Posted on 03/10/2015 2:54:51 PM PDT by Jan_Sobieski
Christianity is a dying relic of an ancient past. The Internet is killing it. Science is killing it. Western sophistication is killing it. Right? [correct]
Wrong. [incorrect]
In many ways, Christianity is on the rise as never beforeworldwide, and in America [disagree]. Here are the ways we can tell:
1. Christianity is growing by leaps and bounds worldwide.
The research shows Christian numbers rising, not falling worldwide. "Christianity should enjoy a worldwide boom in the coming decades, but the vast majority of believers will be neither white nor European, nor Euro-American," writes Philip Jenkins of Baylor University, author of "The Next Christendom."
In America, this will mean that as white descendants of Europeans fall off a demographic cliff, they will be replaced by the growing Southern Christian and Catholic populations.
2. Nominal Christianity is dead and thats a good thing.
Meanwhile, in America, research showing that Christian numbers are tanking is a little misleading. What it really shows is a fall in the number of people who call themselves Christians but have never darkened the door of a Church. We no longer feel we have to dishonestly mark the "Christian" box, and we now feel it's OK to be honest and mark the "atheist" boxbut this shows health rather than weakness.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Luke 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily . Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh , shall he find faith on the earth?
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed , the son of perdition;
Where do you live?
See, I was about to quote Luke 18:8. I got chills when I saw you already did. Why did Jesus as that question? He knows the answer. It’s very provocative. He wants us to figure out what the answer is. But look at verse 7:
“And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?”
Do we pray that God deliver us from this corrupt world? Is this the sign of the falling away, that not even the elect cry for deliverance anymore? Do we? Or do we cry for Ted Cruz to be president, or a revolution, or Trey Gowdy to call for Hillary’s arrest.
Bible prophnesy, interestingly, speaks of both a falling away and revival in the end days. I think Christianity is on the rise, but I think the ranks of non-belivers is also increasing.
That is, I think people are getting off the fence and choosing sides. And a LOT of people who said they were Christian were probably not. There is a LOT of that in the Southeast. Coming here from unchurched Seattle (relatively speaking), Church is just what people do here, Christian or not.
My friend became the pastor of a church here where he said there were elderly members that had attended their entire life but did not know the difference between the old and new testaments. How is that even possible?
Did you do world wide survey to substantiate your witness of great falling away? Youve been to China and South Africa and Russia?
Both! ;-)
I travel to many parts of Globe. Seeker sensative megachurches are growing, but the faithful remnant seems to be diminishing. Those who will not go along with Sodomy, abortion, Chrislam, divestment from Israel, etc...
This would not have been possible 40 years ago. The worldwide seeker sensative movement is the cause of this. It is all about getting buts in the seats and not about the “engrafted word able to save souls”. Megachurches are growing, but the faithful remnant seems to be diminishing. Those who will not go along with Sodomy, abortion, Chrislam, divestment from Israel, etc...
Actual Science agrees with the Bible. Socialists have high jacked the word Science to mean any scheme they can use to build a bigger more obnoxious government (Ex. so-called Climate Change “science”). The promotion of evolution as “science” so that we can have one big Communist world with government as the top authority even though evolution doesn't even pass the Scientific Method test.
The Internet spreads the Science that the Marxists in the public schools don't dare speak.
Christianity will last forever. Socialism with die before the Earth does.
I disagree. The church I’m referring to is a backwoods Babdis church and is part of a very close knit community. They are most definitely NOT a seeker friendly church. A lot of these churches around here are happy with who they have in them. They may SAY they want more members, but they want them through the existing member birth rate.
And this is nothing new. I remember a quote from a woman about 50 years ago. She was asked if she was a Christian and she said, “Of course. I’m an American, aren’t I?”
I came up with a theory about 20 years ago: Most pastors look out at their congregation and figure about 50% of them are not Christian but are “hedging their bets” against hell.
It’s one of the reaosons I never liked the “turn or burn” message and, after extensive study, now believe the non-believer, after the the resurrection, is annihilated. It’s why the bible calls it the second DEATH. It frees people to accept Christ because they want to, not because they’re afraid of a vindictive God torturing them for pleasure for time never ending.
Turn or burn isn’t about some bully deity getting in your face and saying he doesn’t like you, do you feel lucky punk. It’s a statement about the state of affairs we have willingly walked into.
Now some people might be so callous towards God as to reduce the question to looking like this, but that is their fault not God’s. They’ve tried to think their way to righteousness and it is not possible. Righteousness can only be inherited afresh.
Your parenthetical sniping detracts from a reading of the article, but not its message.
I’d like to believe there is no Hell as commonly understood. I just can’t justify that belief with scripture. It’s important to remember that Hell wasn’t meant for people. It was made for Satan and his angels. Humans go there willingly. There will not be a single person in Hell who DOESN’T deserve it. There won’t be a single person in Heaven who DOES deserve it.
From a human perspective, that is what it is. And Jesus talked to us from a human perspective. In plain language. There is a reason it’s called the second DEATH.
There is a reason John 3:16 is worded the way it is.
This analogy explains it pretty well (from here: http://jeremyandchristine.com/articles/eternal.php):
Suppose for a moment that a wonderful manMr. Right, if you willoffers a marriage proposal to the woman he loves. “Marry me,” he says, “and I will give you a life like you’ve never dreamed of before. You will be loved with the greatest commitment and passion that any woman has ever known. I will give you the finest house with all of the wonderful things you’ve ever wanted, and you will be happy for the rest of your days!”
Now suppose the woman is very flattered by the proposal, but is uncertain about whether or not she is ready for such a commitment. Asking for a few more days to think it over, Mr. Right answers, “You are welcome to take more time, but it’s only fair that I warn you what will happen if you decline my generous offer. Your only option, other than spending paradise with me, is to be thrown into my underground dungeon, have your eyes gouged from their sockets, and be subjected to unimaginable pain every hour, on the hour, for the rest of your long, miserable life.”
What do you suppose would be going through the young woman’s mind at a time like this? I imagine that would change the way she feels about the man considerably. She might have previously accepted Mr. Right’s proposal because of her love for him, but is there much chance of that now? Surely not. If she takes him seriously, she’ll undoubtedly marry him, but not as much for love as out of genuine terror at the alternative.
Is this God’s way of doing things? Does God want His people to turn to Him out of fear that they will be tortured otherwise? Where is the love in that? If everyone really believed in this doctrine, wouldn’t that properly tarnish their concept of the Savior? I would imagine some might even have a hard time calling Him “Savior” at all. How merciful can it be to create a never-ending torture pit for everyone and then save only a few from it?
I should address a small issue at this time. There is a tendency in the Christian church to absolve God of any responsibility for Hell. After all, He isn’t the one torturing people, right? To these arguments, I must remind readers that regardless of who physically inflicts the pain, if God designed this system, He must accept a great deal of responsibility for it. God is of course the final authority on anybody’s destiny and can destroy lost souls or keep them alive at will. If He chooses to keep billions of people alive in unending punishment for their wrongs, we mustn’t speak as if there is nothing He can do to change things.
Contrast this to the annihilation model. This theory maintains that those not found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death (Rev. 20:12-15). God created them in the first place and will destroy them in the end. These unsaved people get just what they have actually chosen. They lived life on earth as though there was nothing else to look forward to, and the wages of their sin is death. To say that they have willingly chosen everlasting burning is ludicrous, but it is clear that most people choose to live for this life alone. In the same way that they chose to live, they are essentially given no afterlife. However, some of us are saved from death in the Lake of Fire. We are saved from what we very clearly deserve.
We were graciously given the life we have, and God has no obligation to keep us alive if He doesn’t want to. Never-ending torture, on the other hand, is a punishment we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemy.
Amen.
The link in my post before this one is a good start. It’s all there. The more I study it, the more obvious it is. And I must confess that when I believed in eternal torture I had not studied it at all. I just believed what people told me.
Perhaps a good quote might be that of Mark Twain who said that the news of his recent demise was greatly exaggerated.
When the church goes dead it doesn’t do so with a blood curdling scream. It falls to something like hypnotism.
The Bible doesn’t preach annihilation, it preaches eternal judgment.
The two are not mutually exclusive. The eternal judgement is annihilation. Your judgement is annihilation. And that condition is eternal. If you are lost, you are not coming back. Ever. You’re as dead as the cow my last steak came from.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.