Strongest Christianity

Haven't heard anything about that. I was under the impression Europe was mostly atheist.

calmlady said:

Hello
Which Western Europe country has the strongest Christianity?
Let's discuss why

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Personally, I have no idea. I only believe in the life of the individual and the localized community. And where quality of faith is to be evaluated, I can offer my surmisings but the full knowledge of that quality belongs solely to the Lord.

Strongest Christianity would probably belong to Italy, Spain and Ireland.

But the vote for having the nicest people would probably be Iceland.

calmlady said:

Hello
Which Western Europe country has the strongest Christianity?
Let's discuss why

Click to expand...

I'm not sure we should measure Christian faith by nations. It is a personal relationship between the faithful and Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He only makes His Home in the believer.
Blessings.

timewerx said:

Strongest Christianity would probably belong to Italy, Spain and Ireland.

But the vote for having the nicest people would probably be Iceland.

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Sounds right. As to OP's why:
Italy is the ‘base’ of Roman Catholicism. Catholicism has also been historically very strong in Spain.

Wondering if Spain has stuck to it b/c the American Spanish-speaking countries are very Catholic as well & Spain is still very tied to them?

Don’t know as much about Ireland. You hear the term ‘Irish Catholics’ in the US all the time tho.

Seems the countries that favored Catholicism still do, but the countries that favored Protestant faiths lost it. Interesting observation as a Protestant

Wonder if some of the reason Protestantism died in Europe is Protestants seeking religious freedom fled to the New World.

DragonFox91 said:

Sounds right. As to OP's why:
Italy is the ‘base’ of Roman Catholicism. Catholicism has also been historically very strong in Spain.

Wondering if Spain has stuck to it b/c the American Spanish-speaking countries are very Catholic as well & Spain is still very tied to them?

Don’t know as much about Ireland. You hear the term ‘Irish Catholics’ in the US all the time tho.

Seems the countries that favored Catholicism still do, but the countries that favored Protestant faiths lost it. Interesting observation as a Protestant

Wonder if some of the reason Protestantism died in Europe is Protestants seeking religious freedom fled to the New World.

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Protestants are also bleeding away members in the New World.

The main problem is the very human-centric, self-preservation (salvation) doctrines. It's almost accurate to say the object of worship is really human salvation and that we love God / Jesus because they paid a steep price for the salvation of our souls.

But would anyone love Jesus for simply who He is if He is totally incapable of saving anyone? I don't think anyone will.

As such, the doctrine lacks an exceptional quality. "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" nothing remarkable, nothing special this is why membership is bleeding.

timewerx said:

Protestants are also bleeding away members in the New World.

The main problem is the very human-centric, self-preservation (salvation) doctrines. It's almost accurate to say the object of worship is really human salvation and that we love God / Jesus because they paid a steep price for the salvation of our souls.

But would anyone love Jesus for simply who He is if He is totally incapable of saving anyone? I don't think anyone will.

As such, the doctrine lacks an exceptional quality. "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" nothing remarkable, nothing special this is why membership is bleeding.

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That's fine. Most of them are all-in w/ secularism / modernism.

People go into one of those churches & can't tell the difference between what the church is teaching & what the world is teaching so just embrace what the world is teaching.

Benjamin Müller said:

View attachment 330441

Religion in Europe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Quite ironic that I mentioned Iceland to have the nicest people in Europe is coincidentally the least religious as well.

Is it proof that religion corrupts people or that people have corrupted most forms of religion including Christianity to support their worldliness?

timewerx said:

Quite ironic that I mentioned Iceland to have the nicest people in Europe is coincidentally the least religious as well.

Is it proof that religion corrupts people or that people have corrupted most forms of religion including Christianity as license for worldliness?

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Nice is subjective. Plus I think there could be a link between Iceland population / population density.

timewerx said:

Quite ironic that I mentioned Iceland to have the nicest people in Europe is coincidentally the least religious as well.

Is it proof that religion corrupts people or that people have corrupted most forms of religion including Christianity to support their worldliness?

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This is just one graph which is going by millions of religious people and not religious people per capita (which I think going by percentages would be a more accurate view) Iceland has a population of under 400,000 but they are about 80% religious with 60% being part of the Church of Iceland.

DragonFox91 said:

Nice is subjective. Plus I think there could be a link between Iceland population / population density.

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Low population density is will of God.

The reason why God scattered people away from "Babel", the world's first large city is the high population density is starting to cause problems.

Problems like pollution, high cost of living leading to poverty, disease, poor living conditions for most, and poverty and desperation forcing many to live a life of crime.

Benjamin Müller said:

This is just one graph which is going by millions of religious people and not religious people per capita (which I think going by percentages would be a more accurate view) Iceland has a population of under 400,000 but they are about 80% religious with 60% being part of the Church of Iceland.

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I initially assumed the graph to be per capita.

One problem Iceland have is that Christianity is in quite significant decline in membership by % (per capita) in just 30 years. While the % of non-religious and other religious groups is increasing.

timewerx said:

I initially assumed the graph to be per capita.

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I did too. Lol.

timewerx said:

One problem Iceland have is that Christianity is in quite significant decline in membership by % (per capita) in just 30 years. While the % of non-religious and other religious groups is increasing.

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This is happening every where though.

I myself am religious and adhere to Biblical teachings, but I agree with you that Christianity and most other religions have been corrupted and it has pushed individuals away.

I find it interesting, not to get into great debates over doctrines, but Christmas for example, will be mentioned in Hollywood as the former Saturnalia festival. The characters are usually atheist or Jews, but it interesting to me because a Biblical purist, I agree with these statements made on a worldly show.

Some denominations, from my limited experience, also seem to push a lot of hellfire and punishment while negating mercy, and I have seen that type of fierce attitude turn people away from Christ as well. People who despise Christianity that I've dealt with usually make remarks about how terrible the God of Israel is and that they're going to burn forever for some minor (as they perceive it) indiscretion.

I think WW2 turned many Europeans away from God because of the questions "How could a loving God do this" etc.

I'm just thinking out loud here and you can correct or comment on my train-of-thought if you like, I'm not saying that anything I'm about to say is an accurate representation. I'm just trying to make sense of a few things with my limited knowledge:


Although American Christianity is declining, I do find it interesting that (at least in my corner of the USA) people still believe in God even if they are getting lackadaisical. I wonder if there is a psychological/cultural aspect in America that because we were founded on Freedom of Religion we tend to rebel against institutions we find at fault. We're a free people and no man nor church will control my relationship with God. (Which is why Americans for a long time have been stereotypical are against the Catholic Church besides the fact Puritans believed they were the harlot of Babylon, but that's not my argument or point)

We've never had the Catholic Church ruling over us like in Europe where at one point everyone was Catholic and if you weren't then you were ostracized. We're not like England that has the Anglican Church over our country. When people get miffed with ministers they just stop going to church, they don't stop believing in God.

Seems in Europe the church often controlled people's lives and the idea of going independent perhaps wasn't an option, and so when they gave up church they gave up God. I'm not European nor a history/theology major so feel free to tear that assumption to pieces and offer me proper insight or your own opinion.

From all the stats I've seen, it's the tiny island nation of Malta, if we're going by actual church attendance. The archdiocese of Malta claims that 74% of Maltese go to Mass on a monthly basis. That number does drop quite a bit concerning weekly attendance (40%), but the next highest monthly attendance figure also shows a large drop, in that 50% of Romanians say they attend services at least once a month, which is enough to put them in 2nd place in a poll of European countries that doesn't even include stats on Malta, as far as I can tell.

timewerx said:

Quite ironic that I mentioned Iceland to have the nicest people in Europe is coincidentally the least religious as well.

Is it proof that religion corrupts people or that people have corrupted most forms of religion including Christianity to support their worldliness?

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Isn't Iceland one of those Northern nations that thinks it's okay to abort babies with Down Syndrome?

I wouldn't call this proof. All people worship something and have some kind of belief in God or gods, our origins, the afterlife, etc.

calmlady said:

Hello
Which Western Europe country has the strongest Christianity?
Let's discuss why

Click to expand...

The criteria for a country being Christian is that it has the Gospel of Christ, involving Jesus dying on the Cross for our sins and being resurrected to give eternal life to those who believe in Christ, and that it seeks to do the will of God in the governmental decisions it makes.

I don't know of any country in the world that is following that criteria.

timewerx said:

Quite ironic that I mentioned Iceland to have the nicest people in Europe is coincidentally the least religious as well.

Is it proof that religion corrupts people or that people have corrupted most forms of religion including Christianity to support their worldliness?

Click to expand...

On the other hand:

peaceful-forest said:

Isn't Iceland one of those Northern nations that thinks it's okay to abort babies with Down Syndrome?

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I think virtually every nation on earth thinks it's ok to abort babies with Down's Syndrome. Babies with Down's Syndrome are murdered in the USA. Iceland stands out however because it has virtually succeeded in murdering everyone with Down's Syndrome and other disabilities in the womb. God Bless