 1:14; Mark 1:15).

Americans broadly believe that God is a God of grace. But the devil is in the details of false teachings, assumptions and many sins that have developed under a false concept of grace.

Some American clergy preach a biblically illiterate grace devoid of Christ's teaching that you must be willing to forsake your sins and repent. They don't teach that sin is the transgression of God's law of love expressed in the Ten Commandments, which the apostle Paul called "holy and just and good" (Romans 7:12). Jesus said just calling Him "Lord, Lord" without doing what He says is vain (Matthew 7:21). He also said, "If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments" and, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets" (Matthew 19:17; 5:17).

The Bible is a book of spiritual truth that explains the will of God and how life really works. But you have to read it, know it and believe it. So make sure you are reading and believing it every day. Why not start with Lesson 1 of our exciting new Free Bible Study Guides?