Poll: Pentecostals widening influence

Yahoo News ^ | October 5, 2006 | Rachel Zoll

[NYer]

NEW YORK - A new 10-nation survey of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, considered the fastest-growing stream of Christianity worldwide, shows they are deeply influencing the Roman Catholic and mainstream Protestant churches and are poised to make a big impact on global affairs. p>The poll released Thursday by the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that "spirit-filled" Christians, who speak in tongues and believe in healing through prayer, comprise at least 10 percent of the population in nine of the 10 surveyed countries.

The study also found that followers are more willing than previously thought to bring their traditional values into public debates, potentially shaping government policies in the years ahead.

The surveys were conducted over the spring and summer in Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, India, the Philippines, South Korea" /> Researchers polled both Pentecostals, who form their own denominations such as the Assemblies of God, and charismatics, who have adopted some Pentecostal beliefs but remain members of traditional Protestant and Catholic churches.

The survey estimated that Pentecostals and charismatics together comprise at least half the population of Brazil, Guatemala and Kenya, and 44 percent of the Philippines.

They make up about one-third of the population of South Africa and Chile and nearly one-quarter of Nigerians and U.S. residents. The figure for South Korea is smaller, at 11 percent. In India, the poll was limited to three states with large Christian populations, so a national estimate could not be made.

The study found Pentecostal beliefs have a strong hold in major churches in many countries.

In the traditionally Catholic nations of Brazil, Guatemala and the Philippines, charismatics are a larger share of the population than Pentecostals.

In six of the 10 countries, Pentecostals and charismatics together make up the majority of the overall Protestant population, according to the survey.

The Pentecostal movement, which began a century ago in Los Angeles, spread quickly overseas because of its adaptability to local cultures, whose indigenous beliefs often include healings and casting out of evil spirits, and because of the exuberance of its worship.

While Pentecostals and charismatics are known for speaking in tongues, the survey found respondents were more likely to say that they had personally witnessed or experienced other signs of the Holy Spirit, such as a healing through prayer or a direct revelation from God.

The majority of Pentecostals in every nation surveyed except South Korea and India believed religious groups should express their views on social and political issues. In seven of the 10 countries, 70 percent of charismatics agreed.

"These are folks for whom the world of spirit is remarkably alive ... but that in no way diminishes their commitment to social justice for the poor, for instance, or a role for government in meeting those needs," said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum.

The polls were conducted by phone in the U.S., and in person overseas, with margins of error ranging from plus or minus 4 percentage points to 9 percentage points for some subgroups.

The polls in Brazil, South Africa and South Korea focused on urban areas.

[.30Carbine]

We don't practice what we preach.

That is why Jesus had to die for us.

[mugs99]

refute the Colossian heresy of Gnosticism

Without the Gnostics you would have no "Bible Stories" to teach in Sunday School. I find it humorous that Gnostic texts are "heresy" yet you base your Bible stories on them.

The King James version of the Bible is riddled with errors, mistranslations and contradictions.
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[FreedomProtector]

"The King James version of the Bible is riddled with errors, mistranslations and contradictions."


The reliablity and unity of the Bible is a topic that is worth exploring. The bible is remarkably internally consistent with itself and remarkably externally constistent with the rest of the world (archaeology/other historical documents). Former sceptic Josh McDowell writes: "One of the unique and fascinating aspects of the Bible is that in no other religious literature do we find the accuracy of fulfilled prophecy. Biblical predictions recorded sometimes hundreds of years in advance of their happening are fulfilled in minute detail." There have been many people in history that set out to prove the bible is false, only to conclude that the bible is right after all.

[mugs99]

Former sceptic Josh McDowell writes:

Why do so many claim to be former skeptics?
It's not whether the Bible is true or false. It's a collection of stories. Some are true, some are embellished and some are myth.
Hint: Was Jesus a carpenter or a Rabi?
.

[FreedomProtector]

"Why do so many claim to be former skeptics?"

Because they were.

Josh McDowell was a skeptic.
C.S. Lewis was an atheist.
Lee Strobel was an atheist.
Saint Augustine was a skeptic of Christianity.
etc...

Christianity changes peoples hearts and minds....

While a student at Kellogg College in Michigan in the early sixties, Josh McDowell was challenged by a group of Christian students to examine the claims of Christianity. Josh considered himself an atheist and was sure that Christianity was worthless, but he accepted the challenge. He focused his energy on discrediting the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Instead, he discovered compelling historical evidence for the reliability of the New Testament and the Resurrection.

http://www.leftbehind.com/channelinteract.asp?pageid=498&channelID=79


"It's not whether the Bible is true or false. It's a collection of stories. Some are true, some are embellished and some are myth."


If the bible is true then it is not a collection of embellished stories and myths.

[mugs99]

If the bible is true then it is not a collection of embellished stories and myths.

Like I said, some stories are true and some are embellishments or myth. If it were all true we wouldn't have the great contradiction of carpenter/Rabi.
.

[Quix]

Much agree.

[Quix]

AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!

[Quix]

Actually, imho,

Jesus is not very useable in those ways. The folks involved may THINK AND ACT otherwise. Appearances may appear otherwise . . . but sooner or later . . . if the limb they are out on is other

THAN THE TRUE VINE,

sooner or later, God has a way of insuring it's sawn off or at least that the individual comes to an awakening . . . a 'rude' one, if warranted.

[Quix]

Does Jesus have a problem with you?
= = =

Certainly that's a crucial question for every human alive.

[Quix]

AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!

[Quix]

Very important points.

[Quix]

We don't practice what we preach.
That is why Jesus had to die for us.
= = = =

YUP! YUP!

[Quix]

As I recall, Josh McDowell was a fiercely angry atheist because of his abusive alcoholic RC Dad.

[Celtman]

the great contradiction of carpenter/Rabi.

      And just why do you see it as a contradiction for Jesus to have been both a carpenter and a great and wise teacher?

[Quix]

Josh McDowell handles the supposed contradictions as well as anyone I've known or read.

In any complexity as complex as our observed universe . . . . paradoxes are likely to abound.

Truth includes mystery and paradox. Even Christians will learn to deal with it when God makes things more abundantly clear.

I suspect that at least some Deists will discover that they know even less than some Christians who think they know everything.

[Quix]

Particularly given that God seems to love such paradoxes.

[Quix]

1. I'm not altogether sure what you mean? Are you talking about the fact that some people think you have to be baptized to be saved?

2. Humans can try to put God in a tidy little box, but that's not possible. There's no escaping God.
= = = =

1. Yeah.

- - -

2. True, God is not boxable. But folks construe Him in tiny inadequate ways in the tiny boxes of their own creation and then pretend that

THAT'S

spiritual reality.

Shoot--even in the Old Testament . . . God was persistently breaking out of the spiritual boxes HE HIMSELF created for the Children of Israel.

Man's addiction to RELIGION seems to require it rather frequently, imho.

[mugs99]

And just why do you see it as a contradiction for Jesus to have been both a carpenter and a great and wise teacher?

It's not a matter of how I see it. It's a contradiction that all scholars of history recognize. Becoming a Priest (Rabi) was not a career choice. You had to be born into it. The Cohanim were the priestly class. The Cohanim were Hebrews who traced their lineage all the way back to Moses. A Cohanim boy became a Rabi, he had no choice. It was passed on from father to son. The Cohanim were the high class. Carpenters were craftsmen, middle class.

I'm not saying the Bible story is right or wrong. I'm only pointing out the contradiction. Scholars have been debating the issue for centuries and will probably continue to do so for centuries to come.
.

[mugs99]

Josh McDowell handles the supposed contradictions as well as anyone I've known or read

He hasn't satisfied a single one. A good example is his reference to Josephus: "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man.... He was the Christ, and when Pilate condemned him to the cross...he appeared to them alive again the third day"...Josephus didn't write that.

There are so many inaccuracies in his books that I couldn't even begin to list them on this thread. If you'd like to cite something of his, please do so and we'll look at them one by one.

In any complexity as complex as our observed universe . . . . paradoxes are likely to abound.

That's what makes it all so interesting!

Truth includes mystery and paradox. Even Christians will learn to deal with it when God makes things more abundantly clear.

Of course they will, we're all on the same quest to learn God's nature.

I suspect that at least some Deists will discover that they know even less than some Christians who think they know everything.

You may be right!
But we aren't afraid to admit; "I don't know". That's why we study Christianity more than most Christians.
.