Posted on 05/03/2007 12:50:55 PM PDT by siunevada
CARAPICUIBA, Brazil (Reuters) - For years, Ronaldo da Silva's daily routine consisted of drinking himself into a stupor until he passed out on a sidewalk.
Now he spends his days praying and singing with hundreds of fellow Christians at the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Carapicuiba, a sprawling shantytown on the outskirts of Sao Paulo where Pentecostal congregations are found on just about every block.
"I'd probably be dead or in jail if it weren't for this church," said da Silva, a 38-year-old former Catholic who claims God cured him of epilepsy and helped him straighten out his life when he converted to Pentecostalism a decade ago.
Conversions like da Silva's are increasingly common all over Brazil, where a boom in evangelical Protestantism is steadily chipping away at the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church.
The trend, which is playing out all across Latin America, poses a major challenge for Pope Benedict, who arrives in Brazil on May 9 for a five-day visit largely aimed at blunting the decline of Catholicism in this continent-sized nation.
Although Brazil still has more Catholics than any other country in the world, with about 125 million, the percentage of believers that practice the Vatican's brand of Christianity has been dropping rapidly in the last three decades.
When the late Pope John Paul II visited Brazil in 1980, 89 percent of Brazilians identified themselves as Catholic. By 2000, when the last census was taken, the share of Catholics in the population had fallen to 74 percent.
The number of evangelical Protestants nearly tripled in the same period to 26 million, or about 15 percent of the population.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
She’s mentioned very few times in scripture and not as a substitute for her Son.
= = =
Ahhhhh, but the magicsterical has been feverishly busy for centuries correcting that ‘obvious error’ in Scripture.
Why, just as recently as . . . when . . . the last several decades anyway . . . added an additional cardinal doctrine or two—RE: Mary—to the ‘unchanging’ volumes of doctrine, faith, practice, ritual etc.
So, clearly, the magicsterical has had thousands of things to say about Mary to make-up for the ‘error’ in Scripture.
/s
No they don’t. I’ve seen lots of Catholics who were baptized and have NO relationship with God. They live like the devil. Look at all the mafioso who are devout Catholics and have no problem killing folks...good church goers, baptized into Christ (supposedly) and have no problem living THEIR way instead of God’s. Even protestants do that after baptism. It’s a commandment to believe and be baptized but baptism does NOT save one. Only asking Jesus Christ to come into your life and living FOR Him will do that. After that, baptism is needed when you are immersed and your sins go down into the water and you rise cleansed from all that past junk. Of course, then you have to walk it out.
No they don’t. I’ve seen lots of Catholics who were baptized and have NO relationship with God. They live like the devil. Look at all the mafioso who are devout Catholics and have no problem killing folks...good church goers, baptized into Christ (supposedly) and have no problem living THEIR way instead of God’s. Even protestants do that after baptism. It’s a commandment to believe and be baptized but baptism does NOT save one. Only asking Jesus Christ to come into your life and living FOR Him will do that. After that, baptism is needed when you are immersed and your sins go down into the water and you rise cleansed from all that past junk. Of course, then you have to walk it out.
Amen to that, dear Quix. She was a humble servant of His and I can’t imagine she even likes all this adoration, which should go to her Son.
Already passing... As you know, Brazilians have stopped leaving the Catholic Church.
>> When the late Pope John Paul II visited Brazil in 1980, 89 percent of Brazilians identified themselves as Catholic. By 2000, when the last census was taken, the share of Catholics in the population had fallen to 74 percent. <<
And since 2000, it has fallen to... 74 percent.
No, the Body of Christ IS the Bride of Christ. We have an intimate relationship with Him and we WILL rule with Him one day.
I know; sad isn’t it that she gets so much and Jesus gets so little from SOME folks (not all, but some and more and more, it looks like to me). Sigh.
Not for lonnnnng.............
Yeah, I hear alot are crossing over.
Can you show me some sources to back that up? It would be good news if true.
tHANKS FOR YOUR WISE ACCURATE COMMENTS.
LUB,
Leaving in an hour & a half or so.
return away.
firstly i generally ignore your ‘fierce satire’ as with the capitals and colors its nearly incomprehensible but fire away man.
besides, you should feel flattered that i feel protestant churches that advocate bible thumping are wolves, and not simply terribly misinformed, and intellectually challenged (which is how I’d describe the founders of protestant religions)
It’s not a rationalization, it’s a fact.
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