Why is Christianity dying in the west?

[supremeyingyang]

6 hours ago, trenton said:

@supremeyingyang the reason Christianity like many religions struggle to reform is because they conflate belief and truth. Questioning these beliefs and threatening the survival of the church is commonly lumped together with killing God. In fact people have been killed over questioning religion and to this day atheism is punishable by death in the middle East.

Religion is deeply problematic in that it is a paradigm lock that keeps people from seeing the world from many perspectives. This leads to many misconceptions about other religions which in turn leads to persecution due to Christians learning about Islam from a biased source like their church. If people were taught the philosophy of other religions, not to subscribe to them but just to understand them, then this would be the key to preventing persecution through clearing up our misconceptions.

So long as the many religions are at stakes with each other by placing the survival of an ideology over truth they will never reach God. A start would be to recognize validity in other religions to see the deep similarities they share. If Christianity for example is close minded to other religions because they are taught that those ideologies are evil, then they will never explore Satanism. Most Christians assume that Satanists are literal devil worshippers. In fact most Satanists are atheists and they use Satan as a symbol of man as an animal. Satanic cults are far from representative of this worldview. Childhood imprinting and indoctrination can hold people back for their entire lives when they are taught an absolutistic morality that demonizes other world views.

Religions certainly do change, but it is a long, slow, and brutal process that takes hundreds of years. Nevertheless some progress is being made. Here are two examples.

1. More divisions of Christianity are embracing same sex marriage. Although most Christians are against homosexuality, some churches integrate scientific knowledge. This includes prenatal hormones which are linked to sexual orientation. Homosexuality can't be a sin if this is how people are born. Furthermore, when the bible says "sodomites" it is not condemning homosexuals, but rather false priests Who are sell outs to other Gods. This is a common misconception that is unfair to gay people because the KJV and NKJV use a misleading term for false priest.

2. More divisions of Christianity are allowing priests to marry. In light of the sex scandals, some Christians are trying to replace unhealthy expressions of sexuality with something healthy, for example sex in marriage rather than shrine prostitution. Some Christians are becoming more open to sexuality because treating it like a sin in practice backfires in many ways. Sometimes it even leads mass shooters to killing a dozen women because they were tempted to have sex with them. Purity culture is deeply problematic because you can't repress sex forever. Your body could not exist if not for sex.

Maybe there are others, but I don't remember off the top of my head.

Hi Trenton, I conclude: Religions like Christianity access the source of truth indirectly, therefore they get teared apart like in the examples where they, rightfully, give up believes like their standpoint about homosexuality. It's like a conservation of the past, getting destroyed powned by the present.

 

6 hours ago, Davino said:

1: Lack of proper methods to achieve mistical experiences

2: Lack of modern saints that embody the christian principles and path

The second point is serious. Are there any larger than life christian saints? Maybe in Africa.

 

6 hours ago, hyruga said:

Christianity is up against the invasion of social media and the internet. Now, not only do the kids like to play lots of gaming, even the parents do and like to surf YouTube. Fewer people browse christian bookstores, leading to massive closure and less awareness.

The bible has not been updated in more than 100 years. In fact, the Christian community is trying to protect its own tradition from being eroded by new age, new internet craze so it's unlikely the bible will be updated anytime soon save for some cosmetic changes.

 

To continue Christianity there would need to be at the very least a Jesus 2.0 or something entirely new, the making of a new bible, like maybe the morons have (IDK, don't read it, can be good, can be bad).

 

6 hours ago, hyruga said:

So what do you propose that can be added to the Christian books and traditions?

Other than what I wrote above, IDK. I don't have a agenda, I'm not a Christian I just watch the ship go down and think. Beautiful songs by the way, however I don't like the portrayal of Jesus, it has worth for people who understand it to 'turn the other cheek', for the vast majority of people it leads down the path of mental slavery

[Nilsi]

Rationality basically.

With the advent of modern science, people started to question more and more of the dogmatic foundations of Christian doctrine.

If you question something for long enough it starts to lose its magic - now the genie is out of the bottle, God is dead and there is no going back to naive pre-modern dogmatism.

What's so ironic about this is that the Bible has warned us about this fall from grace - being thrown out of the garden of Eden - all this time. Yet it was completely inevitable.

Edited March 17, 2023 by Nilsi

[hyruga]

It doesn't matter what new info is added. People seek material things but we will all physically die within the next 200 years. Time to repent and be with God. Tons of christians turn the other cheek but they still do bad things from time to time. 

Oh there is a prophecy on the second coming of Christ in the Bible. That's Jesus 2.0 for you.

The ship is sinking? Well,it is growing fast in Asia and many countries. 

Just like Buddhism is growing well in western world, it is slowly eroding in Asia. People likes to rebel and choose what they is new and what they don't have.

 

17 hours ago, supremeyingyang said:

 

Edited March 18, 2023 by hyruga