Why Christianity is so Persistant

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Probably the same reason why Islam has been the fastest growing religion in the last thousand years, the people and races that preach them have been the best organised at aggresion and control. Mind you Christianity is the quickest fading religion of the last hundred years with churchgoers rapidly decreasing, particularly in the west. Although to be fair, as people worldwide are becoming more educated, we are seeing a drop in the participants of nearly all religions.

educated? or indoctrinated?

Actually I think people are getting dumber, there is certainly some debate here about the 'dumbing down' of the education system. I would agree with that notion.

I was indoctrinated into christianity from a young age and most people in most countries are indoctrinated and pressurised into religious organisations also. It seems to me that people these days are more aware about things as information and spare time to think about these things are more readily available. Education wre i stay has picked up since i left school but i couldnt really say wether the education system worldwide is being dumbed down. Can you explain why every generation brings more technological and scientific advances etc if it is true what you say about dumbing down.

Dad was a mason so I didn't get any childhood relgious indoctrination. I don't think Australia is an especially religious country. The dumbing down thing is based on the fact that statistically, more people are leaving school illiterate and innumerate. Also universities here dropped the requirements to qualify for a degree by 25%, that way they can rubber-stamp more people thru their degree factories.

Why each successive generation brings technological and scientific advances? Well i spose you've got a point there, but I tend to think there is nothing new under the sun, only people who haven't seen/heard it all before.

Over here the masons are dominated by the protestant religion, not sure about oz though. I think we are seeing advances in just about all human fields every decade, as we are an evolving species. Even in things like sport, (which i know your an avid fan of) the athletes are getting faster, bigger, stronger and more technical all the time, though this is partly due to our advancements in other fields such as nutrition and optimal exercise regimes.

Your assertion that you and your generation have seen it all before is part of the natural process of getting old and weary, Pastperson.

yes, you're right there son. what would older people know?

i'm sure WP is the right place (age demographic-wise) for you. It's nice that there's so many people here you can relate to.

If you want to go on statistics for the dumbing down theory then you have to think about who is tested or polled. Fifty years ago in America anybody that wasn't white basicly didn't count. Kids who left school early for work or other reasons didn't to neither did anyone with any type of mental inpairment. So fifty years ago it was mostly rich to middle class people not a true repersentation of to population.


People have alway thought along these lines it's one of the biggest things that hold back technology.

Why is Christianity so persistant? Just read the Bible and you'll find out.

Christianity is so persistant because it works, if it's principles are actually followed. It's the foundation for human rights and American law. Our forefathers knew that if the government gives the rights than the government can take them away; but if our basic rights are given to us by the Creator, than no man can take them away. They are intrinsic and assumed. When we lose this basic assumption, we are in trouble. One of the forefathers stated that this government would only work for a virtuous people (virtue defined as they would have understood it in their day, for all of you relativists). We have built our entire government on Christian principles, historically, that is. Today, we move farther away from those principles and that is a little unnerving. If we continue to drift, we will no longer remain as free. (which is one reason I'm very concerned about the anti-terrorism laws that infringe on individual rights, especially privacy) The difference between Communism and Socialism and a Democratic Republic is that our Democratic Republic values the individual's rights above the rights of the state and the state is subject to the will of the people. (This is consistant with Christ's teaching that 'man was not created for the law, but the law was created for man') Man is the pinnacle of God's creation and is worthy of the highest value. Some Evolutionists, Globalists and Environmentalists would argue against that in favor of demoting mankind as a temporary dominant force that will one day be replaced by the tides of change. (probably by the state!) Socialistic and Communistic philosophy would have the state as supreme and the individuals subordinate to it. (The exact opposite of Jesus' teaching on the law) I think if you took the principles from the Bible and listed them and noticed the benefits, while rejecting the preconceived notions from religious experiences and the lives of certain "Christians", than maybe the truth would become more evident. People usually like to point to the Crusades or Christians they have known that do not exemplify what they feel are Christian values but these are indications of human moral failings, indicitive of the entire human race, not peculiar to Christians. There is also a complete lack of conversation of Christian people and movements that have had a positive effect on society. Many of the early social movements were started by Christians who felt a responsibility for the underpriveleged. These movements would not have been started by Evolutionists or Communists for in their philosophy the survival of the fittest reigns supreme.

'Evolutionist' is not a political or philisophical position, unless you want to define all science as philosophy. "Survival of the fittest" is also not a statement of evolutionary theory; you're thinking of "organisms which are better adapted to their local environment will tend to be more reproductively successful than those that are less well adapted, thus changing gene allele frequencies in the population over time", which doesn't really say a lot about human societies or what decisions humans should make.

The theory of evolution and Marxist/Leninist Communism go hand in hand. In fact, Karl Marx built his theory of dialectical materialism on premise of evolutionary theory's random processes. If only Marx and Lenin believed as you do, the world would be a better place.

Eamonn wrote: It's just an outlet for them to express their mental illness in a more 'acceptable' way.

Eamonn, you are sooo presumptious. You make me laugh! You're very bad! And I can say that because I am a Christian and hold to the ideas of "good" and "bad". Now please don't flame me because you know that I am not able to combat your evil wit! I am simply not that talented.

I wont flame you, Bland, despite the fact that i believe you to have your facts gravely mixed up. Il let the rest pass as i cant expect to make you see sense in the one day but im offended at your assertion that communisn/socialism is about survival of the fittest when it is the exact opposite, a decent living for all human beings.

Capatilism has it's plus points but it does indeed leave the disadvataged to rot. The US is the richest country in the world , yet a large proportion of it's citizens live in abject poverty. Thanks to US sanctions Cuba is amongst it's poorest, yet everyone has three square meals a day, a good education system and free health care for all, on capital they are also a bigger giver of aid than the US.

A lot of the Icelandic countries are beggining to see the benefit of a compromise between outright capatilism and outright socialism, social capatilism, where everyone is guaranteed a comfortable living includinhg the disadvantaged.

If you call yourself a christian then why do you miss out the obviously communist teachings of Jesus and try to convince us that he was for big business , the rich getting richer and the poor lleft to die. We all know that Jesus was supposed to have become angered at the greed of capatlilistic systems, dids you read about his episode in the market?

Yes Jesus cared about the individual over mass organisations, such as we have running the world today so do genuinely socialist teachings. Small autonomous states with local power meaning a more commited population and good social structures are the way forward imo, and there is much evidence to back the success of small socially democratic governments.

There arent many true christians in the world and certainly not in the US for the very same people who purport to follow the teachings of the bible would rather pursue the almighty dollar than reconcile with the almighty in heaven (if he were to exist , that is).

There not a flame in sight but a bit of warm advice and as a communist your always welcome to share the heat off the fire in my house.

Hmm... Eamonn, would you mind pointing out the exact reference in scripture to the market scene? If I remember it correctly, Jesus was upset because the merchants were using the temple as a market on the Sabbath or something like that. If the Old Testament Jewish law is read, God clearly commanded the Israelites to keep the Sabbath day holy (ie, no work). That concept is a repeated theme throughout the OT (Old Testament).

Also, if you read about the stuff that Jesus did do, he wasn't about making the rich people rich and the poor people poor. He spent time with the most despised people in society and probably didn't care much about what other people thought of him for doing this. And Jesus doesn't strike me as being strictly Communist, either.

Sad thing, but it does seem like there aren't too many Christians in the world. So many people have been raised in religion that it's like a familiar place to them and their faith becomes complacent and ends up not meaning anything in the end. It seems like the US is that way today. But for all the people who are "luke-warm" Christians (another biblical reference), there are at least some number of true Christians, people who are willing to put their well-being behind and sacrifice their comfort for helping other people for the sake of Christ.

Namiko, as i recall Jesus was angry at a price being put on everythings head and little thought about the common good and welfare of all including animals and he set chickens free at the marketplace. This is just from memory from when i was a kid though and i have lost my Bible and "Tales of Jesus for children" since then but i might buy it again (the bible that is) and check since there is a lot of sense in it and what inspired me (particularly the new testament and Jesus, God himself had me a little bit worried about his sanity, seems like a narccisist and suffering from a borderline personality disorder while Jesus was a little vain, God took the biscuit) to become a humanist and later a socialist. Your right about Jesus not being strictly a communist but to me his attitude was of a communist. Money and material things meant little to him, only the wellbeing of his fellow man.