Unchurched Americans Turned Off by Church, Open to Christians, Lifeway Study Says
While 64 percent of the respondents think “the Christian religion is a relevant and viable religion for today,” 79 percent think Christianity “is more about organized religion than about loving God and loving people.” Seventy-two percent said they think the church ‘is full of hypocrites, people who criticize others for doing the same things they do themselves,” and 86 percent believe they “can have a good relationship with God without being involved in church.”...
Joined: Sep 06, 2004
Posts: 2020
Location: Southern California
Posted:
Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:54 pm
thearticle wrote:
-Lack of Understanding
Many unchurched people don’t have a biblical understanding about God and Jesus, the survey found.
yeah right. Don't have a "biblical understanding" as you ppl doing the survey define it. Fucking fundies always assume THEIR understanding of the bible is THE correct one.
Quote:
“While 72 percent of those surveyed said they believe God – a higher or supreme being – actually exists, only 48 percent agree there is only one God as described in the Bible, and 61 percent believe ‘the God of the Bible is no different from the gods or spiritual beings depicted by world religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.,’” said Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research.
“At the same time, 66 percent of adults ages 18-29 agree that Jesus died and came back to life
, compared to 54 percent of adults 30 years and older.”
It’s not surprising that people who don’t attend church don’t understand what the Bible teaches
, McConnell added.
right after you say 66 percent believe Jesus came back to life you tell me they don't understand what the bible teaches....
Quote:
“If you aren’t going to church, you don’t have an opportunity to be informed about what the Bible teaches or what other faiths teach,” he said. “It’s not surprising then that unchurched people lump world religions all together and consider the gods described in them as being the same.”
to paraphrase, unless you have some jackass half-educated denominational-bible-college-graduate pastor spoon feeding you his interpretations of the bible you must be completely misinformed.
Maybe they've actually read the book. That would explain why they "lump" Jesus and Jehovah in with the rest of the gobshite deities of yore.
Quote:
The problem is compounded by a widespread notion of religious tolerance that says religious and spiritual truth is a matter of personal opinion, Stetzer said.
Thats an opinion lots of people hold because they get tired of fundy fuckwits who constantly try pushing their "personal opinions" on everyone else. Religious and spiritual TRUTH? Give me a break!
Quote:
“Unchurched people do not understand the connection between having a relationship with God and being with other believers in church,” he said. “In the Christian faith, these are inseparable. Jesus’ last prayer before being arrested, as recorded in John 17, was that everyone who believes in Him would be unified and work together to let the world know that God loves them and sent Jesus.
Uh yeah... because telling people they should be unified and work together means they need to go to a religious club meeting once a week where there's a handful of guys who do the thinking for everyone else, enforce a narrow theology, and expect everyone to follow in lock-step
Quote:
What is it about the faith we live that causes our culture to like Jesus but reject the church?”
Because organized religion wants to control the way individual theists interpret religious texts and it pisses some of them off.
ApostateLois Grand Poster
Joined: Feb 02, 2006
Posts: 1237
Location: Prescott, Arizona, USA
Posted:
Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:26 am
Quote:
What is it about the faith we live that causes our culture to like Jesus but reject the church?”
Ghandi was reported to have said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ," or something like that. Maybe Christians ought to consider that, if they aren't taking this "love thy neighbor" shit seriously, then nobody will take
them
seriously.
_________________ “When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat.” ~ George Carlin
Cygnus Graduate Thinker
Joined: Mar 26, 2008
Posts: 515
Posted:
Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:57 am
Assuming that there is a problem because Americans who accept Jesus aren't going to church is a clear sign that this guy is a fundy. Also, that survey looks way off in it's numbers. Take the percentage of respondents who said one can have a good relationship with god and not go to church, 86%. 5 to 7% should be atheists. This leaves the fundy factor at 7%, which should be higher. I really thought that there were many more Americans who supported the church. That isn't to say that if these numbers turned out to be true I wouldn't be happy, of course!
_________________ К чёрту вечность, какой в ней прок?
JOBAfunky Thinker
Joined: Nov 09, 2005
Posts: 409
Location: Olathe, KS
Posted:
Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:06 am
ApostateLois wrote:
Quote:
What is it about the faith we live that causes our culture to like Jesus but reject the church?”
Ghandi was reported to have said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ," or something like that. Maybe Christians ought to consider that, if they aren't taking this "love thy neighbor" shit seriously, then nobody will take
them
seriously.
We love bombing our neighbors, does that count?
ApostateLois Grand Poster
Joined: Feb 02, 2006
Posts: 1237
Location: Prescott, Arizona, USA
Posted:
Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:40 am
If bombs = love, then sure!
_________________ “When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat.” ~ George Carlin
JOBAfunky Thinker
Joined: Nov 09, 2005
Posts: 409
Location: Olathe, KS
Posted:
Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:05 am
I mean we love to bomb our neighbors.
Cygnus Graduate Thinker
Joined: Mar 26, 2008
Posts: 515
Posted:
Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:11 am
JOBAfunky wrote:
I mean we love to bomb our neighbors.
Like Canada?
JOBAfunky Thinker
Joined: Nov 09, 2005
Posts: 409
Location: Olathe, KS
Posted:
Fri Jul 18, 2008 4:23 am
We have to do something about the cussing floppy headed menace.
Robocoastie The Learned
Joined: Nov 30, 2004
Posts: 122
Posted:
Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:32 am
Quote:
yeah right. Don't have a "biblical understanding" as you ppl doing the survey define it. Fucking fundies always assume THEIR understanding of the bible is THE correct one.
BINGO! Nevertheless, some of the stats they cite are probably correct because a recent Pew survey had similar results. And it's a no brainer that the results would come up that way anyway. I mean look at the divorce rate in America alone - it's "christians" divorcing each other! That's why I can't help but laugh out loud whenever I hear about a church sponsoring a "relationship" series about how to have a "godly marriage." Their having any formula that works is about as likely as the catholic priesthood being a great way to try to control ones pedophilia tendencies.
Robocoastie The Learned
Joined: Nov 30, 2004
Posts: 122
Posted:
Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:34 am
Quote:
if they aren't taking this "love thy neighbor" shit seriously, then nobody will take them seriously.
all to often they are like the cocky samaritan woman: "but who is my neighbor?"
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right after you say 66 percent believe Jesus came back to life you tell me they don't understand what the bible teaches.... 
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