U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time


unknown1 said:
"The word" was written loose to be able to fit pretty much any situation.... we've all known this for 100 years so I don't get this argument either. I remember when Christians thought y2k was going to be the end of the world based on the word too. "The word" got these bootleg preachers around here advising people against getting vaccinated for no valid reason at all. And all of them follow right in tow. I could take pretty much any scripture and make it fit whatever I want to. It's time for folks to start being real with themselves, good grief.

If yall gonna rock with their word then rock with em all the way lol. Another way they continue to make us look foolish. How many of yall have been giving 10% of your income for the last 30 years? Black folks will make sure their church/pastor is paid before their mortgage. I've sat in churches and seen pastors telling their congregations that they'd be healed and they wouldn't need medications. I've seen a pastor nearly pass out in the pulpit from high blood pressure after telling people to come throw their meds on the altar. That nonsense is toxic to the black community and folks are starting to come to terms with that reality. ESPECIALLY the youth. But they were the ones out there in the streets protesting last year. Believe what ya want but there's no way yall ain't seeing reality for what it is these days. There's no way yall aint.
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Do What Thou Will!
 
JROCK said:
I am not saying Christianity is infallible and isn't responsible or played a heinous role in many things. One has to be very careful about typecasting 1.3 billion Catholics though. Also, one has to know and be very careful of interpretations. Constantine did not create the Catholic Church and you really need to understand what you're reading. The Catholic Church was around before Constantine so say legalized/sanctioned Christianity as a state religion. I don't speak on this topic because it is one I try to stay away from because a lot of folks have hard grain ideas beliefs that won't be changed. First and far most, Catholics are not monolithic. Secondly, the Catholic Church does not define itself as many outsiders do but rather the continuation of work by the disciples of Jesus. The pope is recognized as the sole successor to St. Peter.

The Catholic church and its people were persecuted for the objection to pagan religion. Many people read opinions and chalk them up as facts not knowing their very way of worshipping (if they claim themselves as Christians/protestants) roots came from Catholicism. To characterize 1.3 billion people as "wicked" and profess to be an authority on what Christianity is, to me nonsensical. This is a topic that can be debated to infinity so I want do that, but be careful what you're spewing, who you're typecasting, and accepting as your supreme authority source. Very seldom if at all are people who make up organizations monolithic.
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Naw, I never try to generalize any group of people. I just try to educate myself. I, myself didn't know Constantine did alot of what he did. That caught me off guard.
 

Blacknbengal said:
Naw, I never try to generalize any group of people. I just try to educate myself. I, myself didn't know Constantine did alot of what he did. That caught me off guard.
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The tradition of the Catholic Church is it began with Jesus Christ and is the continuation of early Christianity. Constantine, a Roman Emperor, legalized state religion over 300 years afterward. Many will debate this as they define and characterize the Catholic Church and Christianity differently. Also, I am pretty sure Christians have never debated whether older religions exist, otherwise, they wouldn't be teaching their flock about it. For example in the Catholic Church, the Old Testament predates Jesus Christ and is considered the sacred scripture. I like you, don't profess to know everything but try to educate myself. However, there will always be varying opinions on topics.
 
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JROCK said:
The tradition of the Catholic Church is it began with Jesus Christ and is the continuation of early Christianity. Constantine, a Roman Emperor, legalized state religion over 300 years afterward. Many will debate this as they define and characterize the Catholic Church and Christianity differently. Also, I am pretty sure Christians have never debated whether older religions exist, otherwise, they wouldn't be teaching their flock about it. For example in the Catholic Church, the Old Testament predates Jesus Christ and is considered the sacred scripture. I like you, don't profess to know everything but try to educate myself. However, there will always be varying opinions on topics.
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Early Christians weren't called Christians. They were called followers of The Way! During the Roman era and before Constatine, these believers were being persecuted and killed because they didn't adopt Roman pagan practices and belief systems. It was so bad at one point, that Pagan leaders went to the authorities and tried to explain why the land was not bringing forth fruit the way it should! It was a divided kingdom. As a result, Constatine came on the scene and tried to unite the kingdom by keeping the pagan rituals and mixed them with the Hebraic dates and times the early Christians celebrated their holy days! This is why to this day, most of the world holidays are right around the same time as Jewish holidays!

If you really want to dive into the historical context you should read "The Antiquity of the Jews" by Josephus. Good read and helps explain alot of what we are discussing and what happened to the early Christians before the term Christianity came to be.
 
JROCK said:
The tradition of the Catholic Church is it began with Jesus Christ and is the continuation of early Christianity. Constantine, a Roman Emperor, legalized state religion over 300 years afterward. Many will debate this as they define and characterize the Catholic Church and Christianity differently. Also, I am pretty sure Christians have never debated whether older religions exist, otherwise, they wouldn't be teaching their flock about it. For example in the Catholic Church, the Old Testament predates Jesus Christ and is considered the sacred scripture. I like you, don't profess to know everything but try to educate myself. However, there will always be varying opinions on topics.
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True!! I do know paganism existed long before Christ came to earth. That was one reason GOD destroyed the world with water. Say JROCK, read the book of Jasher whenever you can. This book, the Bible refers to in Joshua 10:13, 2 Samuel 1:18, and 2 Timothy 3:8. This book will blow your mind with the details that the Bible didn't put in.

00000-jasher-1.png

This is the one I have:

41x11zO3RvL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 
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coldsweat said:
Early Christians weren't called Christians. They were called followers of The Way! During the Roman era and before Constatine, these believers were being persecuted and killed because they didn't adopt Roman pagan practices and belief systems. It was so bad at one point, that Pagan leaders went to the authorities and tried to explain why the land was not bringing forth fruit the way it should! It was a divided kingdom. As a result, Constatine came on the scene and tried to unite the kingdom by keeping the pagan rituals and mixed them with the Hebraic dates and times the early Christians celebrated their holy days! This is why to this day, most of the world holidays are right around the same time as Jewish holidays!

If you really want to dive into the historical context you should read "The Antiquity of the Jews" by Josephus. Good read and helps explain alot of what we are discussing and what happened to the early Christians before the term Christianity came to be.
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OH BOY!!!! Josephus is another one that my boy who I study with read. Josephus details the war of Jerusalem of 70 AD. Say Cold, have you read "FROM BABYLON TO TIMBUKTU" yet?

61nHWsjEGjL._SX319_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 
And here are more books that I read from:

41rWSClFksL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


I'm reading from the book of Esdras which is the same Ezra that is in the Bible. These books were in the Bible, but taken out.

Also:

71rHqTwQSgL.jpg


This is the same Enoch that was taken up and didn't see death in the Bible. This book contains information on those angels that fell from their place and slept with earthly women and other things.
 
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I have had a question myself about religion, not spirituality. But I have recently wondered if HELL is a reasonable place for a loving God to send people who does something bad or isn't all in with religion in the brief millisecond we exist in our human form? Going to HELL for all eternity seems really extreme to me if God loves you so much. I can imagine maybe if you live a million years then maybe you would get wise enough to know how to be better, but a span of 0-85 years is not even a millisecond of time to be cast into a lake of fire from now until the end of time. I just can't wrap my head around that logic, to me that is analogous to punishing my son for a bad grade in elementary school all the way through his retirement. Can anyone shed light on why this is a good thing?
 
Blacknbengal said:
OH BOY!!!! Josephus is another one that my boy who I study with read. Josephus details the war of Jerusalem of 70 AD. Say Cold, have you read "FROM BABYLON TO TIMBUKTU" yet?

61nHWsjEGjL._SX319_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
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Yes this is in my collection along with a host of other books such as the "Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano!" Good read!

You should also get you a "Cepher" which includes most of those missing books like Enoch, Jasper, Jubilees, etc.
 
pvdogteam said:
I have had a question myself about religion, not spirituality. But I have recently wondered if HELL is a reasonable place for a loving God to send people who does something bad or isn't all in with religion in the brief millisecond we exist in our human form? Going to HELL for all eternity seems really extreme to me if God loves you so much. I can imagine maybe if you live a million years then maybe you would get wise enough to know how to be better, but a span of 0-85 years is not even a millisecond of time to be cast into a lake of fire from now until the end of time. I just can't wrap my head around that logic, to me that is analogous to punishing my son for a bad grade in elementary school all the way through his retirement. Can anyone shed light on why this is a good thing?
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Don't have a direct answer, but what helped me is knowing how things were in the beginning. Book of Jasher. Knowing hell wasn't really created for us. But just like things here on earth warrants punishment by laws, God will not allow sin to just go unchecked. If you rebel against God (willingly and knowingly) and expect to live with him after you leave this world, well........ Thats like saying you have an earthly son that don't want to have anything to do with you and openly disrespect you. If he hates you, but gets put out of his house, then he has to go somewhere. Will he come to live with you if he hates you and don't want to have anything to do with you?

That's all I have for now. Hope that helps some.
 
coldsweat said:
Yes this is in my collection along with a host of other books such as the "Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano!" Good read!

You should also get you a "Cepher" which includes most of those missing books like Enoch, Jasper, Jubilees, etc.
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I do have another book with Enoch, Jubilees, and Jasher in it together.
 
Blacknbengal said:
And here are more books that I read from:

41rWSClFksL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


I'm reading from the book of Esdras which is the same Ezra that is in the Bible. These books were in the Bible, but taken out.
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This is one of my favorite books. And this is one of my favorite verses in that book:

2nd Esdras: 41-48

"But keep the seventy last" that thou mayest deliver them only to such as be wise among the people: for in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom and the stream of knowledge."
 
What I think we have to understand as a people is that the Bible wasn't written to be read alone. There were other books that were written that the Bible refers to. Those other books the prophets, disciples, and scholars used to help study the Bible and signs of the times. That is why the wise men knew about the star of Jesus's birth, as well as other things.

Now, I take the Bible as the foundation, but I research these other books to help me understand events that the Bible talks about. That's just how I do.
 
Blacknbengal said:
What I think we have to understand as a people is that the Bible wasn't written to be read alone. There were other books that were written that the Bible refers to. Those other books the prophets, disciples, and scholars used to help study the Bible and signs of the times. That is why the wise men knew about the star of Jesus's birth, as well as other things.
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Correct. They all work together to form a true vision of what occurred, what is happening now and what is to come!

This is why I look at mainstream Christians with a side eye because most of them have no clue!
 

coldsweat said:
Correct. They all work together to form a true vision of what occurred, what is happening now and what is to come!
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This part Cold is the truth if you never told it before.

The second part, you have to understand Cold. Not everyone wakes up at the same time. You can't be harsh to those that may not know yet. Hell, I didn't know alot of this some years ago. Would you have treated me harsh because I didn't know? I just chose LOVE in showing people. With Love and patience have "I" drawn you. Not everyone wakes up at the same time.

Show more LOVE to your brothers and sisters. The BIBLE says we (Hebrews) will all get there.
 
Blacknbengal said:
This part Cold is the truth if you never told it before.

The second part, you have to understand Cold. Not everyone wakes up at the same time. You can't be harsh to those that may not know yet. Hell, I didn't know alot of this some years ago. Would you have treated me harsh because I didn't know? I just chose LOVE in showing people. With Love and patience have "I" drawn you. Not everyone wakes up at the same time.

Show more LOVE to your brothers and sisters. The BIBLE says we (Hebrews) will all get there.
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Oh..I'm not talking about lumping everyone together. And I get it that everyone wakes up at different times and some people need milk and others need meat!

I'm referring to my people who KNOW this truth and have led my brothers and sister to the slaughter still. The ones who deliberately create chaos to satisfy their fleshly desires.

I live by this verse:

Little children, let us love not in words neither in tongue, but by deeds and TRUTH!"

AKA..show my love in action and speaking the truth!
 
"WHAT IF" it was the devil instead of God who told Constantine to conquer in the name of the cross? This and not the writings of Paul is what led to the creation of the Bible and the influx of pagan rituals.
 
coldsweat said:
Early Christians weren't called Christians. They were called followers of The Way! During the Roman era and before Constatine, these believers were being persecuted and killed because they didn't adopt Roman pagan practices and belief systems. It was so bad at one point, that Pagan leaders went to the authorities and tried to explain why the land was not bringing forth fruit the way it should! It was a divided kingdom. As a result, Constatine came on the scene and tried to unite the kingdom by keeping the pagan rituals and mixed them with the Hebraic dates and times the early Christians celebrated their holy days! This is why to this day, most of the world holidays are right around the same time as Jewish holidays!

If you really want to dive into the historical context you should read "The Antiquity of the Jews" by Josephus. Good read and helps explain alot of what we are discussing and what happened to the early Christians before the term Christianity came to be.
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What you label as early Christians or believe is your opinion.....you're dealing in semantics. What you are now labeling as anti-pagan is antithetical to the venom of your early post relating to Christians (or as you would like to label, "The Way") As I said and believe, you're confused and will leave it at that.
 
JROCK said:
What you label as early Christians or believe is your opinion.....you're dealing in semantics. What you are now labeling as anti-pagan is antithetical to the venom of your early post relating to Christians (or as you would like to label, "The Way") As I said and believe, you're confused and will leave it at that.
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I'm not confused. Please elaborate on your viewpoint. Please understand that alot of the things we read were lost via translation in modern texts! You have to go back and study the ancient texts to get a better understanding of the dynamic word play that is being used currently!

State your case to prove all things!
 
coldsweat said:
I'm not confused. Please elaborate on your viewpoint. Please understand that alot of the things we read were lost via translation in modern texts! You have to go back and study the ancient texts to get a better understanding of the dynamic word play that is being used currently!

State your case to prove all things!
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I've said what I needed to. As I stated earlier, I'm not going to go into a long debate about this. The last thing I will say and repeat, you are no Catholic or Christian scholar. All of the "that a boy(s)" will not change that.
 
Attack Dog said:
"WHAT IF" it was the devil instead of God who told Constantine to conquer in the name of the cross? This and not the writings of Paul is what led to the creation of the Bible and the influx of pagan rituals.
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It very well could be. Remember the cross is a Hebraic symbol (pictograph) historically and is represented as Tav! This means the end or completed!

The pagan rituals have been in the Earth since the beginning! Solomon even interacted with these entities during his reign. Aint nothing new under the sun!
 
JROCK said:
I've said what I needed to. As I stated earlier, I'm not going to go into a long debate about this. The last thing I will say and repeat, you are no Catholic or Christian scholar. All of the "that a boy(s)" will not change that.
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Okay. Got it. Do what Thou Will!
 
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