The Decline of Christianity in the West - your thoughts?

Resha Caner said:

Funny thing is, many of my history profs gave the AD/CE debate an eyeroll. It was the outcome of the mid-20th century hand-wringing in the West that has since begun to fade.

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Let's hope. However, this routine keeps going thanks to the publishers and their desire to publish and sell a book that gives an impression of being better or more up to date than the nearly-identical one they were selling two years earlier.

A Gerbil said:

I read an article about the decline of Christianity in the UK and few Google searches indicated that this trend is happening all over the western world. So, is it inevitable? Is it a sign of the End Times? What is the future of Christianity?

Personally I think the decline of Christianity is being contrived by Luciferian forces. The political/media/industrial elite, though often masquerading as Christians, are actively trying to destroy it.

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We don't really have genuine Christianity anymore. We have a hodgepodge of erroneous teachings. This has lead to massive division and infighting which the world can see. Add to that the fact that the church has gotten away from a lifestyle witness to an organization based on a system of beliefs. It wouldn't be so bad if Christians could explain the doctrines that they believe. But, most can't. You see these debates back and forth which show that people have erroneous beliefs.

Albion said:

Let's hope. However, this routine keeps going thanks to the publishers and their desire to publish and sell a book that gives an impression of being better or more up to date than the nearly-identical one they were selling two years earlier.

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That does happen. However, it is fascinating to study the variability in historical interpretation over time. There does come a point where a present generation can't understand what past generations were saying (or views their interpretations as erroneous), thereby requiring a member of that generation to interpret history anew for them.

I think about that in terms of Luther and the way his interpretation launched the Reformation, precipitating historical events that became an identity for Lutherans ... how that identity seems to be fading and possibly in need of a new interpreter, a new identity (even if the core message doesn't really change).

That doesn't add up to "We don't really have genuine Christianity anymore," however.

That does happen. However, it is fascinating to study the variability in historical interpretation over time. There does come a point where a present generation can't understand what past generations were saying (or views their interpretations as erroneous), thereby requiring a member of that generation to interpret history anew for them.

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Interpretation, sure, but when it comes to gimmicks like BC/BCE which are mainly a genuflection in the direction of political correctness, we are looking at a different matter.

It is declining in the UK and the West in general because Christianity was never a Western religion in the first place, and it doesn't particularly meld well with the hyper-individualism that has been traditional to the West for the past few centuries (coming out of the Enlightenment and all that), nor with the rapidly emerging political tribalism and aggressive secularization of Western societies.

Not to mention that there is absolutely nothing in Western Christianity of any kind that cannot be found in roughly equal perhaps even greater measure in secular environments, once you've done away with the explicitly religious metaphysical claims, as many forms of Western Christianity have in favor of this or that flavor of 'social gospel'.

So you have a bunch of people who don't necessarily believe in anything in particular (since the metaphysical claims are either weakened past the point of being taken seriously by any large number of people, or just jettisoned all together because what really matters is something else), in an environment that does not require of them any particular belief (and even actively discourages it, unless that belief is in a non-Christian religion, in which case it's beautiful and holy and can't we all learn so much from it), at the same time being invaded by the dregs of third world Islamic hellholes who very much believe in the very religion and accompanying political system which made their original home countries into such shining beacons of freedom and liberty which surely everyone wants to live in.

Yeah...it's a real mystery you've got there.

Daniel C said:

I hate living in the UK. Surely there can't be a more Godless nation in the west. It's depressing trying to live the Christian life in a extreme heathen nation.

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I did read weekly church attendance in the UK was around 850K, with slightly higher numbers during Advent, and Lent. Although, church attendance is higher in the United States, I don't think it hits 25% overall, though attendance at my church is usually around 200 persons, which is quite good really for a Lutheran Church in the Deep South.

I hope things turn around in Britain, I read a post months ago that identified Germany as a ripe mission field, if so perhaps it will spread. World wide Christianity is still winning souls.

Albion said:

Interpretation, sure, but when it comes to gimmicks like BC/BCE which are mainly a genuflection in the direction of political correctness, we are looking at a different matter.

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Sure. I don't like BCE and CE either. I refused to use them in my history papers. Funny thing is my profs didn't care. But you do have to admit BC/AD came from a positivist Manifest Destiny world view and doesn't really have anything to do with Christianity. They can date time based on the age of a black rock located in Mecca for all I care.

Personally, I've reached a point where I think it's funny. That someone will get all bent out of shape about how AD is an imperialist oppression ... and then they force me to deny the historical origins of CE while still not accepting other calendar methods (Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, etc.). It's quite the hoot.

I forget the comedian, but there was a hilarious bit from a black comedian where he overhears a rich, white soccer Mom explaining race relations to her friends. Not that white women shouldn't have a voice in discussions on race (after all, if we're going to admit race as a discussion point in the public forum, "white" is a race), but for those rich, white soccer Moms to think they are experts in what it means to be black is an ironic defeat for race relations.

Then there's "Always Be My Maybe". My kid loves that movie, so I finally watched it. It was fun. And it was refreshing to see a film written by someone not in the American cultural mainstream. But the derogatory references to whites that were passed off as acceptable behavior ... Hmm.

I could go on and on. Point is, it will never end. We'll be reinterpreting due to cultural shifts until the Second Coming.

Silverback said:

I did read weekly church attendance in the UK was around 850K, with slightly higher numbers during Advent, and Lent. Although, church attendance is higher in the United States, I don't think it hits 25% overall, though attendance at my church is usually around 200 persons, which is quite good really for a Lutheran Church in the Deep South.

I hope things turn around in Britain, I read a post months ago that identified Germany as a ripe mission field, if so perhaps it will spread. World wide Christianity is still winning souls.

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The vast majority of people of the UK are lost and don't know God. Sad but true.

Daniel C said:

The vast majority of people of the UK are lost and don't know God. Sad but true.

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Same in the US...I will probably get some disagreement over this, but if you ask 10 Americans if they think they are going to heaven when they die, nine will say "I don't believe in God" or "Yes, I am a good person". If you mention justification by God's grace through faith they will just stare at you and say "what"

A side note, most of the people who say "I don't believe in God" if you ask them if they believe in Satan, they will say "yes"...so go figure.

Silverback said:

Same in the US...I will probably get some disagreement over this, but if you ask 10 Americans if they think they are going to heaven when they die, nine will say "I don't believe in God" or "Yes, I am a good person". If you mention justification by God's grace through faith they will just stare at you and say "what"

A side note, most of the people who say "I don't believe in God" if you ask them if they believe in Satan, they will say "yes"...so go figure.

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I’ll have to ask some atheists. That doesn’t sound right to me.

A Gerbil said:

I read an article about the decline of Christianity in the UK and few Google searches indicated that this trend is happening all over the western world. So, is it inevitable? Is it a sign of the End Times? What is the future of Christianity?

Personally I think the decline of Christianity is being contrived by Luciferian forces. The political/media/industrial elite, though often masquerading as Christians, are actively trying to destroy it.

Click to expand...

The decline of faith in the west isn't a sign of end times, it's a sign of nothing more than the Holy Spirit abandoning a peoples who have rejected him.

The decline in the west has many factors, one of which is the embrace of science over scripture as part of the fanciful notion of enlightenment. WWI was a major turning point throughout the continent, with Christianity in massive decline since the carnage of that war.

A Gerbil said:

I read an article about the decline of Christianity in the UK and few Google searches indicated that this trend is happening all over the western world. So, is it inevitable? Is it a sign of the End Times? What is the future of Christianity?

Personally I think the decline of Christianity is being contrived by Luciferian forces. The political/media/industrial elite, though often masquerading as Christians, are actively trying to destroy it.

Click to expand...

We are already in end times, the Pope wants to have a meeting in May 2020 for a one world education for children. The new world order will be here very soon we just dont know when exactly but it's coming.

Redwingfan9 said:

The decline of faith in the west isn't a sign of end times, it's a sign of nothing more than the Holy Spirit abandoning a peoples who have rejected him.

The decline in the west has many factors, one of which is the embrace of science over scripture as part of the fanciful notion of enlightenment. WWI was a major turning point throughout the continent, with Christianity in massive decline since the carnage of that war.

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WW2 and the Cold War didn't help either.

Brightmoon said:

. Frankly there’s nothing much that they do that I’d disagree with

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Hello Brightmoon. 'Noble pursuits guided by the individual will' . There's only one error in what they say, but it's a fatal error. It is the Lord that directs our steps. We do his will, not our own. That's the big lie of satanism, it has made God irrelevant and tried to turn a human into God.

A Gerbil said:

I read an article about the decline of Christianity in the UK and few Google searches indicated that this trend is happening all over the western world. So, is it inevitable? Is it a sign of the End Times? What is the future of Christianity?

Personally I think the decline of Christianity is being contrived by Luciferian forces. The political/media/industrial elite, though often masquerading as Christians, are actively trying to destroy it.

Click to expand...

The good news is that Christianity is the fastest (could be debated) growing religion in the world. I believe the wave will overflow to the western world, and until then start evangelizing, people!!!

lismore said:

Hello Brightmoon. 'Noble pursuits guided by the individual will' . There's only one error in what they say, but it's a fatal error. It is the Lord that directs our steps. We do his will, not our own. That's the big lie of satanism, it has made God irrelevant and tried to turn a human into God.

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I judge people by the way they actually behave rather than look at a title or label

Silverback said:

WW2 and the Cold War didn't help either.

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The second war only confirmed the depravity of the west. I think long term the cold war didn't help though there are parts of the east that embraced Christianity as a subversive stand against communism. At the end of the day though, the two wars served as the final break between the west and the Christian faith. It had been heading that direction for centuries. In the US, the Civil War got the ball rolling and the break happened outright in the 20s.

When the Berlin Wall stood the people on the Russian side filled the churches. Then came the tearing down of the wall and the Churches emptied. It has been known that when Lucifer attacks the Lord’s church our faith grows stronger and our numbers grow. In de. 32 Jerusalem is referred to as jeshurun and is described in terms usually of a harlot. It would appear men and women really have a problem with needing God when we are feeling safe and filled. The rich man and entering the kingdom.

A Gerbil said:

Personally I think the decline of Christianity is being contrived by Luciferian forces. The political/media/industrial elite, though often masquerading as Christians, are actively trying to destroy it.

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That they are and it is quite depressing. How long O Lord?

A Gerbil said:

The political/media/industrial elite, though often masquerading as Christians, are actively trying to destroy it.

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I agree with you Gerbil. Just look at the Political sphere, some of those claiming to be Christians and the damage they have done. For example Elizabeth Windsor, signing same sex marriage/abortion into law while sitting as head of the church of England. Or Theresa May. God Bless