We see a decline in the numbers of those who identify themselves as belonging to a religion. There is also a switching pattern that is strongly tilted toward switching away from America's most populace religion - Christianity. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-ta...l-help-determine-christianitys-course-in-u-s/ I'm just wondering if there are those who have thought about how that trend could possibly be reversed, or even slowed. I watched a recent TedTalk on this, which included one point that I thought was interesting. The idea of switching TOO a religion isn't nearly so attractive as switching away. As an exercise, one might consider how it would feel to try to switch from ones own religion to some other religion. For example, if you are Christian, consider what it would feel like to switch to Hinduism or Islam, or some other choice. Clearly, ones own reaction to that is negative - but that is the kind of reaction others feel when considering switching to Christianity, isn't it? One might ask whether this slide away from Christianity, or religion in general, is permanent or whether there are possibilities for slowing or reversing that tend. Have Christians thought about this?
I think it inevitable that modern religions will die out and be replaced by new ones. I don't think that can be reversed and I think it will accelerate at time goes on. But they may be named after the old ones. I wouldn't be surprised if 500 years from now "Christianity" is extremely popular. I would be surprised if it was the same as any current religion calling itself that name.
Interesting take. I do agree that Christianity is changing, though slowly. It's moving toward recognizing what humans have learned about our physical world, for example. So, that barrier is gradually reducing. We see Christian denominations accepting same sex marriage, not demanding literal interpretation of Genesis, reducing emphasis and softening the severity of penalties stated by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-end on how lives are to be lived (my own favorite passage of Christian philosophy), changing views on women, etc. However, today the average movement is away, and possibly increasingly so. I'd have to suggest that kind of change may be important, but it hasn't been enough.
This is a very easy question to answer. Provide some empirical evidence for your claims. Perhaps you can have your God perform a demonstration of supernatural power. Something like this perhaps. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and the stones and the dust; and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God!”
That's a dead end, as god's don't do what man commands. Plus, it wasn't an idea that Jesus supported.
I do think Christianity will continue to change and hopefully continue to change for the better as it has been recently. I think a major stumbling block to that will be vicarious redemption. It is core to close to all, if not all, current conceptions of Christianity that one can suffer order to make up for the wrongs of others. I find that very troubling and it holds down the entire religion in my view. It is hard to imagine any "Christianity" without Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. It's the main symbol of Christianity. I suppose somebody could make a religion out of Jesus' teachings and ignore his death story and call that "Christianity" but I don't think that will ever go big.
Really good points. Plus, Jesus seems to me to be the connection or root concerning how we are to live our our Earthly lives. As an atheist, I see that as important philosophy. If a "religion" were more focused simply on that philosophy, it would be more attractive to me. There may be an environmental issue, too. That is, one benefit of Christianity is that it can supply hope to the hopeless. But, as our standard of living and our support for those who are struggling increases, that form of hope may be more easily ignored, regardless of whether it is valid logic.
It's a good point that Jesus apparently said to give your worldly possessions to the poor and it is hard for a rich man to get into heaven. Maybe that part of Christianity, mostly ignored now in capitalist society, could blossom in the future. It always did strike me as difficult to reconcile those parts of the Bible with modern billionaires and corporations existing alongside people living in extreme poverty. There are even "prosperity Christian" preachers who preach the opposite of this bit from Jesus.
