Friday

NUMBERS OF FUNDAMENTALIST EVANGELICAL PROTESTANT "TRUE CHRISTIANS" GLOBALLY


Fundamentalist evangelical Christians like to state that they are members of the largest religion in the world and imply that the 2.1 billion global Christians all think the same as they do and that Christianity is rapidly growing. That is clearly incorrect.

In Australia, of the roughly 64% identifying as Christian in 2006, the largest proportions were either Roman Catholic (25.8%) or Anglican (18.7%), with the third largest group being the 5.7% affiliated with the Uniting Church in Australia. Baptists account for 2.5% of the total Christian population. The National Church Life Survey found about 8.8% of the Australian population attended a church in one of the covered denominations in a given week in 2001. That means that 91.2% of the population didn't attend church. Australia is thus hardly a Christian nation but one of the most secularised nations in the world.

Church attendance in civilised Western countries countries is falling as are the number of people calling themselves Christian.

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"many scholars around the world are noticing how the trend of Christianity is losing its light in the West but rising as the new light in Asia, Africa, and Latin America." - the less educated countries. ""In Western Europe, we are hanging on by our fingernails. The fact is that Europe is no longer Christian."

Found in http://www.christianpost.com/news/scholars-find-decline-of-christianity-in-the-west-19971/
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" American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS 2008)

Prior to 1990, the popularity of Christianity had been stable in the U.S. About 87% of adults identified themselves as Christians. The country then experienced a major change. Significant numbers of American adults began to disaffiliate themselves from Christianity and from other organized religions. By 2008, the percentage of Christians had reached 76% and is believed to be continuing its decline.

The ex-Christians do not seem to have joined new religious movements (NRMs) or other world religions; they mostly left organized religion entirely.

Since World War II, this same process had been observed in other countries, like the U.K., other European countries, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

Found http://natureorgod.lefora.com/2010/08/10/decline-in-christianity-world-wide/
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Other links confirming this:

http://root48.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/new-york-times-on-christian-decline/

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=13462

http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/1992/aug1992p3_759.html

http://www.whychurch.org.uk/trends.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Europe

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2719604/Christianity-in-Global-Context-Trends-and-Statistics

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/rel_chu_att-religion-church-attendance

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For statistical purposes: Groups which self-identify as part of Christianity include (but are not limited to): African Independent Churches (AICs), the Aglipayan Church, Amish, Anglicans, Armenian Apostolic, Assemblies of God; Baptists, Calvary Chapel, Catholics, Christadelphians, Christian Science, the Community of Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormons"), Coptic Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches, Ethiopian Orthodox, Evangelicals, Iglesia ni Cristo, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Local Church, Lutherans, Methodists, Monophysites, Nestorians, the New Apostolic Church, Pentecostals, Plymouth Brethren, Presbyterians, the Salvation Army, Seventh-Day Adventists, Shakers, Stone-Campbell churches (Disciples of Christ; Churches of Christ; the "Christian Church and Churches of Christ"; the International Church of Christ); Uniate churches, United Church of Christ/Congregationalists, the Unity Church, Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Vineyard churches and others. These groups exhibit varying degrees of similarity, cooporation, communion, etc. with other groups. None are known to consider all other Chrisian sub-groups to be equally valid. David Barrett, an Evangelical Christian who is the compiler of religion statistics for the Encyclopedia Britannica and the World Christian Encyclopedia, includes all of the groups listed above in the worldwide statistics for Christianity.

from http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Christianity

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Obviously most in this list think that the others are "not true Christians".

If one looks at the numbers in each denomination one finds that of the 2.1 billion Christians on the face of the earth 1.2 billion are Catholics and only 670 million are Protestants. Protestants say that Catholics are "not true Christians" so, to be truthful, fundamentalist conservative evangelical Protestants should only count their 670 million as "true Christians" and from that number subtract all Mormons, Jehovah's witnesses, liberal Christians and other Protestant groups they think are "not true Christians". This puts fundamentalist conservative evangelical Protestants who are "true Christians" a little less in numbers than traditional Chinese religion (ranked 5th).

The numbers of total Christians (which include those whom Christians think are "not true Christians") does not reflect the very small number of Christians they think are "true Christians". So Christians include those whom they think are "not true Christians" when it comes to global numbers that are beneficial to them but exclude those same "not true Christians" in daily practice. It's called hypocrisy and double standard.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations_by_number_of_members

There are massive differences between Catholic and Orthodox theology compared to Protestant theology and even greater differences when it comes to comparison with the small minority of fundamentalist conservative Protestant Christians.

See http://christianityinview.com/comparison.html

World Christian Database as of 2007 estimated the growth rate of Christianity at 1.38%. This is far from "considerable". Compare this to other religions:

2000-2005

1.94% - Islam
1.70% - Bahá'í Faith
1.62% - Sikhism
1.57% - Jainism
1.52% - Hinduism
1.38% - Christianity

Source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2007/05/13/the_list_the_worlds_fastest_growing_religions

Christianity is lagging behind those other religions.

Then , of course, there has been the growth of atheism. The figures released in 2007 of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census figures on religion demonstrates no-religion has increased by a marked 3.2% - that is 239.89% of the growth rate of Christianity.

See http://evolutionspace.wordpress.com/2007/05/03/worldwide-atheism-trend-and-pattern-a-summary/

Often quoted by evangelical Christians is the great numbers of Christians in the Sahara.

" the Christian share of the population of sub-Saharan Africa has soared over the past century, from 9% to 63%. Meanwhile, the think-tank says, the Christian proportion of Europeans and people in the Americas has dropped, respectively, from 95% to 76% and from 96% to 86%."  - http://www.economist.com/node/21542195

The article at  http://pewforum.org/Christian/Global-Christianity-africa.aspx  states "The majority of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa are Protestant (57%), ... About one-in-three Christians in the region (34%) are Catholic. Orthodox Christians account for about 8% of the region’s Christians, and other Christians make up the remaining 1%." - 

Evangelical Christians like to say that Catholics, Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons are "not true Christians" in ordinary everyday practice but when it comes to global numbers of Christians they are suddenly their best buddies. Nothing so wonderful as Christians counting heretics in their numbers.

Should we now mention how Christian belief has plummeted over the past 100 years in the West? " Europe now accounts for only 25.9 percent of the global Christian population, down 40 percent from a century ago."... While the majority of Christians lived in Europe in 1910, by 2010 only about one in four Christians live in Europe.” Europe accounted for 66.3 percent of the world’s Christian population in 1910. Today, it represents 25.9 percent. The proportion of European Christians has dropped from 94.5 percent of the population to 76.2 percent in 100 years.... The researchers used a broad definition in determining the number of Christians worldwide, with a sociological purpose rather than a theological one. “We are attempting to count groups and individuals who self-identify as Christian,” the report states. “This includes people who hold beliefs that may be viewed as unorthodox or heretical by other Christians. It also includes Christians who seldom pray or go to church.” ... Christianity has remained roughly one-third of the global population (35 percent in 1910, 32 percent in 2010), calling it a “picture of relative stability” as world population has grown.
- http://cnsnews.com/news/article/reporteurope-no-longer-epicenter-christianity
 


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 “Growing churches continue to grow and declining churches continue to decline,” according to the National Council of Churches’ 2011 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches. What many of these reports do not say is that the churches that are growing, are simply picking up the members of those leaving the declining churches. ...

“If the current decline in church attendance were the medical case history of a hospital patient, the diagnosis would read: “Chronically ill; resistant to change; on life support; likely terminal.” The church itself is the one institution most in need of the very thing it proclaims to the world — salvation.”

from http://www.stevemcswain.com/blog/2011/12/the-decline-of-the-church-will-2012-be-more-of-the-same/
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Monday

COMBAT THE WAR ON NEW YEAR'S DAY - KEEP JANUS IN JANUARY

Combat the WAR ON NEW YEAR'S DAY. Keep Janus in January as the tradition of over 2000 years states.

January 1 was the day was consecrated to Janus since it was the first of the new year and of the month (kalends) of Janus.  it was customary to exchange cheerful words of good wishes on that day.  Everyone devoted a short time to his usual business exchanged dates, figs and honey as a token of well wishing and gifts of coins called strenae. Cakes made of spelt (far) and salt were offered to the god and burnt on the altar.   Shortly afterwards, on January 9, on the feria of the Agonium of January the rex sacorum offered the sacrifice of a ram to Janus

CHRISTIAN CHURCH CRISIS - DISCONNECT BETWEEN UNIVERSITY AND PULPIT


"Why is there such a disconnect between what is being taught in universities, divinity schools, and seminaries across the country, and what is being taught every Sunday from the pulpit? ... three possible explanations.

The first is that some ministers, though they learned about the conclusions and debates within Biblical scholarship while in college, never really bought into much of it. ...

The second possible explanation is simply that ministers don't want to alarm their congregations by consistently talking about the historical-critical method of Biblical scholarship. Since congregations are made up of lay-people, they might have their faith shaken if they learn that, for instance, we don't actually know who wrote most of the books of the Bible, Church tradition of authorship notwithstanding.

The third possible explanation is that pastors want to keep their jobs. ... if ... , a pastor is constantly barraging his congregation with historical scholarship instead of feel-good sermons reinforcing theirfaith, not only will he start losing members, he might even put his own job in jeopardy."

from http://www.freak-search.com/en/thread/634368/the_academy_and_the_pulpit_a_disconnect_2010

CHRISTIANS, WHERE DOES YOUR MONEY GO?

This is a whopping 69% of Christians' tithes, offerings and love gifts spent on Staff  Wages, Facilities and Administration costs. That leaves a mere 31% for everything else.  Why aren't churches taxed?

The figures for Australia are much harder to get because of their tax free exemption as a "charity". There is no public reporting of income and expenditure.

Need I remind people that churches across the world regularly say that the you are giving "for the Lord's work". Apparently the Lord's work mainly includes paying clergy and staff and upkeep on the building. You'd think the Lord (Jesus Christ Superstar) would have better things to work on such as feeding starving children in third world nations or giving us the cure for cancer. The Lord Jesus works in mysterious ways.

Thursday

LET'S PUT THE FIRST CHRIST BACK INTO CHRISTMAS


I'd like to bring the first Christ back into Christmas.

The Hebrew word for Messiah is: Mashiaẖ מָשִׁיחַ and means ANOINTED, or Anointed One, and comes from the Hebrew verb Mashah, meaning “to anoint”, or even more generally, to “spread a liquid” – here, in the context of the role and function of Messiah, this liquid is OIL and the purpose of this anointing is to Sanctify/Make Holy/ Set Apart SO...METHING or SOMEONE for a specific purpose in the worship of the Creator God YHWH.

In the book of Genesis Jacob pours oil on top of the rock he used as a pillow in a ceremony of sanctification:

“And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and POURED OIL upon the top of it….”And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that you shall give me I will surely give the tenth unto you.’” [Gen. 28:18, 22]

In Genesis 31:13 God recognizes this Pillar as having been ANOINTED:

“I am the God of Beth-el, where you did ANOINT (Mashachtah) מָשַׁחְתָּ a pillar, where you did vow a vow unto Me.”

So the very first Christ was a rock.

Let's put a stone back into Christmas.

Friday

Homosexuality - A message to Christians regarding love

Why are Christains spending so much time attempting to discriminate against homosexuals when Jesus never stated a single word about it? Loving your neighbour, as Jesus commanded, includes loving your homosexual neighbour. Negating basic human rights for homosexuals is not loving your homosexual neighbour. Why be so concerned with what two people who love each other do in the privacy of their bedroom and not be concerned with what Jesus did state about love?

Think about 1 John 4:20. How can you love your homosexual neighbour if at the same time you have the following dictionary meanings associated with homophobia:
- contempt of
- hatred for
- apprehension of
- prejudice against
- aversion to
- discrimination against

homosexuals / homosexuality?

Utterly impossible! Your love must be shown in your actions for faith without works is dead (James 2:20). Therefore you must clearly demonstrate the antonyms of the above if you truly love your homosexual neighbour:
- admiration, affection, approbation, approval, endorsement, love, regard, respect, sanction
- agreeability, calmness, contentment, enjoyment, good nature, happiness, joy, peace, pleasantness
- assurance, calmness, composure, confidence, peace, quietness, repose, security
- fairness, justice, regard, respect, tolerance
- affection, attachment, care, fondness, kindness, like, liking, love, sympathy
- fairness, tolerance

Thursday

Australian same sex marriage & homophobic Christians numbers game


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From http://www.smh.com.au/national/gay-rift-deepens-for-alp-right-20111201-1o9ad.html

"the Australian Christian Lobby and the Australian Family Association presented a petition of 90,000 signatures to right-wing delegates opposed to same-sex marriage."

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According to http://www.australianmarriageequality.com/wp/2011/12/02/140285-signature-strong-petition-shows-australia-says-i-do-to-marriage-equality/

GetUp and Australian Marriage Equality present a 140,285 signature petition supporting gay marriage. That is another 50% more than the homophobic Christian petition.

Will homophobic Christians allow the majority of citizens to have their way? Probably not. They don't care about democracy and majority public opinion.

This is just another statistic indicating the decline of Christainity in the West. The vast majority of Christians are out of touch with the society in which they live. When Christianity becomes a small minority grouop some time in the future - as will surely happen - will Christians want their basic human rights denied in the same manner that Christians have denied basic human rights for others?

It appears that the church thinks it perfectly moral to marry divorced people in church though Jesus forbad divorce in one gospel. It is also seems perfectly moral for the church to marry a greedy banker who makes a living usury that is forbidden in the bible. (The greedy banker is probably on the church board and never gets criticised for his usury.) It also appears perfectly moral for the church to marry heterosexual couples who have lived together "in sin" for several years. Unfortunately no Christian is advocating slavery today though both Old and New Testraments advocate it. Nor is any Christian lobbying for the right to commit genocide though the book of Joshua advocates it. Christians also opposed the abolition of slavery, equal rights for coloured people and the ordination of women clergy - and used bible verses for their opposition. Christians have a history of denying people their basic human rights. Christians are very selective in which bits of the bible they want to follow. It is dictated by the prejudice they already hold.
 
According to statistics the majority of Aussies support gay marriage (60%). Homophobic Christians are in the minority (37%). http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8145152/australians-back-gay-marriage-poll . Jesus never spoke about homosexuality so it can't be an important issue. Christian homophobic fear mongering is far in excess to the percentage of time Jesus spent on the matter. The contemporary church appears to be homophobic and to have forgotten how to love their neighbour which includes homosexual couples. Homophobic Christians are trying to deny two homosexual people made in God's image and in love the basic human right to marry. Homophobic Christian rants on the matter use the same type of arguments that racist Christians used against integration and sexist Christians used to deny women the right to be clergy.

Arguments for same-sex marriage include those which are based upon what is regarded as a universal human rights issue, mental and physical health concerns, equality before the law, and the goal of normalizing LGBT relationships.

Homophobic Christians are discriminating against a group of people and denying their basic human rights based soley on homophobic prejudice regarding their sexuality. The statistics in other countries also plainly show that none of theose countries now have people advocating marrying multiple partners, or animals or anything else negative raised by the homophobic chorus of Christians in Australia.

In Atlanta 1964 Martin Luther King spoke about how few of the white churches supported him in the quest for basic human rights for negroes: "Too much of the white church is timid and ineffectual, and some of it is shrill in its defense of bigotry and prejudice. In most communities the spirit of the stus quo is endorsed by the churches." The same could be said about the church and its homophobic stance against same sex marriage.

It should also be noted that homophobia is turning people off church in Australia.  I quote from http://www.samesame.com.au/news/local/7592/Homophobia-turns-Aussies-off-church.htm

"New research into Christianity in Australia has revealed that religious intolerance to homosexuality is a key reason why people reject the church.Almost 30% of those surveyed by Christian media group Olive Tree Media say the stance of churches on homosexuality blocked them from engaging with Christianity".  Do you Christians want more people in your church? Try getting rid of yopur homophobia.

Homophobic Christians do not have the right to force their minority opinion on the majority of the population. In the future those that have opposed same sex marriage will be looked upon in the same way we now view racists, sexists and slave owners. The only question is when same sex marriage will become law.