Go To Church To Hear About Jesus? No Way!

[Skwim]

I came across the following stats and found some of them kind of interesting.

1) 3% of atheists believe in Hell and 5% believe in Heaven. WHAT THE HELL'S WITH THAT???

2) More agnostics (9%) believe in Hell than do JWs (7%).

3) Fewer JWs (50%) believe in Heaven than any other Christian denomination believes in Heaven or Hell.

4) Only 40% of Jews believe in Heaven,

6) But most surprising of all, to me anyway, was that 15% of Christians don't believe in Heaven. And 30% don't believe in Hell.

​

The JWs aside because they only make up a small fraction of Christians, what's going on with the other denominations in that they can't do any better than convincing 85% of their congregants to believe in Heaven? And even Hell isn't scaring them that much; only 70% are buying it. Could it be, as has been sometimes asserted, that for many people church is more for socializing than getting right with god? Fifteen percent go to church not to hear about Jesus and such, but to hear about their neighbors.

Could this be why church attendance is plummeting, people are finding the religion irrelevant?

.

 

[lostwanderingsoul]

Satan is hard at work. Most of what Christians believe is closer to pagan beliefs than to what Jesus taught.

 

[Jollybear]

I came across the following stats and found some of them interesting.

1) 3% of atheists believe in Hell and 5% believe in Heaven. WHAT THE HELL'S WITH THAT???

2) More agnostics (9%) believe in Hell than do JWs (7%).

3) Fewer JWs (50%) believe in Heaven than any other Christian denomination believes in Heaven or Hell.

4) Only 40% of Jews believe in Heaven,

6) But most surprising of all, to me anyway, was that 15% of Christians don't believe in Heaven. And 30% don't believe in Hell.

​

The JWs aside because they only make up a small fraction of Christians, what's going on with the other denominations in that they can't do any better than convincing 85% of their congregants to believe in Heaven? And even Hell isn't scaring them that much; only 70% are buying it. Could it be, as has been sometimes asserted, that for many people church is more for socializing than getting right with god? Fifteen percent go to church not to hear about Jesus and such, but to hear their about neighbors.

Could this be why church attendance is plummeting, people are finding the religion irrelevant?

.

I believe in heaven and hell!

 

[Hockeycowboy]

I came across the following stats and found some of them interesting.

1) 3% of atheists believe in Hell and 5% believe in Heaven. WHAT THE HELL'S WITH THAT???

2) More agnostics (9%) believe in Hell than do JWs (7%).

3) Fewer JWs (50%) believe in Heaven than any other Christian denomination believes in Heaven or Hell.

4) Only 40% of Jews believe in Heaven,

6) But most surprising of all, to me anyway, was that 15% of Christians don't believe in Heaven. And 30% don't believe in Hell.

​

• The JWs aside because they only make up a small fraction of Christians, what's going on with the other denominations in that they can't do any better than convincing 85% of their congregants to believe in Heaven? And even Hell isn't scaring them that much; only 70% are buying it. Could it be, as has been sometimes asserted, that for many people church is more for socializing than getting right with god? Fifteen percent go to church not to hear about Jesus and such, but to hear their about neighbors.

Could this be why church attendance is plummeting, people are finding the religion irrelevant?

.

• Whoever is in charge of the poll, should've been more specific w/ the questions...as in belief of "burning" hell, or that "all good people" go to heaven.
• I assure you, JW's all agree . There'd be no 7% or 50% difference.

 

[dfnj]

Satan is hard at work. Most of what Christians believe is closer to pagan beliefs than to what Jesus taught.

How much different is having rituals featuring the drinking of blood and cannibalism. Regardless of the rituals, Satan has nothing on God. God is perfect. Satan is not.

I think the problem why Christianity is failing is because scientific materialism is pretending to be more than it actually is in reality. Materialism is a belief system based on assumptions that cannot be proven to be true. We do not live in a Matrix simulation clockwork Universe with hard determinism. Consciousness should not exist according to the religion of materialism. But it does exist. Scientific materialism is just another mother Earth cult. When you die you simple decompose and return back to the Earth.

 

[dfnj]

I believe in heaven and hell!

I live in New Jersey. There is only heaven.

 

[Father Heathen]

Satan is hard at work. Most of what Christians believe is closer to pagan beliefs than to what Jesus taught.

If being rational is the work of Satan, then why not opt for a lobotomy as per Matthew 5:30?

 

[sun rise]

The problem with such questions is how vague they are. In this case, there are many differences in what people consider "hell" to be even for Christians Christian views on Hell - Wikipedia

As far as Jewish theology goes it's easy to see how someone might answer based on what they thought the word "heaven" really means.
As is clear from this brief discussion, the Jewish tradition contains a variety of opinions on the subjects of heaven and hell. Heaven and Hell in Jewish Tradition | My Jewish Learning

 

[lewisnotmiller]

The problem with such questions is how vague they are. In this case, there are many differences in what people consider "hell" to be even for Christians Christian views on Hell - Wikipedia

As far as Jewish theology goes it's easy to see how someone might answer based on what they thought the word "heaven" really means.
As is clear from this brief discussion, the Jewish tradition contains a variety of opinions on the subjects of heaven and hell. Heaven and Hell in Jewish Tradition | My Jewish Learning

I think you're suggesting these polls lack nuance.
If so, I agree.

 

[Jollybear]

I live in New Jersey. There is only heaven.

Gotta love all those ramps, one for trucks and seperate one for cars.

I was there a few times in the semi and i was on a exit ramp and someone passed me, on the ramp, and it was not a passing ramp.

 

[Jumi]

I came across the following stats and found some of them interesting.

Cool, I would like to see a 2019 one, I can tell that the numbers would be different.

1) 3% of atheists believe in Hell and 5% believe in Heaven. WHAT THE HELL'S WITH THAT???

Perhaps theres more who believe in afterlife on more neutral terms than heaven and hell.

2) More agnostics (9%) believe in Hell than do JWs (7%).

JWs aren't supposed to believe in Hell at all, it's opposite to their beliefs so the 7% are confused.

4) Only 40% of Jews believe in Heaven,

That isn't surprsising to me, it's the 22% who believe in hell.

6) But most surprising of all, to me anyway, was that 15% of Christians don't believe in Heaven. And 30% don't believe in Hell.

I think the numbers would be quite low for hell if asked in Europe from mainline protestants. Much lower than the US.

​

The JWs aside because they only make up a small fraction of Christians, what's going on with the other denominations in that they can't do any better than convincing 85% of their congregants to believe in Heaven? And even Hell isn't scaring them that much; only 70% are buying it. Could it be, as has been sometimes asserted, that for many people church is more for socializing than getting right with god? Fifteen percent go to church not to hear about Jesus and such, but to hear their about neighbors.

Lots of priests don't believe in hell and some denominations don't even teach it. Their teachings are more about Jesus in my opinion, whereas the ones preaching hellfire are teaching about fear.

Could this be why church attendance is plummeting, people are finding the religion irrelevant?.

I think it's the loud small groups that are out of touch with reality and that attack scientific ideas that are dropping the number everywhere. The state churches in scandinavia woke up a bit late to smell the zeitgeist, but when they did the numbers stopped dropping. In my country there was a "gay night" discussion on national TV that was highly watched and one Christian Democrat (a party with Christian values in my country), Paivi Rasanen, made comments about gays that led to an exodus from the church, the biggest dip membership has seen. She wasn't even a spokesman of the church, but a political party...

People here don't associate Christianity with views like this as they do in the US:

So every time these views are voiced, some people disassociate themselves from religion. Same with the creationists, conspiracy theorists etc...

 

[sooda]

How much different is having rituals featuring the drinking of blood and cannibalism. Regardless of the rituals, Satan has nothing on God. God is perfect. Satan is not.

I think the problem why Christianity is failing is because scientific materialism is pretending to be more than it actually is in reality. Materialism is a belief system based on assumptions that cannot be proven to be true. We do not live in a Matrix simulation clockwork Universe with hard determinism. Consciousness should not exist according to the religion of materialism. But it does exist. Scientific materialism is just another mother Earth cult. When you die you simple decompose and return back to the Earth.

Do you think one can't be a Christian unless they believe in all the narrative myths borrowed from Sumer, Egypt and Ugarit?

 

[dfnj]

Do you think one can't be a Christian unless they believe in all the narrative myths borrowed from Sumer, Egypt and Ugarit?

I think the purpose of religion is to answer the following questions:

1. Who am I?
2. Why am I here?
3. What does it all mean?
4. What is going to happen to me when I die?

The problem with all the great religions is they become stale with regards to present day mindsets. At some point people are probably better served reading the great bibles as metaphor not to be taken out of the historical context in which they were written.

You might find this video interesting. Even though the author of the video has a negative view of Christianity I don't see the content of what he is talking about as negative. I think it adds more interesting flavor to Christianity:

I don't think there is any questions that many aspects of the Jewish religious mythologies that were recycled from other religions in the area. But it really doesn't matter the origin. People who hold the Bible as the divine word of God will not change their level of respect based on previously existing religions.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Scientific materialism is just another mother Earth cult

Excuse me, but what? They wouldn't view the Earth as a deity so how does that square? And what's wrong with worshipping the Earth?

 

[dfnj]

Excuse me, but what? They wouldn't view the Earth as a deity so how does that square? And what's wrong with worshipping the Earth?

It's a quote from this video. I just thought it was funny to make the comparison:

I'm not saying it as well as it was said in the video. As I said, I thought the idea was funny.

 

[Windwalker]

I came across the following stats and found some of them interesting.

1) 3% of atheists believe in Hell and 5% believe in Heaven. WHAT THE HELL'S WITH THAT???​

Interesting. Maybe they are not True Atheists (tm)? Closeted Christians? Or, perhaps it's those who don't recognize a deity form such as Jehovah, but see life is Eternal in some fashion, without claims to anthropomorphic deities. Probably folks like me, except not comfortable using God concepts as a metaphor to speak of the Absolute? I could names some.

6) But most surprising of all, to me anyway, was that 15% of Christians don't believe in Heaven. And 30% don't believe in Hell.​

I don't know why that is surprising. There's a wide range of how people believe about these things. Not all churches are full of programmed robots who all believe 100% the same things, like you may find in certain groups that are big on indoctrination over faith.

 

[dfnj]

If being rational is the work of Satan, then why not opt for a lobotomy as per Matthew 5:30?

Or self-castration considering the stakes. I once had a big argument with a born-again on the nature of God. I got the guy really mad at me and he started talking about eternal damnation and where my soul was going to go when I died. I said, "how bad can it be, it can't be worse than living in New Jersey." The guy did not crack a smile. I was shaking his apple cart and he was not happy about it!!!

 

[Kenny]

I came across the following stats and found some of them interesting.

1) 3% of atheists believe in Hell and 5% believe in Heaven. WHAT THE HELL'S WITH THAT???

2) More agnostics (9%) believe in Hell than do JWs (7%).

3) Fewer JWs (50%) believe in Heaven than any other Christian denomination believes in Heaven or Hell.

4) Only 40% of Jews believe in Heaven,

6) But most surprising of all, to me anyway, was that 15% of Christians don't believe in Heaven. And 30% don't believe in Hell.

​

The JWs aside because they only make up a small fraction of Christians, what's going on with the other denominations in that they can't do any better than convincing 85% of their congregants to believe in Heaven? And even Hell isn't scaring them that much; only 70% are buying it. Could it be, as has been sometimes asserted, that for many people church is more for socializing than getting right with god? Fifteen percent go to church not to hear about Jesus and such, but to hear their about neighbors.

Could this be why church attendance is plummeting, people are finding the religion irrelevant?

.

Actually, what surprises me the MOST is that 5% of ATHEISTS believe in Heaven and 3% belief in Hell. Agnostics have a great percent and of 14%/9%

That's amazing.

 

[bobhikes]

I came across the following stats and found some of them interesting.

.​

What I find most interesting is across all of them people believe less in eternal punishment.

The other thing I would bet is heaven is loosely defined as afterlife or afterlife with God and not just eternal bliss.​

 

[Skwim]

Cool, I would like to see a 2019 one, I can tell that the numbers would be different.

I highly doubt any difference would be significant.

JWs aren't supposed to believe in Hell at all, it's opposite to their beliefs so the 7% are confused.

Didn't know that.

I think the numbers would be quite low for hell if asked in Europe from mainline protestants. Much lower than the US.

Wouldn't doubt it. To me European Protestants do seem to be more rational.

​

Lots of priests don't believe in hell and some denominations don't even teach it. Their teachings are more about Jesus in my opinion, whereas the ones preaching hellfire are teaching about fear.

In light of the following this is very strange.

The Catholic Teaching on Hell
by Fr. John Trigilio, PhD, ThD.

Q. Can people really go to Hell?

A. The existence of Heaven and Hell are formal doctrines of Christianity. Hell exists as does Heaven. Hell was created primarily for the fallen angels who rebelled against God and fought the Archangel Michael. Human beings have the potential or possibility of going to Hell because we also have the possibility and potential to go to Heaven (by God’s grace). (CCC #1035)
source​

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