The Protestant Meltdown

[distracted]

Um…the answer to that question would be a resounding NO!

hmmm… so stating a statistic about church growth (and Church growth) is hateful?

hmm… let me think about that one…

nah…

don’t have to…

 

[look3467]

If numbers in scripture mean anything, the number 12 is representative of an earthly organization.
When Jesus broke bread, divided it into 12 parts, only signifies the diversity of understanding, but then He unites them all with blood.

For it is not the dividing of bread that saves, but the blood.

So, are we united by the blood or by the bread?

Blessings, AJ

 

[distracted]

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. PEACE

give or take a few billion???

i always thought it was 6 billion…

 

[reteeks21]

hmmm… so stating a statistic about church growth (and Church growth) is hateful?

hmm… let me think about that one…

nah…

don’t have to…

That wasn’t the issue I was agreeig with. We were reponding to the fact that the OP’s threads all have one purpose and it isn’t a friendly one. If it were only as you said then I would agree with you 100%, but that wasn’t the case.

 

[allischalmers]

And Baptist have increased their number by two million since 2001----- Praise God

Just my two cents

 

[Della]

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.

Yes, God certainly can inhabit both the hearts of religious and secular, but society is no longer supportive of the religious, which means the secular no longer has the firm base of religious belief. So, religious faith is abandoned by the secular first and then the lukewarm religious, which in turns eats into the numbers of people actually practicing any formal religion.

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

I have to respectfully disagree. Just because God can reach people and they can have a sense of his presence whether inside or outside a house of worship or with or without the sanction of government does not at all mean that organized religion is “immature” and we need to “come out of it.”

Christ established a Church. He had a purpose in doing so. If he had not had a purpose in establishing a visible Church he wouldn’t have bothered to do it.

He foresaw the break down of religious belief as inevitable, not because it isn’t needed but because of man’s willfulness. Once man had convinced himself he need not answer to a higher authority, be it “gods” or the one true God, then they would do even worse things than crucify the Son of God. Now that thought ought to give us all the shivers, and compel us to seek out what God truly intended for humanity.

And what did he intend? He intended that his Church be visible, universal, and one. Human beings are the ones that destroyed that unity of body and belief within Christianity, not God, by those who decided they knew better. Well, they didn’t know better and we are reaping the destruction they set into motion.

 

[distracted]

That wasn’t the issue I was agreeig with. We were reponding to the fact that the OP’s threads all have one purpose and it isn’t a friendly one. If it were only as you said then I would agree with you 100%, but that wasn’t the case.

well, i can’t agree or disagree without an example… I don’t have time and others don’t either… to go through all his/her posts…

i mean, just one example would be sufficient…

 

[distracted]

And Baptist have increased their number by two million since 2001----- Praise God

Just my two cents

are you going to say Praise God when they convert to the RCc?

 

[pnewton]

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. .

But Catholics have increased both in numbers and as a percentage. I am not surprised that New England has seen a decline. The area is scarcely a bastion of Christian ideology

Still, the idea that Protestantism is on the way is absurd. While the percentages decreased, the total numbers have increased. It’s hard to go down when you are going up.

 

[allischalmers]

are you going to say Praise God when they convert to the RCc?

Never Happen

 

[allhers]

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

You claim to be Non-denominational.

You say: “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.”

Yet you claim to be against a one world religion, but it sounds like you try to lump them altogether.

These are the things that confuse me.

I can’t worship God inside a Baptist, Pentecostal, Mormon or court house just as well as I can inside a Catholic Church, because He is not truly Present, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in any of those other places.

 

[pnewton]

Am I missing something. Why would anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ rejoice in seeing atheism take a stronger foothold in any sector of Christianity. Jesus told His disciples to let the man be who was casting out demons in His name. In this, we should let each other be! The harvest is out-stripping the laborers while we argue over who gets what field.

I have no problems trying to convert you folks to Catholicism, as I have shown many times. But until then I want nothing but success among the lost for you.

 

[Della]

Am I missing something. Why would anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ rejoice in seeing atheism take a stronger foothold in any sector of Christianity. Jesus told His disciples to let the man be who was casting out demons in His name. In this, we should let each other be! The harvest is out-stripping the laborers while we argue over who gets what field.

I have no problems trying to convert you folks to Catholicism, as I have shown many times. But until then I want nothing but success among the lost for you.

Yes, it’s sad that this is happening. Having some faith in Christ is better than none. And, no one wants to see any souls lost, if possible.

However, it was inevitable that this would happen because outside of the Church the promise of Christ against the Church failing has no effect. It’s a simple fact that many mainline Protestant churches have so diluted the faith of their fathers by embracing the latest societal norms, that people are simply abandoning them.

This is the opportunity to reach out to those people to tell them that the true Church of Christ is still here–teaching the same things it’s taught from Christ and the Apostles. So, as I wrote in an earlier post, we Catholics have no right to crow, but we do have an obligation to be there to pick up the pieces and save as many as we can.

 

[NDfan]

give or take a few billion???

No give or take a 100 million or so. So it may be 1.4 billion or 1.1 billion but suffice it to say 1.2-1.3 billion is pretty close give or take 100 million.

i always thought it was 6 billion…

6 billion is the population of the earth. If that were the case then everyone would be a believer in Christ

PEACE

 

[piperspop]

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.

Just curious, how does one count Roman Catholics?
Other faiths tend to use the measure of ASA, Average Sunday Attendance.
I am told “Once a Catholic, Always a Catholic”, is this true?

 

[pnewton]

And Baptist have increased their number by two million since 2001----- Praise God

Just my two cents

I gotta admit that I liked to see that. I am grateful for my Baptist upbringing, education, Baptism and introducing me to Christ. I am still a sidelines cheerleader of sorts when they are in the news.

 

[allhers]

Just curious, how does one count Roman Catholics?
Other faiths tend to use the measure of ASA, Average Sunday Attendance.
I am told “Once a Catholic, Always a Catholic”, is this true?

Maybe by those that are registered, in which case it is probably even more. I know that sometimes they do count also, the number of people coming in the doors, my husband and I even did this once along with some other people a few years ago, with those little clicker things you hold in your hand, we were each stationed at one of the four doors to the Church and just counted each person as they came in. There were right around 700 at each of the 2 earlier and 1 later Masses and 1200 at the main morning Mass. I believe we are the largest Parish in our Diocese. So for those 4 Masses that Sunday there were 3,400 people. That is just one Catholic Church in this area on one Sunday, there are 5 more right in this area that I know of that I could get to in a half an hour or less.

 

[distracted]

Never Happen

porque no?

What is wrong with the RCC in your opinion??

 

[distracted]

No give or take a 100 million or so. So it may be 1.4 billion or 1.1 billion but suffice it to say 1.2-1.3 billion is pretty close give or take 100 million.

6 billion is the population of the earth. If that were the case then everyone would be a believer in Christ

PEACE

so there are more dollars in our deficit than there are humans on the face of the earth…

hmmm…

 

[look3467]

Yet you claim to be against a one world religion, but it sounds like you try to lump them altogether.

These are the things that confuse me.>>>allhers

Religion is not universal and is what mankind wants to make.

What is universal is the Holy Spirit inhabiting the hearts of mankind which is defined as"the body of Christ. ( ie. the church)

I was raised a Baptist with Baptist views, but as I’ve learned, they were limiting.
The word denomination is the denominator divided by one.

The one is God, the numerator divided by any number.

Any denominator, regulating or limiting another denominator must further divide, as if the original is the only path.
When all of them come under one God.

1= God

1= a particular denomination ÷ 4,500 others