I’m curious about who still practices their faith.

In the Mormon church I saw I saw a lot of passive aggression and psychological bullying. Also a lot of atttention to full tithing. I still see it as a cult. The Baptists focused less on passive aggression and more on full on aggression

 

Thats been my experience with Baptists as well.

 

Yet they forget God is the judge, He isn't hiring for an assistant! Christians are supposed to show love towards people, we may not agree with how one lives, but to not agree doesn't give a license to judge. People are afraid to be real, to come as they are for this very reason!

 

Christianity was never meant to be the establishment. It was ours for a good while, and it was corrupted by it. Christianity thrives under persecution. And I think we're about to see it boom before too long...

 

I don't know about thriving under persecution, I would like to believe that but I don't know. I see Christians giving in a little too easily in America. I mean it took just one woman's fight to get prayer taken out of schools, millions of Christians but one woman got prayer removed (not trying to turn this political just making a point). Look at the war we had on Christmas where many Christians said "Happy Holidays" as to be politically correct rather than have a backbone for their faith. Christian churches are bending what the Bible says to please people so they won't be labeled as offensive, plus gotta keep those seats full. On the flip side, we as Americans are blessed because we don't face the persecution that Christians in China and Muslim countries face where we risk being beaten in the streets or killed for practicing our faith. I have heard stories from other parts of the world where Christians are bold and do thrive under persecution.

I think in America Christians MAY thrive under persecution, but I can't be sure of it in all honesty because we don't know the levels of persecution that other Christians in other parts of the world face, it is not conceivable to us so we really don't know..that's just my opinion.

 

That’s a good point. Christianity is the most persecuted faith in the world right now. (Even Angela Merkel has noted this) I wonder if this will make it stronger.

 

In the west, Christianity in it’s literal form is discouraged as being politically incorrect. A vestigial of colonialism and racism. In other parts of the world it is a capital crime.

 

Agreed and because it's a crime to be Christian in other parts of the world they endure unspeakable acts of persecution we don't have here and it seems a lot of martyrs and the people taking a real stand are those who suffer most for their faith.

I don't know how it would be for Christians if that type of persecution were to hit American soil as we are more privileged in our country. Would a lot of Christians give in, in fear or thrive? I honestly don't know..

 

I think the problem is that people cannot distinguish between Christians believing that an action is sinful and actively persecuting that action. Toleration is the new idol but exceptions are made for Muslims in actively prosecuting offending actions as we need to be tolerant of other cultures. We need to be tolerant of their intolerance even if it rises to imprisonment, torture or worse. I call this doublethink.

 

Agreed on this style of persecution! I associate persecution with a faith as a whole and think of what you're saying as condemnation, so a bit of a miscommunication there lol.

 

Probably but I get what you’re saying. No worries.

 

Lol okay cool

 

I just started here after coming from the nastiest forum you could imagine. Trust me, I don’t see any problems. In fact I agree with everything you’ve said so far.

 

Thank you, sorry about the previous forum being so nasty! Hopefully, you like PF!

 

It’s great so far. And you seem like a nice and thoughtful person.

 

Thank you, you seem nice also, glad you're liking it so far!

 

Even the people I vehemently disagree with are at least civil in their disagreement. They might challenge me factually but not personally. I even got someone from the other forum to join here and he’s being cautious but I think he likes it here too.

 

I do. Considering mormons, I met some of them in France. To be fair, I deeply admired their ability to speak a good french, and their will to go like that in a foreign country. I found that very brave. However, I don't share their convictions.

 

They are a very effective social service agency and their brand is worth billions of dollars but be aware that their missionaries and Bishops have to pay their own way as the church doesn’t give them a penny. So I hope people are kind to them.

 

I suppose that most people must ignore them and see them as a kind of Jehovah witness. Everytime I met some, I tried to be nice to them, because if I don't appreciate their religion, I truly appreciated their efforts.

Considering christianity, I barely met some "gauls" (people who most ancestors are from mainland france) who were christian. From my point of view christianity seems more and more to be a distant folklore, something that concerned the generation of the grandparents, sometimes even the great grand parents. Atheism among young people, is by far the norm.
I wouldn't be surprized that soon, christianity would be more an african religion than a muslim one with the migration of people of christian africa (for instance Congo).

The decline of christianity, and the reasons that led to it, in France is an interesting matter.

I would see for reasons :
_ The state and technology became the new "gods".
A part of the reasons people turned to god was to find answers for their worries. Now, they turn toward technology and politicians.
_ Another reason is : before the catholic Church was an active member of the society, the church was dealing with hospitals, orphanage,schools; universities. Basically, the church was doing more than church thing, it was an active member of society. But then the state overtook that role. I suppose that decline of religion could be caused by the fact that religious institutions may enclose themselves in their religious roles.

 

all religious myths have some truth buried in them, we just have to remember they are just myths and not use them to harm others by things like thinking one has a God given right to enslave or harm others

 

Religion becomes suffocated in a world of plenty. Christianity inhabits such a world. As plenty becomes the norm in Muslim parts of the world the same will eventually happen.

 

Christian, but have not been a member of a denomination for 43 years. I have attended a few services over the years with friends or family.

The church is not a physical building with lovely stained glass windows. The church is the body of Christ, and the body of Christ is all those who believe in his teachings.

I have looked at various church doctrines (not all 200-300 of the denominations). Under a "What We Believe" section, there is almost always some section with which I disagree. That does not make most churches bad, but prevents me from being a "joiner".

The Bible's prophetic warnings include not only a falling away of people from faith, but also of the apostasy of churches leading large numbers of people astray.

I believe much of organized religion has arrived here:

2 Timothy 4:


...and I believe many ministers are here....

2 Corinthians 11:



A few paragraphs earlier in 2 Corithians 11, Paul writes this:



"My religion" focuses mostly on the "simplicity that is in Christ", which can largely be summed up as the set of 10 Laws provided as the Ten Commandments and this scripture from the book of Matthew, Chapter 22:



My distillation of The Bible to the basics of "simplicity", is not to diminish the rest of The Book. The Bible offers example after example of making distinctions between what is "good" and what is "evil". It also establishes the value, power, and certitude of individual free will, as well as indicating that injudicious exercise of that free will can have dire consequences.

As a footnote, I do not believe that people necessarily need to identify as "Christian" to follow what I see as "simple truths" written in The Bible. I believe other peace-loving religions exist; I simply have not studied others.

 

Church of Christ. Attend my church regularly. If not there then with my wife at a Baptist church

 

I was born in the Orthodox Church, went to Catholic catechism classes with my high school friends, and then went to a Baptist college. It didn't matter, I was an atheist. Soon though I had a change of heart, and began to think in a less negative and more positive way.

My spiritual journey started with Evangelical books, and I thank them for it. I then went to books on the lives of Catholic Saints, and when the USSR fell, books began to appear on the martyrs and saints in Russia. From there I went on to contemporary Greek Saints - and there have been many of them in the past 50 yeas.

Today the monasteries in Greece that were empty and in disrepair a few decades ago, are thriving. In Russia, an average of 3 new churches have been built from the time the Soviet Union had collapsed 30 years ago.. In this country, one penny less Elder was able to establish 16 monasteries in 2 decades.

He also made the desert bloom: