Christianity is dying out in the West

So claims this article

Christianity Dying In The West?
Organiser
October 09, 2005
By M.S.N. Menon

Christianity is dying in the West. But it is springtime for Christianity in Asia and elsewhere. A Paradox? No. The Pope himself says so.
According to Pope Benedict, "there is no longer evidence in the western world for a need of God, even less of Christ."

Dear Hindu reader, are you listening? Do you know the implications of what he says? Perhaps not. But you should know-Christianity is in decline in the West because the West is ashamed of the Christian God Yahweh, who used to drink human blood, and it is flourishing in Asia because Asians are still under the spell of religion.

But how is one to account for the loss of faith in Jesus Christ? Because there is increasing evidence that he never existed, because it is now discovered that the life of Jesus was built on lies by St. Paul.

What is more, Yahweh has remained a jealous God, a God who rewarded and punished. And he was too closely associated with the Jewish race to become a God of mankind.

Today we have about 100,000 monographs on Jesus Christ. But we know almost nothing about the man! His life was deliberately kept a secret by the church. And St. Paul created a Jesus to suit his own objectives.

But are there other records to go by? Very few. Most were destroyed by the church. Pliny, the younger, mentions a sect called Christians, but never of Jesus Christ. Jesus does not even appear in the book of the Jewish historian Josephus, called Jewish Antiquities (published in 93 a.d.). The Jewish writer Justus lived in Tiberias, where Jesus was supposed to have lived often. But, he, too, never mentions the name of Jesus. Philo of Alexandria, another contemporary of Jesus, was a specialist on Jewish sects. But he too never mentions the name of Jesus. It is clear from all these that perhaps Jesus never lived, and if he lived at all, he was an insignificant person. It was St. Paul who built up the Christ figure. But today very few are willing to accept the Jesus Christ of St. Paul.

It is this lack of proper evidence of his life and work, which made Ian Wilson, author of Jesus: The Evidence conclude: "There is scarcely a crumb of information to compel a belief in Jesus' existence." Rudolf Bultmann, the greatest New Testament theologian of the 20th century, almost said the same thing. Ernest Kasemann, a specialist on the New Testament at the Tubingen University, says of the research on the life of Jesus: "One is overwhelmed by how little of the accounts about Jesus in the New Testament can be called authentic!

So, what passes for "Christianity "is the work of St. Paul. William Nestle, a Church historian, writes: " Christianity is the religion founded by St. Paul. It replaced Christ's gospel with a gospel about Christ."

Modern theologians and researchers in religious history believe that the Central tenet of salvation through the death and suffering of Jesus has been a deliberate misinterpretation by Paul. He is also the author of anti-feminism in Christianity. He says:" It is good for a man not to touch a woman." Which is why Mary Magdalene was made into a prostitute. Paul is also the author of the concepts of Original sin and Trinity. In short, Paul produced a totally distorted message of Jesus. The trouble with the Bible, says Professor, Whitehead, “has been its interpreters, who whittled down that sense of infinitude into finitude...and the first interpreter of the New Testament was the worst-Paul. True, Paul put Jesus on a pedestal and saved Christianity from being branded a minor Jewish sect.

If one is not sure about the existence of Jesus, what about the various claims made by the church on behalf of Christ? There is no evidence that Jesus died on the cross. A commission of Bishops (of York and Canterbury), after 16 years of research, declared that the Bible story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ was incorrect.

Similarly, a book based on a study by seven of Britain's foremost theologians said that Christ was neither divine nor an incarnate. Among the distinguished theologians, who authored the book was Prof. Canon Maurice Wiles, Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford. They said; "The historical Jesus never presented himself as incarnate."

Then, what is left of Christ and Christianity? Very little. Which is why the West is in no need of Christ. What is more, Darwin had already demolished the foundation of the Biblical story of Adam and Eve (Genesis).

The entire edifice of Christianity had thus fallen. But the empire of the church and its vested interests are so powerful they can withstand any adversity. "Pesudo-Christianity," says George Bernard Shaw, "was and will be fact-proof."

If Christianity is thus dying in the West, it cannot live and flourish in the East. Can it? It is for you Hindus to decide.


Discussion going on here
http://www.hindu-religion.net/showflat/cat/hinduism/87651/0/collapsed/5/o/1

 

Some even claim jesus never existed ?

http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/

I find this all funny.......

 

::nods:: I think that much of Christianity and what Jesus has said is very misinterpreted....whether or not he was a real person (which he could very well be) or a folk tale told to create good morals...it is still important to look more at what Jesus says and not what are man made church doctrines (which is funny because Jesus even says not to follow doctrines created by man but rather by God...)...

...and I wouldn't be totally sure about all this dying out in the West...if that were completely true...then how do you explain the religious right? I have a friend from Georgia who grew up Wiccan and she says that people still try to "save" her...(which I don't understand the concept but I have been told that I have grown up with a strange interpretation of Roman Catholocism...which I have no clue how I got to)....

 

How caught up we get in the web of our own words.

 

Half-a-Hippie...put that one up on the Christianity forum if you want some fireworks!

 

Without giving an opinion about the theory itself, I wanted to point out a couple historical errors in your post;

Tiberius wasn't a place, he was the Roman Emperor at the time the gospels ascribe to the birth of Jesus.

Philo lived in Alexandria and died in AD 40, possibly before christianity had become widespread or well known enough to be worth mentioning.


that's all.

 

The west is a big place....and the situation is different in different places. In the UK, Christianity is becoming more a minority thing these days, a long term trend. It wields very little actual power - for example, the British govt. has now sanctioned legal gay parnerships - de facto marriages, depite oposition from traditionalsit Anglicans
But a lot of people might say they were Christians in a survey - even if they don't practice it in any way shape or form.

Cross over to the european continent, and we have Poland. I doubt anyone would seriously claim Christianity is dead there, or showing any signs of dying soon. And the same is true in many other eastern european countries. This could be because they are poor and don't have the material wealth of western european people, and also because under the Soviets, religion was supressed for so long - there may be other reasons too.

And again, in the USA it seems to be playing an ever more influential role, esp in the political field. At least that's from an outside perspective. From the Uk a lot of American Christianity looks somewhat curious - and dangerous too. It certainly doesn't look like the USA is going to throw away Christianity in the near future.

It is also still the biggest religion in the world - having 2 billion followers, while Islam has 1.3 billion, and there are about 900 million Hindus.

 

Sure as heck scares me....its not your grandma's Christianity anymore (well more like not my grandma's....I think I inherited the strange interpretation from her)...but like I said...I don't really understand most forms of Protestantism since I did grow up Catholic. ::shrug::

 

I don't of course mean anything against Americans in general - but I saw a documentary recently about a man driving around the deep south and he visted a couple of Pentecostal churches - it all seemed like total chaos, a big kind of collective 'freak out' that's non the less subtly controlled. And some of the fire and brimstone stuff is really heavy.

But on another point - did Jeus exist or was it thought up by someone - I read somwhere Vivekananda's account of a voyage he took through the eastern mediterranean, and he says when the ship was passing Crete, he had a vivid dream in which some beings came to him and told him that this was Crete, and they were the Theraputae, an ancient order who had been responsible for creating Christianity. They had made it up.
Vivekenanda says he didn't come to any firm descision either way as to the truth or otherwise of the dream.

 

Christianity is being reborn in the east. Here's an interesting story:

Villagers furious with Christian Missionaries

Samanthapettai, Jan 16 (ANI): Rage and fury has gripped this tsunami-hit tiny Hindu village in India's southern Tamil Nadu after a group of Christian missionaries allegedly refused them aid for not agreeing to follow their religion.

Samanthapettai, near the temple town of Madurai, faced near devastation on the December 26 when massive tidal waves wiped it clean of homes and lives.

Most of the 200 people here are homeless or displaced , battling to rebuild lives and locating lost family members besides facing risks of epidemic,disease and trauma.

Jubilant at seeing the relief trucks loaded with food, clothes and the much-needed medicines the villagers, many of who have not had a square meal in days, were shocked when the nuns asked them to convert before distributing biscuits and water.

Heated arguments broke out as the locals forcibly tried to stop the relief trucks from leaving. The missionaries, who rushed into their cars on seeing television reporters and the cameras refusing to comment on the incident and managed to leave the village.

Disappointed and shocked into disbelief the hapless villagers still await aid.

"Many NGOs (volunteer groups) are extending help to us but there in our village the NGO, which was till now helping us is now asking us to follow the Christian religion. We are staunch followers of Hindu religion and refused their request. And after that these people with their aid materials are leaving the village without distributing that to us," Rajni Kumar, a villager said.

The incident is an exception to concerted charity in a catastrophe that has left no one untouched.(ANI)

http://in.news.yahoo.com/050116/139/2j1rp.html

 

Im going to call BS whenever I smell BS.
This story cannot be true.
At best, its reporting an incident where some confusion (possibly language barrier) or some sort of mistake was made and someone took it as an offense.

More than likely - its fictional.
Fake.
Made-up.

I have never heard of any such organisation (not Christian, not Catholic (as this suggests they were) not Muslim, not Buddhist, Hindu or anything that does such a thing.

It does not even make sense anyways... nobody just 'starts believing in Christs atonement' simply because they are somehow 'forced to start'.
I mean... the entire premise is senseless.

The very idea that it would happen is ridiculous.
I ridicule the story.
Im ridiculing right here, right now.

 

Hide your head under the sand, but this stuff does happen in the east where christian organisations offer money, threats, services, tricks and blackmail to get new converts among the poor and ignorant. Not very christian, then again, how many millions died when being forced to accept christ for the last 2,000 years..

 

It is senseless, but it's what happens to many children who are educated into christianity, often being told they'll burn forever if they don't accept what they're told.

 

I know that you know that I know you are making this up.
How does it feel knowing that I have caught you making up lies?
You know that I have caught you right?

 

I thank God everyday that I missed this day of Sunday school...or something...because I was most def. never taught this...either that or I missed it....but yes...sadly I know many who believe this way...but I also know many Christians with a deep and beautiful open-minded spirituality....so I suppose it goes either way....

 

There's a wide spectrum of people calling themselves Christian. Some are less inclined to the fire and brimstone stuff than others. Still, they're one and all obsessed with sacrificial death etc, and many can be narrow minded and a lot are just plain stupid. Some seem to enjoy trying to feel superior to followers of other beliefs - beliefs of which they are often wholly ignorant.

 

Erasmus70 you have no idea about the situation in the east

At present I know atleast one person who is soon going to convert to christianity
The reason he cited is because his daughter has been promised a seat in an educational institution which is run by christians.(Mind you-- christians run many educational institutions around here )




Here is an article that adds to the one posted by Ladylocks

Vivek Oberoi: Missionary and Liquor Lobbies Drove Us Out

Posted April 12, 2005
The Hindu
By Sandhya Soman
KARAIKAL, APRIL 2 2005

Kalaivani knows that Vivek Oberoi is an actor. But she did not expect him to come to her house at Pattinacherry near here to inaugurate a computer centre today.

`Project Hope' for tsunami victims has moved out of Thevanampattinam in Cuddalore district to Pattinacherry. And Mr. Oberoi is not apologetic about it. "We have given up," he says. Especially, the project to build permanent houses at Thevanampattinam. Mr. Oberoi says his donors slowly backed out as land allotment got delayed and he faced media backlash for unfulfilled promises.

"Nobody bothered to find out what happened at Thevanampattinam." He said pro-conversion and liquor lobbies tried to "discredit" the effort from day one, when he refused to let them be part of the project; he found it difficult to explain to the villagers that he was not abandoning them but was leaving the place to bring in funds for providing permanent rehabilitation.

I suggest you visit
http://www.christianaggression.org

Its all so funny.....

 

Prominent leaders receive death threats from Christians

Posted January 31, 2006
February 01, 2006 00:16 IST
Rediff

International general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Pravin Togadia and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi received a combined death threat Tuesday, VHP sources said in Ahmedabad.

The death threat claiming to be from the "Christian community" was sent in a closed envelope that was sent by post to the VHP office, the sources said.

"The letter has warned both Togadiyaji and Modiji of dire consequences if they do not stop their anti-Christian activities. We have intimated the police and the state Home Department regarding this threat letter," a VHP local office bearer Abhay Singh told PTI.

The letter, handwritten in Gujarati, also threatens that the members of the "Christian community" would self immolate if Togadia and Modi did not change their stand against the minority community in Gujarat.

The threat letter also mentions that it was a "last warning" being given to the two leaders.

Incidentally Togadia just received a death threat via post three days ago and it had claimed to be sent from Osama bin Laden.

Modi also received a "threat" and "abusive" email in December and police did arrest a Delhi-based man Omar Siddiqui in this connection but he was pardoned by the chief minister on Monday on compassionate grounds.




hahahaha.......

 

I have lived through this. In my state in India, Chrisitian missionaries take advantge of people's poverty to trade religion for money, food, jobs, housing, etc. I have seen it and I have fought it.

 

oops, deleted