Prayse tha Lawd!

[fuddam]

Falling church attendance is a fact.

Of course, it depends on how you look at it. Even 'Fuddam the Zealot' would admit that church attendance has fallen since, for example, the 1860's.

as I said, traditional church attendance.

tell me, does the good book go into any detail on the growth of house churches? Of the number of people meeting in each other's homes? Hmmm. Thought not. Was the style of the early Christian church, and is returning to same.

ITS hypothesis is that while church attendance has been falling for more than a hundred years, people have only really been turning away from religion in the last 40 years.

actually, there has been NO decline in religion, it's just that the direction has changed. The number of new age-y spiritual beliefs that have mushroomed in the same 40 years is astronomical. More than ever, people are searching for meaning, in a life that seems dominated by empty consumerism & hedonism. Just because of someone's assertions that less people are attending buildings of a particular type is no statement on the spiritual life of that nation. Equally, to claim a non-belief in Christianity does not mean a move to atheism.

horoscopes, mediums, feng shui, eckankar, witchcraft, etc etc etc.

fascinating story I came across last week: an RE teacher was discussing the existence of God. Most of the pupils jeered at the notion - there is no God etc. So she took out 50 quid, put it on the desk, and said it was free to the first pupil who was prepared to sell her their soul. After all, there isn't any such thing, right?
There were no takers.
Funny, that.

[MadduckUK]

There were no takers.
Funny, that.

id have had it. and i dont beleive theres wasnt a fight over it.

the best our RE teacher could come up with was that its "better to believe on the off chance that there is". which is a pathetic argument

[311]

I can't wait till we've finally gotten rid of all those orrible little Christians!

I'm just thinking of what we can use our local churches for once we’ve kicked em all out, the great acoustics are a plus for defo

Ohh the possibilities, skate park, mayhap the odd sacrifice or fortnightly orgies. Maybe a new lick of paint, ox-blood red, who knows?

Give me a few weeks and I'll pack the place out for sure!

[MadduckUK]

yes... "ox blood red"

keep a few of them as musiums, a country needs its history. the rest can become somethig more constructive

[Rave]

fascinating story I came across last week: an RE teacher was discussing the existence of God. Most of the pupils jeered at the notion - there is no God etc. So she took out 50 quid, put it on the desk, and said it was free to the first pupil who was prepared to sell her their soul. After all, there isn't any such thing, right?
There were no takers.
Funny, that.

So what? That merely proves that it is impossible to be 100% sure whether there is or is not a god. I don't believe that there is a higher power, but I can't completely disprove it. I consider myself an atheist, but in truth that .01% uncertainty makes me agnostic.

In any case, I probably would have taken the £50. I wouldn't risk selling my soul for a Mars bar, but £50 is a different matter.....

[MadduckUK]

how about a king size one?

infact id ebay my soul for £50 if i thaught it would sell. obviously i would have like 100 of them for sale too.

[TeePee]

There is no set of statistics for house churches fuddam, which is why christians like to make that claim. That's the point of the book. It doesn't measure the religiousity of the nation by statistics, but by the christian influence on our culture. Hence why it's called, 'The death of Christian Britian'.

[Kezzer]

There's a theory for this kind of stuff. People don't believe in any kind of higher power mainly because of scientific influences within society nowadays - that was a big reason for the shift towards atheism/agnosticism in more recent years. There's more people trying to disprove religion than there are trying to prove it, yet people seem to think this is because religious cultures don't have a concrete ground to stand on when it comes to their faith. The actual reason is mainly because of religious literature teaching the followers that they don't have to prove themselves in many ways.

I think a lot of non-religious people are just plain rude. The majority of religious people I know nowadays are living happy lives and generally being contented with what they do, not poking their nose in anyone else's business. However, the non-religious type constantly put themselves out of their way to try and prove the non-existence of a higher power. It makes me wonder who they're trying to convince. And everytime I make a comment like this the typical response is usually "no, we're just trying to make them understand". Understand what? That you don't have a clue about the majority of religions yet you're basing your facts on opinions of illiterate individuals?

</rant>



I can't actually remember the name of the theory explaining existence itself, i.e. if you don't believe in a higher power then how did everything come into existence in the first place? Then it follows up by "then if you do believe in a higher power, who created that?". It's infinitely recursive, and I can't remember the name of it! >_< Ah well, back to work

[snedger]

On one hand they're saying that he's not a practicing homosexual and then they say that "He needs to get somewhere he can get the wound healed".
They should make up their minds - however, I was never confused

[Kezzer]

Yes, it's a sin to practice homosexuality as opposed to consider it, in Christianity anyway.

EDIT: It's actually a sin to consider it in fact. Thoughts are a cause for sin as well. Recently the law was changed to allow practicing homosexuals inside churches which obviously has stirred the hive.

[MadduckUK]

dont worry people. if you BELIEVE you will be OK!

[Kezzer]

dont worry people. if you BELIEVE you will be OK!

Again, a stereotypical response. I wonder how much clue you have about religion?

I'm a kidder really, don't take it harshly. Plus, forums seem to always portray some kind of evil scheme in peoples posts.

[MadduckUK]

so that isnt one of the cornerstones of the religion? one of the main attractions for so many of the weak minded?

i mean, who would bother if your going to burn anyway?

[Nick]

Woah!

Just because someone has faith doesn't make them weak minded.

[Kezzer]

Woah!

Just because someone has faith doesn't make them weak minded.

Amen brother

[MadduckUK]

its will be mostly subconscious. so i wouldnt blame you for it anyway