The Protestant Meltdown

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OneTrueCathApos

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An ARIS Survey recently unearthed a very worrisome trend for some Protestant denominations. Of the drop in the percentage of Christians since 1990, “Ninety percent of the decline comes from non-Catholic segment of the Christian population, largely from the mainline denominations, including Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians/Anglicans, and the United Church of Christ.” These all experienced sharp numerical declines this decade and now just constitutes at just 12.9%.
The Catholic share of the population actually edged up from 2001 to 2008.
Breaking up is hard to do but breaking up is good for you.😉
 
OneTrueCathApos said:
An ARIS Survey recently unearthed a very worrisome trend for some Protestant denominations. Of the drop in the percentage of Christians since 1990, “Ninety percent of the decline comes from non-Catholic segment of the Christian population, largely from the mainline denominations, including Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians/Anglicans, and the United Church of Christ.” These all experienced sharp numerical declines this decade and now just constitutes at just 12.9%.
The Catholic share of the population actually edged up from 2001 to 2008.
Breaking up is hard to do but breaking up is good for you.😉
Click to expand...
That last line was a diabolical lie in the sixteenth century and is no better today.

Edwin
 
OneTrueCathApos said:
An ARIS Survey recently unearthed a very worrisome trend for some Protestant denominations. Of the drop in the percentage of Christians since 1990, “Ninety percent of the decline comes from non-Catholic segment of the Christian population, largely from the mainline denominations, including Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians/Anglicans, and the United Church of Christ.” These all experienced sharp numerical declines this decade and now just constitutes at just 12.9%.
The Catholic share of the population actually edged up from 2001 to 2008.
Breaking up is hard to do but breaking up is good for you.😉
Click to expand...
Do you have nothing at all to do in life but bash other faiths? Every thread you start is a constant and unrelenting attack on something not Roman Catholic. It is sad in the extreme that you cannot feel good about your faith as long as others exist.

You never offer anything positive. Just negative hate filled garbage.
 
SpiritMeadow said:
Do you have nothing at all to do in life but bash other faiths? Every thread you start is a constant and unrelenting attack on something not Roman Catholic. It is sad in the extreme that you cannot feel good about your faith as long as others exist.

You never offer anything positive. Just negative hate filled garbage.
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And your CONSTANT misunderstanding about everything is a bit much. A survey IS NOT bashing my friend. It is what it is.
 
Contarini said:
So you think that the Reformation was a good thing?

Edwin
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No of course not. Luther failed to reform the true church Jesus established. He failed, and if he was doing God’s work, he wouldn’t of failed because God doesn’t fail.
 
Personally, I have not paid enough attention to know what you mean about the other posts. But I think hate is a bit strong here dont you think? I did not see any hate here, just someone pointing out an interesting fact.
 
SpiritMeadow said:
Do you have nothing at all to do in life but bash other faiths? Every thread you start is a constant and unrelenting attack on something not Roman Catholic. It is sad in the extreme that you cannot feel good about your faith as long as others exist.

You never offer anything positive. Just negative hate filled garbage.
Click to expand...
Um…the answer to that question would be a resounding NO!
 
I believe the Christian child (church) is coming to maturity!
Born 2,000 years ago.
Gone through trials and tribulations as the world tried to kill the first born (church) by its laws and evil subversion’s.
But the child (church) has survived, ever growing in quantity and strength to what it is today, a body of believers who are beginning to see each other as brother and sisters.

Denominations are because of belief differences of the same God.

What we are seeing I believe is, the transformation of these differences into and acknowledgment that Christ died for all of us regardless of who we seem to be, thus giving rise to the brotherhood of man in a common sharing of love.

I have changed my thinking to that form of understanding to where now I don’t see differences, but see what God sees… a soul loved by Him.

Worship preference is a choice and not a deterrent but rather an opportunity of demonstrating the value of Godly love in spite of the differences as should be with mature adults.

Immaturity, is a sign of still not yet being self governed, disciplined and tried.

Only those who through trials and tribulations find freedom of expression of their true selves indicating their growth spiritually.

Independent, free and willing to sacrifice willingly without restraints their desire to please God, making their desires Gods’.

“Not my will but thines”: Luk 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

Here is the heart of the matter, that we should love one another as God has loved us.

Not that we should belong to this or that, but that our hearts belong to Him.

Blessings, AJ
 
Here is a link to the actual survey results: americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/

What is shows is that contrary to the OP, Christianity is declining across the board, especially in mainline churches, in every state. Roman Catholicism is decreasing in a “stunning” way in the New England. It’s increases are in the Southwest among Hispanics.

Moreover, contrary to her other anti-anything but Catholic thread ,‘evangelicals will disappear within a decade,’ this survey says that Evangelicals are the fastest growing group of all! (oops there CathApos) Best to keep your surveys and article conclusions straight.

Jews are decreasing and Muslims are increasing. Worst, those who have no faith tradition are climbing steadily and that is truly sad.

So that’s the actuality of things. I repeat, you have nothing to do here but raise threads that are either false or contradictory, in an attempt to make every other faith tradition look poor.

The story is that faith is declining, and that apparently doesn’t matter to you if you can claim that there are three more RC’s than Protestants in the country.
 
Do you actually go looking for stuff like this? What sites are you surfing? And why get so excited when you find these things?
 
Getting back to the topic at hand. Of course, it’s of no interest unless we discuss why this is happening. And it isn’t just because Protestants are not in communion with Rome (although I agree that without the charism of infallibility it was bound to happen in time).

I think it’s more general than that. Jesus said as he was carrying his cross: “If they do these things in the green wood, what will they do in the case of the dry” (Lk. 23:3).

The world in general has lost faith to secularism and other isms of its kind. In Jesus’ day governments were intimately tied to religious belief. Not so any more. Countries around the world are adopting the Enlightenment principle of the separation of church and state. When thus divided the moral code of civilization goes down the tubes, along with religious practice.

I don’t know if the Enlightenment founders had this in mind, but it’s the effective it has wrought nonetheless, especially amongst our Protestant brethren whose denominations embrace society’s principles as if they were God given.

If it weren’t for the protection of the Holy Spirit and the promise of Christ to his Church, we Catholics would be headed the same way. We have no right to crow, only to be saddened by this reality and say: “There but for the grace of God go we.”
 
OneTrueCathApos said:
An ARIS Survey recently unearthed a very worrisome trend for some Protestant denominations. Of the drop in the percentage of Christians since 1990, “Ninety percent of the decline comes from non-Catholic segment of the Christian population, largely from the mainline denominations, including Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians/Anglicans, and the United Church of Christ.” These all experienced sharp numerical declines this decade and now just constitutes at just 12.9%.
The Catholic share of the population actually edged up from 2001 to 2008.
Breaking up is hard to do but breaking up is good for you.😉
Click to expand...
Did I miss where you gave a source for your comments?

ETA: I see SpiritMeadow did it for you.
 
OneTrueCathApos said:
An ARIS Survey recently unearthed a very worrisome trend for some Protestant denominations. Of the drop in the percentage of Christians since 1990, “Ninety percent of the decline comes from non-Catholic segment of the Christian population, largely from the mainline denominations, including Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians/Anglicans, and the United Church of Christ.” These all experienced sharp numerical declines this decade and now just constitutes at just 12.9%.
The Catholic share of the population actually edged up from 2001 to 2008.
Breaking up is hard to do but breaking up is good for you.😉
Click to expand...
There’s no doubt Roman Catholicism has seen a recent surge and Protestantism has had its numbers decline to the point where I believe now it represents either right at 50% or just below it for the population of the US.

But the problem we run into with these counting surveys is the methodology. The RCC claims there are about 1.2-1.3 billion Catholics worldwide. Give or take some. But the RCC does not reduce it’s membership when parishioners leave unless they formally write to their local Bishop announcing their departure. I can personally introduce you to about 10 thousand people that fall into this category just from some local areas in MD. Project that across the country or the world for that matter. Point of fact in a Religious study conducted last year something like 2-3 out of every 10 Catholics didn’t actually consider themselves Catholic anymore. When this is factored in the truer number of Catholics in the world is more like 900,000,000 or so. So maybe the number of registered Catholics has increased over the last few years but that does not mean the number of true Catholics has gone up. Some scholars believe the RCC is floating just above water while others claim the RCC is a dying branch of Christianity. The Restoration movement is still the fastest growing form of Christianity running at about 19% per year or so.

Right now 60% of Christians live below the equator. 66% of all Christians are females. The average age of a Christian today is 24. The US while once a leader in Christian missionary work is now the 2nd largest recipient of Christian missionary work. Either way I think it’s pointless to celebrate the number of Christians declining whether it’s RCC or non-RCC. The real question is where do they go? Are those leaving the Catholic faith converting to Protestantism and vice versa? Or do they just stop believing? I have no problem if someone feels more in touch with the Catholic Faith then a non-Catholic faith. They’re Christians in both situations. I would rather see someone move to the RCC than to leave Christianity. So none of it is good news unless we are reaching the lost and bringing them to Christ while strengthening those already baptized into Christ. Agreed?

PEACE
 
The world in general has lost faith to secularism and other isms of its kind. In Jesus’ day governments were intimately tied to religious belief. Not so any more. Countries around the world are adopting the Enlightenment principle of the separation of church and state. When thus divided the moral code of civilization goes down the tubes, along with religious practice.
Click to expand...
I believe that in Jesus’ day there were two forms of government, the religious, Jewish and the secular Roman governments.

The Roman Government was included in the processing of the crucifixion, tying them to the Jewish as both equally guilty of the crucifixion, as one not being one over the other but equal.

Of both of them, was a new government created and that government is not made with human hands, but a spiritual government that was to govern through the hearts of each soul it inhabits.

That is why, spiritually, God can inhabit both the hearts of the religious and the secular souls.

The restriction of that happening freely has been hindered by mankind’s insistence of its own views via our own spiritual immaturity.

The divisions are not without purpose.

If mankind is allowed to build again the tower of babel, like a one world religion, then we must beware, for the heart of mankind is subject to evil, and power corrupts.

Neither a one religious government or a non religious government is a ideal state, but rather a conflict between the two, because then, we can identify spiritually who we really are in respect to Gods desires.

Spiritual maturity is to be totally independent of the worlds ties and totally dependent of the will of God in our lives to live within those ties.

If we are religious or non religious matters not, for independence of both is not measured by our dependence on them but whether we are dependent on the will of God, which makes us independent of them.

I can worship God inside a Catholic Church, just as well inside a Baptist, Pentecostal, Mormon or inside a court house, for my spiritual maturity is beholden to none of them but only to the presence of God in me, where ever I am.

This view I believe, is the trend that we are seeing. “The falling away” I believe to be, in a sense of our maturing, as in “come out of her” my people.

“Out of her” is the worlds hold on our right to freedom.

My thoughts only.
Blessings, AJ
 
OneTrueCathApos said:
Breaking up is hard to do but breaking up is good for you.😉
Click to expand...
I would say that a tongue-and-cheek phrase with a smiley giving the wink is bashing. Had I said such a thing about the Catholic Church, I suspect you would report me to a mod… as you should.

Smiling about someone else’s misfortune is…, well, fill in the blank.

O+
 
SpiritMeadow said:
Do you have nothing at all to do in life but bash other faiths? Every thread you start is a constant and unrelenting attack on something not Roman Catholic. It is sad in the extreme that you cannot feel good about your faith as long as others exist.

You never offer anything positive. Just negative hate filled garbage.
Click to expand...
wow…

have you ever heard of pots and kettles and such things?? 😦
 
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