The Slow Death Of Christianity In The United States

sealchan · Aug 10, 2019

Skwim said:
.

And why might it be happening ?

THE EVIDENCE.

So, what's going on here?

Why is the Christian religion, especially the Protestants, tanking so badly, and its members not fleeing to other religions, but to "nones" and "no religion," no less? And the Catholic religion really isn't doing much better; hanging on by its fingernails while its clergy takes a nose dive. .

In all, a pretty dire picture of Christianity in the USA.

The poor imagination of the religious teachers coupled with the increased sense of safety that people have lead them away from childish and irrelevant things. Christianity could be so much more if it would break away from its self-defeating dance with literalism.

sooda · Aug 10, 2019

sealchan said:
The poor imagination of the religious teachers coupled with the increased sense of safety that people have lead them away from childish and irrelevant things. Christianity could be so much more if it would break away from its self-defeating dance with literalism.

Exactly………….

Dan From Smithville · Aug 10, 2019

Brickjectivity said:
Not many decades ago they were proclaiming the death of religion. Guess which demographics have the most babies? Yes. It is the religious demographics that have lots more babies. By the way the picture in the OP is of pews that are open all week long, and so very often there are a few people in them on and off all week.

Now lets see...immigration from Mexico, Donald Trump is the president, and John Oliver's name is quite forgettable... yep religion is not going away in the USA.

I saw Idiocracy. The smart people just wait too long to have a baby and Yuppie husband up and dies.

Things change. Some new event could drive people right back to churches and cause these numbers to go back up

Faithofchristian · Aug 10, 2019

Skwim said:
.

And why might it be happening ?

THE EVIDENCE.

So, what's going on here?

Why is the Christian religion, especially the Protestants, tanking so badly, and its members not fleeing to other religions, but to "nones" and "no religion," no less? And the Catholic religion really isn't doing much better; hanging on by its fingernails while its clergy takes a nose dive. .

In all, a pretty dire picture of Christianity in the USA.

The only reason most Christians are leaving the churches,
Because for those Christians, like myself, that does not belong to any church.
Because in those churches people are being taught by man's teachings and not the teachings of Christ Jesus.

Jesus Christ condemned the teachings of man's in Matthew 15:7-9.
7 You hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men"

So why would I want to belong to a church knowing that Jesus Christ condemned man's teachings.
And that Pastor,Preacher, if I'm not wrong is a man.
Therefore man's teachings.

9--"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men"

sooda · Aug 10, 2019

Faithofchristian said:
The only reason most Christians are leaving the churches,
Because for those Christians, like myself, that does not belong to any church.
Because in those churches people are being taught by man's teachings and not the teachings of Christ Jesus.

Jesus Christ condemned the teachings of man's in Matthew 15:7-9.
7 You hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men"

So why would I want to belong to a church knowing that Jesus Christ condemned man's teachings.
And that Pastor,Preacher, if I'm not wrong is a man.
Therefore man's teachings.

9--"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men"

Nope. They are leaving the church because fundamentalists and evangelicals require ignorance.

Faithofchristian · Aug 10, 2019

sooda said:
Nope. They are leaving the church because fundamentalists and evangelicals require ignorance.

And that ignorance comes by listing to man's teachings and not the teachings of Jesus Christ.

sooda · Aug 10, 2019

Faithofchristian said:
And that ignorance comes by listing to man's teachings and not the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Jesus didn't teach any science or history.

Faithofchristian · Aug 10, 2019

sooda said:
Jesus didn't teach any science or history.

You can't be serious, throughout the whole bible is all about history and science.

Well it's evidence that your one of those that follows man's teachings.

PruePhillip · Aug 10, 2019

Faithofchristian said:
The only reason most Christians are leaving the churches,
Because for those Christians, like myself, that does not belong to any church.
Because in those churches people are being taught by man's teachings and not the teachings of Christ Jesus.

Jesus Christ condemned the teachings of man's in Matthew 15:7-9.
7 You hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men"

So why would I want to belong to a church knowing that Jesus Christ condemned man's teachings.
And that Pastor,Preacher, if I'm not wrong is a man.
Therefore man's teachings.

9--"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men"

No. I don't believe it. If people were leaving the churches because they were not teaching the word
of God in truth then you would expect for these people to be searching for the Truth. They are not.
We live in an increasingly self-obsessed and God hating world (see my profile below.)
People in traditional churches for millennia lived in wholesale opposition to many of the tenants and
standards of the Gospels - they didn't turn away - they thought it was just right.

sooda · Aug 10, 2019

Faithofchristian said:
You can't be serious, throughout the whole bible is all about history and science.

Well it's evidence that your one of those that follows man's teachings.

The Bible is based on myths borrowed from Egypt, Sumer and the Canaanites. The message is more important than the children's stories. Even the ancient Jews knew the stories were teaching narratives and morality tales NOT science or history.

PruePhillip · Aug 10, 2019

sooda said:
The Bible is based on myths borrowed from Egypt, Sumer and the Canaanites. The message is more important than the children's stories. Even the ancient Jews knew the stories were teaching narratives and morality tales NOT science or history.

"They" said there were no Jews, just a religion. There was no central administration in Jerusalem.
There was no Jewish writing. There was no House of David. The bible knew nothing of the late
Bronze Age. Cities, villages, monarchs mentioned didn't exist. Camels were not domesticated in the
Bronze Age. There was no Isaiah or Jeremiah.

And so on, for forth.

But, bit by bit, the amazing story of the Jews and Israel is slowly emerging from the mists of time.
Sure, the Jews didn't create monuments to themselves. And they were a tiny nation - like the bible
says. But the bible isn't a myth like the Greeks and Roman made myths.

sooda · Aug 10, 2019

PruePhillip said:
"They" said there were no Jews, just a religion. There was no central administration in Jerusalem.
There was no Jewish writing. There was no House of David. The bible knew nothing of the late
Bronze Age. Cities, villages, monarchs mentioned didn't exist. Camels were not domesticated in the
Bronze Age. There was no Isaiah or Jeremiah.

And so on, for forth.

But, bit by bit, the amazing story of the Jews and Israel is slowly emerging from the mists of time.
Sure, the Jews didn't create monuments to themselves. And they were a tiny nation - like the bible
says. But it isn't a myth like the Greeks and Roman made myths.

The Jews were just Canaanites. They were a tribe.

blü 2 · Aug 10, 2019

Skwim said:
And why might it be happening ?

In all, a pretty dire picture of Christianity in the USA.

I wonder if the Catholic decline would be closer to the Protestant decline but for Hispanic immigrant support.

But one way or the other, the declining churches aren't selling what the people want, whether they don't want it very much (can no longer be bothered, not value for money) or they don't want it at all (unbelief).

I look to the usual suspects: the decades-long decline in the numbers joining community groups, the number of distractions like TV, the net, puter games, even forums like RF; the rise of instant communications which replace gatherings, starting with the cell phone, and continuing onto the smarter and smarter net on the same phone; the fragmentation of society into subgroups of people who through the net need only talk to people who agree with them; the accompanying decline in respect for the old authorities, whether political, the press, the church ...

And it may be that better education has something to do with it. I think the humanists would argue that.

Jose Fly · Aug 10, 2019

PruePhillip said:
And the rule is "When people stop believing in something, they will believe in anything."

That's more of a saying than an actual rule.

And that includes disregard for country, children, science, civilization etc.. Church people
tend to be more patriotic, have larger families, engage in more civic activities etc..
Read my profile.

Probably depends on how one defines "patriotic", and I certainly wouldn't hold up "church people" as being more supportive of science than non-church folks. And having larger families isn't exactly a good thing IMO.

Sand Dancer · Aug 10, 2019

Skwim said:
.

And why might it be happening ?

THE EVIDENCE.

So, what's going on here?

Why is the Christian religion, especially the Protestants, tanking so badly, and its members not fleeing to other religions, but to "nones" and "no religion," no less? And the Catholic religion really isn't doing much better; hanging on by its fingernails while its clergy takes a nose dive. .

In all, a pretty dire picture of Christianity in the USA.

Good. Maybe we can finally catch up to our European friends.

Faithofchristian · Aug 10, 2019

PruePhillip said:
No. I don't believe it. If people were leaving the churches because they were not teaching the word
of God in truth then you would expect for these people to be searching for the Truth. They are not.
We live in an increasingly self-obsessed and God hating world (see my profile below.)
People in traditional churches for millennia lived in wholesale opposition to many of the tenants and
standards of the Gospels - they didn't turn away - they thought it was just right.

Your right about one thing, if those people were searching for truth, They were not.

Because those people would rather set back and let their pastor,preacher, tell them.
Rather than searching it out for themselves.
Those people would rather listen to man's teachings , than listen to the teachings of Christ Jesus.

URAVIP2ME · Aug 10, 2019

Riders said:
I don't believe Christianity in itself is dying. Possibly church membership maybe slowing down. However Christians are staying Christian and many just deciding not to go to church.
My nephew was raised up very religious, Kathy my sister and her 4 kids, 3 of them go to church like her, but Jose dropped out. i asked why. He saus hes still Christian but tired of the big Baptist and other churches having a Pastor who makes 350 thousand dollars a year,and even the small churches he says makes too much money.He doesn't understand why Pastor need to make the money they do.
So hes Christian just not in church.

There is absolutely No scriptural reason why a pastor needs to make the money - period -.
This is because I find in Scripture the spiritually older men are voluntary and un-paid.
Jesus instructed to teach for free ( No salary ) - Matthew 10:8 B.
Thus, a paid clergy is Not a Bible teaching but a tradition of men - Matthew 15:9
So, we need to go the the 'church' of God's choice where there are No paid pastors.

URAVIP2ME · Aug 10, 2019

Skwim said:
But not everywhere. In some places it's actually flourishing........................

Sure, some parts of 'Christendom' is flourishing, but Not flourishing as 1st-century Christianity was.
People can think of themselves as religious but still be spiritually dried up.
I see a political connection in some religions which is the dried-up opposite of Jesus as role model.
Jesus and his followers were only politically neutral and Not part of world affairs.
They did Not even get involved in the issues of the day between the Jews and Romans.
They were No part of world affairs, but many in ' Christendom' are Not neutral as Jesus was.

URAVIP2ME · Aug 10, 2019

PruePhillip said:
And the rule is "When people stop believing in something, they will believe in anything."
Church people tend to be more patriotic, have larger families, engage in more civic activities etc...........

Bingo! ' more patriotic / civic activities ' or in other words, Not following Jesus words found at John 17:14
Sinner Satan is the ' god ' of this world of badness - 2nd Cor. 4:4, so it is No wonder at 1st John 5:19 we read the whole world lies in Satan's power.
Friendship with the corrupt world makes one an enemy of God - James 4:4.
Not saying Christians should Not obey the law of the land in which they are living ( as long as the law does Not conflict with God's Law ) but Jesus instructed first 'spiritual' activities for his followers such as found at Matthew 24:14; Acts1:8 to proclaim the good news of God's kingdom of Daniel 2:44 to everyone.

sooda · Aug 10, 2019

URAVIP2ME said:
Sure, some parts of 'Christendom' is flourishing, but Not flourishing as 1st-century Christianity was.
People can think of themselves as religious but still be spiritually dried up.
I see a political connection in some religions which is the dried-up opposite of Jesus as role model.
Jesus and his followers were only politically neutral and Not part of world affairs.
They did Not even get involved in the issues of the day between the Jews and Romans.
They were No part of world affairs, but many in ' Christendom' are Not neutral as Jesus was.

I don't think they were politically neutral at all. Look at the Sermon on the Mount. The Roman occupation was the burning question of the day.

The Slow Death Of Christianity In The United States

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