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Locked on 03/03/2008 9:42:54 AM PST by Religion Moderator, reason:
Childish behavior |
Posted on 02/22/2008 9:11:12 AM PST by Zakeet
I was only at a pentecostal church once. They didn’t have snakes either, and that was out in the desert, lol.
They dont do it in mainstream Pentecostal churches in Cleveland, TN either...
theres scorpions in the desert too
what did you do to give the mod such tickle fingers?
Yep. I saw one in my backyard once. It was about 3 - 4 inches long....but dead.
“In 2001 there were about 40 small churches that practiced snake handling, most considered to be holiness-Pentecostals or charismatics. “
40 small churches in 2001, maybe 2000 people or fewer, trust the media to put things into context.
According to a January 2008 article:
Pentecostals, however, skyrocketed throughout the late 20th century to at least 380 million, by the most conservative estimate, and perhaps as many as 600 million.
http://ncrcafe.org/node/1567
I’ve killed 2 snakes in my backyard
The 1st was about 10 years ago...
I found a green Garter Snake in some leaves
it was about 1 foot long and I attacked that sucker with the rake like i was protecting home and hearth from a rattler..There was very little to bury when I was finished with him..LOL
We have Mocassions, Cottonmouths and Diamond Back Rattlers in TN so the next time I saw a snake (last summer) it looked like a 2 foot long Diamond Back...
Again I acted brave ...I ran..LOL
It chased me...I had to consider my grandchildren so I managed to act like one of the 600 and face down the cannons...
I managed to subdue it and again leave a wiggling mass...
This time I scraped the remains into a bag and called the Agricultural Extention...
The guy there said to bring it on in...
I did...to be told it was another Garter Snake...
LOL
600 million Pentecostals? Pentecostalism remains the most important new arrival on the world religious scene in the last 100 years?
I would like to hear more about this.
That had to be terrifying...
I only read that article tonight, ansel. Don’t know much about it besides what it says.
What piques your interest, specifically?
For me it was, but for my daughter she was having the time of her life, lol!
That article pretty much answers my basic questions, but I am surprised, I didn’t know that they had such a dominate place among the world’s religions.
My interest is nothing special, just some surprise, it would be nice if the media would do a better job of telling us about the world. It is a little like people not knowing that the Southern Baptists (aside from the other Baptists)alone are the second largest religion in America, not just a little group of right wing fundamentalists, or that evangelical includes members of all Christian faiths, including Catholics.
After 9/11/01 many people were shocked to find out that Christianity was the largest religion on earth instead of just a white man’s, European faith.
“In Christian terms, the late 20th century will probably come to be known as the era of the “Pentecostal Explosion.” From less than six percent in the mid-1970s, Pentecostals finished the century representing almost 20 percent of world Christianity, according to a 2006 study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life called Spirit and Power. Combining organized Pentecostal denominations such as the Assemblies of God and the Church of Christ, plus the vast galaxy of independent churches around the world with a Pentecostal flavor, such as the African Zionists, the Spiritual Baptists in the Caribbean, and the True Jesus Church in China, brings the total worldwide number of Pentecostals to around 380 million. That would make Pentecostalism the second-largest Christian “denomination” on earth, lagging behind only Roman Catholicism. There are more Pentecostals today than all the Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans put together.”
I also hadn't realized the large number. Our media does a poor job reporting on news of any kind.
>>600 million Pentecostals? Pentecostalism remains the most important new arrival on the world religious scene in the last 100 years?
I’m guessing that like with Charismatic churches there is a real appeal either to Christians from less dynamic denominations or to former Christians who have lost something.
My Grandmother’s younger brother talked til the end of his days about sneaking away to a Pentacostal tent revival and how the people seemed to enjoy church in a way we Baptists don’t.
I’ve felt the same way visiting black Baptist and African Methodist Episcopal churches. It just seemed they looked forward to church more and that it was a joyous song-filled experience. I felt a bit envious - it was like they felt every day the way I felt the day I was saved.
I've not been to either. However, I have watched some programs, here and there, and have seen their choirs and congregation singing. My impression was as your own. (I also like, in popular music, for example, listening to songs where there is a black choir singing in the background...can't think of the songs right now...but there is something there that isn't then same with other choir groups when they sing.)
“>>600 million Pentecostals? Pentecostalism remains the most important new arrival on the world religious scene in the last 100 years?<<
We should let everyone know that (I think) that we are accepting these numbers in a general sense, so for me at least, at this time of the night I’m not very interested in dissecting the figures too closely.
For me right now the exact numbers (380 million-600 million) is not what is fascinating.
“My Grandmother’s younger brother talked til the end of his days about sneaking away to a Pentacostal tent revival and how the people seemed to enjoy church in a way we Baptists don’t.”
Dwelling on past things keeps us from doing that.
And now it's time for me to move on and hit the hay. : )
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