Posted on 08/08/2012 9:03:55 AM PDT by Dr. Thorne
At least 1 million evangelical Christians took part in Saturday's annual "March for Jesus" in Sao Paulo, demonstrating the growing trend of Protestantism in Brazil.
With 123.2 million of 191 million Brazilians identifying as Catholic according to 2010 census data, the South American nation still holds the world's largest Catholic population, but adherents to the faith have been steadily declining over several decades, while Protestantism, particularly evangelical Christianity, has been on the rise.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.com ...
Thank you. I think that needed to be said.
I join you both in that rejoicing for whenever people are genuinely coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ it is a time for ALL Christians to rejoice. I do not think for a moment that our Lord is more concerned for the sign outside the church door as He is for the sign of the new birth within the heart of each believer.
People use the term Evangelical Christianity as if there were a single understanding of what that means in terms of doctrine. In many poverty stricken areas the type of Evangelical Christianity which is flourishing is what is commonly called the “Prosperity Gospel” this is very different than Evangelical Christianity of more traditional Pentecostal or Baptist or Nondenominational sects. Even within those traditions there are different approaches and responses to Biblical teachings.
It would be interesting to see more specifics of just what type of Evangelical Christianity is gaining ground.
American congregationalism is utterly adrift on a sea of individualism and subjectivism.
Fixed it.
The Catholic influence in America has been to war against it’s conservatism and to empower the left and the Democrat party.
Places like Brazil and Mexico can probably use a little Christian conservatism.
“Even within those traditions there are different approaches and responses to Biblical teachings.”
As for the prosperity gospel, this requires defining terms. Most Pentecostals in Africa affirmed (2006) that God would (not had to) “grant material prosperity to all believers who have enough faith,” which is justified under the premise that faith can move mountains, and “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. “ (Matthew 21:22)
But which must be understood in the light of other teachings, such as praying in Jesus name, which is not that of appending His name at the end of a prayer (not wrong but be careful), but praying consistent with His revealed will, as a representative of Him.
Thus while we can believe God for prosperity, that means if it be His will for us, and that such prosperity is not so that we can live extravagantly, or other than sacrificially, no matter what we have, with all we have being committed to the work of the Lord who gave himself for us.
While it is Biblical to “wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth,” (3 John 2) the error of the prosperity gospel is teaching that it is always God’s will that every believer has material prosperity and lives in perfect health, and which means living as richly as well, and “supposing that gain is godliness,” (1Tim. 6:5) rather than their needs being met as they seek 1st the kingdom of God and His righteousness, (Mt. 6:33) which calls for an overall sacrificial live, and having faith to endure hardship and afflictions.
For indeed, faith not only sees escape and victory, but also being as those described who “took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.” (Hebrews 10:34)
An old Amish saying goes like, “to be content with little is hard; to be content with much is impossible.”
And the “hall of faith” includes those who were “stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. “ (Hebrews 11:37-38)
On the other hand, it is sin to not believe God will fulfil Mt 6:33, or to equate poverty with Godliness. And to the poor, who make up most of the “prosperity churches” worldwide, believing God to raise them up from poverty is part of the attractive positive overcoming faith they preach, though without proper theological balance. In addition, many of the preachers seem to have so little faith they spend much of their time raising funds.
Thanks for the link. I will read it later. I always enjoy your posts even when we disagree. Not that I disagreed with this one, I found it most informative.
If people are taught to believe true love is never having to practice self control naturally they're going to agree with the pretense that ignoring the effects of contraception is the same thing as a closer walk with Christ. If people are taught to believe that multiple sex partners is the only way to fit in they're going to migrate to Protestant churches where half the sermons are about why no one should feel guilty since whatever they've done is already forgiven in advance. Where the population is taught to think with their glands instead of their brains, the population migrates to Protestantism. Sheep are easily led and as the culture of death leads them towards death the sheep gravitate toward the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance is the theology of the magic words.
Scripture spells all this out and warns about it but for people who revise and reinterpret Scripture to suit their current mood it all vanishes into the whirlpool of self-satisfaction. Jude warns about the heresy of Core and Luther revived exactly that heresy. The theology of, "Eat, drink, and contracept, for you have Christ by the throat now that you've said the magic words" is always going to be more popular than the Biblical, "take up your cross and follow me". This is obvious stuff, even to an awful lot of the Protestants who prefer to bash Catholics rather than confront their own dens of vipers. They don't want to recruit Protestants, they know what Protestants are like and hope that by luring Catholics away they'll have some members who are serious about their faith.
It's also funny to see folks in a country that has always been more than 70% Protestant talking about Catholics taking the country down the tubes. I never realized that Protestants all stayed home on election day and just let the Catholics vote. I guess that explains North Carolina where something like 3% of the population is Catholic and the State went for King Barry in a big way.
I’m gonna respectfully disagree with you here:
>>> “All churches grounded primarily in Scripture have very similar theologies. “
though it depends on what is ‘similar’ enough.
The Reformers, sola scriptura, disagreed enough to reject each other’s theology and have different “Confessions” or credal documents.
I don’t believe Luther - Zwingli - Calvin - Arminius are similar theologies. First they differ on the sacraments and, in the case of Calvin, salvation, with Calvinism’s salvation by election not at all similar to salvation by grace through faith.
I would agree that Calvin follows an arc started by Luther, but at some point in the line it leaves it’s origin enough to be deemed no longer ‘similar.’
Further out we have the 19th Century invention, via sola scriptura again, of Dispensationalism by Darby and the Brethren Movement, and sola scriptura non-trinitarians such as Oneness Pentecostals and some strands of Unitarianism.
Luther thought that sola scriptura meant everyone would see *his* interpretation of scripture as the obviously correct one, this authority of scripture. But, in practice, it becomes everyone’s interpretation on their own authority.
thanks for your post.
Amen. But “others” see that as a threat.
What's your church's position on artificial contraception? The issue which has set the Catholic Church at loggerheads with the Obama administration. Does it even have a position? Does any Protestant Church have a position?
You can't look to the Bible. There's nothing there.
That is why, with one or two notable exceptions, Protestantism is completely flummoxed by this issue.
As we can see in their voting history and including today, the Catholic influence in America has been to war against it’s conservatism and to empower the left and the Democrat party.
Places like Brazil and Mexico can probably use a little Christian conservatism.
Only because they have more allegiance to their church than faith in The Gospel.
Amen!
Looking at this question from a political/economic point of view, rather than doctrine about justification a growth in Evangelical Christianity would be a great thing. Our two biggest trading partners are Canada and Mexico. Long term our future is going to be affected more from the south and north than it will be from the east and west. We share a common view of civil society with Canada. It will be in our best interest to have that common view with our neighbors to the south. As they become more Evangelical Christian conservatism will grow as well.
America has always been a liberal project. Its so called "conservatism" is a rootless, progressivist, neocon capitalism.
Places like Brazil and Mexico can probably use a little Christian conservatism.
They won't find it in the prosperity gospel and a subjectivist, custom-made religion which "conserves" nothing and is completely divorced from tradition.
Improvisation and novelty are the opposite of conservatism.
No wonder Catholics vote for the left.
Sadly, it indeed is. Amongst evangelicals and pentecostals it is the defining characteristic. Anyone who has thrown off or abandoned the cross has embraced the "prosperity gospel". Anyone who embraces Jesus for any other reason than taking up their cross and following Him to Calvary has embraced the "prosperity gospel".
The "prosperity gospel" encompasses much more than the "Jesus will make you successful" shtick espoused by preachers like Osteen. It is also comfortable Christianity, devoid of suffering, which is embraced for the buzz or the high which many claim it brings. It is Christianity which punches one's complimentary ticket to heaven in air-conditioned comfort. It is the "I'm saved......Jesus is my personal Savior" Christianity which costs nothing more than an inner gut feeling that I'm going to heaven.
All this is the "prosperity gospel". Jesus is making you "prosperous", whether in this world or the next.
This is precisely where the "prosperity gospel" has its heretical roots. You are at the center and Jesus is supplying your needs at no cost to you.
Let us know when you figure out if artificial contraception is immoral or not.
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