Fake News and the Death of Christianity: Western Christianity's demise greatly exaggerated

American Thinker ^ | 09/09/2017 | Mike Konrad

[SeekAndFind]

Mark Twain, quoting Disraeli, once said “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” So it has been with the recent story that White Christians are a minority, To paraphrase Twain again, the reports of Christianity's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

The headline was framed as if America was becoming outright pagan.

Buried deep inside the story was this admission:

Christians of all races and denominations still make up nearly 70 percent of the U.S. population. But that number is likely to shrink as the much younger populations of Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists continue to grow. -- Huffington Post

It seems the pagans are not quite at the ramparts, yet.

I would love to see the underlying statistics. The first question that hit me would be: Does White Christian include White Hispanics? A considerable number of Hispanics can be considered white. Indeed, anyone familiar with demographics knows that there is a gray area in the stats: White (non-Hispanic) is often a separate category. So is Hispanic (of all races). Often left out is Hispanic (White).

While many Americans might not be thrilled with the number of Muslims in America, their numbers are relatively small. America is barely 1% Muslim, and some of that number includes Black Muslims, who often quote the Bible, and have Baptist grandmothers praying for the salvation of their wayward souls and a return to Jesus.

Canada is 3% Muslim. Much of Europe is far worse. As nations go, the United States is one of the least Muslim major nations on the planet. You would never know it from the Huffington Post article. Nor would you know that Muslim groups often inflate their numbers.

[SeekAndFind]

Islam survives by crushing proselytization. It cannot compete with free thought, so it kills it. A good percentage of the children of those Muslims will become Christian in one generation in America. Islam has no social answer to street preachers.

There is a second matter to consider: the nature of American Christianity; and to a lesser extent Australian Christianity.

....

America is like no other nation on earth. Christianity is taken quite seriously by a large part of the population. That population has fled mainstream churches for being dead and ritualistic. Mainstream Protestantism is dying out, as is a large part of mainstream Catholicism. Catholicism survives, chiefly because of immigrants who enter America as Catholics. However, it does not take long for those immigrants' children to end up in Evangelical churches. Barely one half of American Latinos are Roman Catholic. The Evangelicals are growing by leaps and bounds.

Meanwhile, the serious bible believing congregations are thriving. These do not operate like the older denominations. They are rather informal. Many do not show up on statistics. A lot of these groups are members of home church congregations, which are not 501(c)-3 registered; but are just a collection of believers who meet in homes to study the bible, as was done in the first century.

[SeekAndFind]

Also, there is another movement to consider -- MESSIANIC JUDAISM.

A new movement is Messianic Judaism, which is essentially Evangelical theology melded with Jewish holidays and history. These people, though absolutely believing that Jesus is both God and Messiah -- they would say Moshiach -- might not call themselves Christians, in order to distance themselves from the crimes of historic organized Christianity; but be assured they are quite Christian in their theology. There are up to a quarter million of these in America, and most of them are Gentile. The well-known Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn would fall into this mix.

[SeekAndFind]

According to the American pollster George Barna, as many as 30,000 house churches were established as of 2009, and it is estimated 6 -12 million Americans attend them. Those aren’t easy figures to track, as you can imagine. -- Stand Up for the Truth

[Jim W N]

True Christianity is not a religion, it is a person - the person of Jesus Christ. As long as we, the Church, are here, Jesus is here through God’s spirit which is in us.

Satan thinks now is his time but it is not yet his time as long as we are here. But we won’t always be here. In a few decades, Jesus will come to take his saints to be with him in Heaven, then it will all come crashing down. God’s subsequent wrath upon the earth during the Tribulation will include the use of Satan but in the end, as always, Satan loses and is thrown into prison in chains and later cast into the lake of fire.

Satan was judged and defeated at the cross of Christ and will soon disappear forever.

[T Ruth]

Muslim groups often inflate their numbers

There's a surprise -- not.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It’s also possible for Spirit-led Christians to evangelize across cultural boundaries.

Quite by “accident” I came to realize that many Hindus noticed that I was Christian. I finally stuck my red neck out and witnessed outright to one over several months. Indirectly, I saw evidence that he had believed.

So... bring on the Hindus, for example. They are going to have their own religious questions. They aren’t just bumbling along in a blind bliss. Christ has answers for them that their own faith tradition won’t.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I’ve heard it said that religion is human propositions about God, but the Christian faith is the human acceptance of God’s propositions about Himself.

It makes a difference, and yes it’s possible to live a kind of “Christianity” that is a “form of religion but denying its power.” Someone can be doing some ritual thing or even seemingly observing some commandment — but it’s out of pride not out of love. It’s shallow, and the person will become self-defensive very quickly about it if challenged.

The kind that is based on accepting God’s propositions will grow. As the tree grows its leaves increase in area and catch more sunlight, helping the tree grow even more.

[elpadre]

and look at the success of Christian universities. Liberty for instance, has a huge in campus enrollment and an internet enrollment of 100,000. They also have a well regarded law school and med school. And, they have the money to become even greater.

[loveliberty2]

Another quotation attributed to Twain has to do with "the reports" of his "death," which he is said to have called "exaggerated."

Much the same may be said of today's "reports" by wishful Progressive Movement cultists of the demise of Christianity in America.

A favorite Christian Anthem is "He Comes to Us," from the words of Albert Schweitzer:

"He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not.

"He speaks to us the same words: 'Follow thou me!' and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time."

"He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is." - Albert Schweitzer, 'The Quest for the Historical Jesus'

Progressive Regressive cultists do not understand yet that "His fellowship" is a spiritual and living reality to His followers.

[elpadre]

“...Mainstream Protestantism is dying out,...”

Yes, and that is because they have become infiltrated by those in the socialist movement who made their move in the 60’s. Since then they have taken over not only mainline churches, but also our education and much of our government. We need to purge them from all parts of our lives. They are a cancer to a true Constitutional America.

[Jim W N]

Another way of putting it: religion is man trying to reach God, Christianity is God reaching man.

We are in the midst of an end-time world-wide re-emergence of the gospel of the grace of our lord Jesus Christ which will sweep many into the kingdom before He comes for us.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Titus 2:11-14

Notice it is the grace of God, not the law, that teaches us.

God bless.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I believe it very possible for events to play out in this manner, and yes we can pray for God to schedule it so that we will see it “speedily, speedily in our days” (to paraphrase a Jewish prayer).

Fatalism has been one big drag on Christian faith. People believe, but their fear is such, with respect to their faith, that they are afraid to ask God “too much.”

I’d rather ask God for the stars even if I only end up getting the moon.

[HiTech RedNeck]

The only kind of purging and purification that will actually work is that which is based in the Lord’s saving grace.

America has a big, big population challenge.

I don’t believe that believing churches need to be fatalistic in the face of the challenge, or act under some mistaken conviction that they have to resort to worldly measures. That has us looking like swine. It doesn’t glorify the Lord.

I believe that the fire of the Spirit needs to be jealously rekindled among the smoldering wicks of existing believers and then spread with torch like intensity in pure godly love. We have become shy of wanting to do that because of the perversions such activity has seen in history. Why did the KKK burn crosses? Because it thought that was the light of God against its enemies (all the “wrong” people). Let’s not repeat that mistake a second time.

[zerosix]

“Ye have not because ye ask not!”

[Biggirl]

I do think those Catholics who stay Catholic will become more devout over time.

[sparklite2]

[faithhopecharity]

“mainline” Christian churches (and “reform” type Jewish synagogues) try to fill their pews by changing, watering down their product. Unfortunately, they often “throw out the
baby with the bathwater”....
YES, some degree of cultural adaptation can be beneficial...
BUT abdication to the secular culture...and.or even preaching the “validity” of such pagan cultic practices like killing babies, elderly people, the sick, etc........and of course
every possible form of sexual misconduct imaginable..

these “liberalizations” render the idea of holy scripture (and the one who gave or inspired it for us)...moot.

At that point, even the secular pagan “target audience” for these newly ‘liberal’ or ‘reform’ churches/synagogues...even the ‘target audience’ realizes that there’s no reason to attend ......since there’s nothing at those churches that isn’t already on offer... on the streets of any big city in America, in bars, in ‘sex clubs’ and in street gangs

already

[elpadre]

“..The only kind of purging and purification that will actually work is that which is based in the Lord’s saving grace....”

Certainly I am in agreement. I can’t even get through a day without His grace.

But on earth we, the believers, are God’s doers. He gives us His grace to do His will. We are constantly in need of His direction, His guidance. Through prayer and perseverance He will reveal what we should do. Our job then is to recognize and to do.

[sergeantdave]

Christians can fill a 100,000 seat stadium to hear a popular preacher. Hillary has to pay union rates to fill a small grade school auditorium with bored drunks.

Christians are doing fine; socialists not so well.

[rx]

What's with trying to redefine "religion," about which the Bible has already made a clear statement?

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (James 1:27)

Would you, like so many others before you, try to substitute your own "better" words about the matter. (Despite your claim, your statement can hardly be called simply "another way of putting it." It's something else entirely.)

Man's trying to reach God, by itself, is nothing but a deceit "of ourselves," about which the following (from Ephesians 2:8-9 has something very important to say:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

To accompany the Titus verses you've cited, I would add one of my favorites, Romans 2:4:

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"