Map shows Church Attendance in U.S.

I think what you mean is I haven't offered any theory or thesis to explain it.

Or I haven't offered a specific concept to explain why it matters to politics.

You have a mind. What do you think about it?

Maybe you're just too used to letting the media do all your critical thinking for you?

 

There should have been a very dark green spot down here in Southwest Florida.

I live in a town of 8000 that's 4.2 square miles and there has to be at least 40 churches if not more.

 

The map is of course not entirely perfect or 100% accurate.

I think this map clearly shows a national phenomenon though and can stimulate discussion.

 

I would expect the more rural areas of Florida to be much darker green.... With much lighter green or white in urban areas

 

I was wondering about that. FL has never seemed likely to be that different from adjacent states.

I'll note that there is NOTHING about how data were gathered on all these states, who is doing/paying for the work, why they did the work, what comments the authors have on their own work, like ways in which there could be weaknesses, etc.

 

I've given my thoughts on this map.

Again, there isn't NEARLY enough information concerning this map to make it a trustable foundation for further ideas.

 

So

Sorry I went off topic.

 

I think your mind has glanced at the implications and doesn't like them.

Hmm, sounds to me like you are trying to obfuscate the issue.

 

the topic is church attendance and i explain why leaving the church does NOT equate to leaving god precisely the accusation the right continuosly shout, i bet your arguments/opinions would have rang true with the pope and martin luther, and i have determined my views mostly myself after 20 plus years of spiritual growth

 

What implications?

What issue???

 

It's not even stimulating YOUR discussion!

 

Like I said, you are incapable of coming to any conclusions unless the media tells you what you should think.

 

Conclusions about ... what?

 

Any conclusions.

Do you even have your own thoughts? Or is every opinion you hold just spoonfed to you? Maybe you don't even realize it, and have never thought about that till now.

If I give you some facts, are you capable of forming your own opinions and conclusions about it, what its significance is?

I know in the past I've pointed interpretations out and people refuse to even entertain it unless the media tells them that interpretation. Even though the actual basic facts are not in question.

Time to get your brain going, WillReadmore. What do YOU think might be the significance of these facts?

Or do you honestly believe it has no big political relevance that you can see or think of?

 

Theoretically, yes, but in reality there is a strong correlation.

 

I disagree. I left the Catholic church about 15 years ago, and I feel more connected to god than ever. I know tons of people with similar experiences.

It is the MOST real gospel. You'll find more "heresy" in interpretations on church authority by church officials, if you consider "heresy" to mean deviation from the intent of Jesus. Of course, the church will call anything "heresy" that undermines their power and authority. It is unreal the petty **** that caused excommunications and the branding of heretic over the centuries.

 

Yeah, no. Gnostics were the "Liberal New Age Spiritualists" of their time. These days it would be the type of church that has a statue of Mary, a figure of Buddha and a picture of Gandhi displayed on their stage. Sort of "buffet style" Christianity that picks and chooses what they like. The Gnostics incorporated a lot of pagan Greek philosophy into their movement too.

I've read the Gospel of Thomas and it is totally full of wacky things, has a different type of subject content and writing style inconsistent with any of the other Gospels and it's clear why any real Christian theologists would have rejected it.

But this is a discussion for another thread. No one should listen to you here. Start another thread if you want to defend your claim.

 

My brother in law is a pastor and he has been talking about the steady decline in church attendance for the last 20 years or more. When we first met him he was a young pastor at a local church but they moved to a more rural community about 10 years ago and one problem he identified is as the older generation dies off the attendance goes down because the number of young people attending church does not replace the older generation passing away. I am sure there are other issues too but this is definitely one for you to consider.

 

I also notice now that with the younger generation, it is almost normal now for them all to go around with many sexual partners at the same time, going back and forth. I mean like having one partner for 2 or 3 months, then someone else the next three months, then going back to the previous one for 2 months, maybe cheat on them with someone else.

Even plain blatant "polyamory" is not rare now, with maybe 10% of younger people in the more progressive states adopting that lifestyle. (That's where you are officially and openly in a sexual relationship with two or three people)

I don't know how exactly this might have a connection to religion or frequency of church attendance but I am sure there may likely be a connection.

 

I too incorporate a lot of pagan philosophy, gnosticism, the teachings of Jesus, as well as Hinduism and other traditions. They are all remarkably saying a lot of the same things when you sweep out the BS. The church rejected those teachings because they undermine church power. I've read the gospel of thomas as well, and it makes perfect sense. The "buffet" style is exactly how spirituality SHOULD be. God presented himself to differnet people at different times in different ways. All should be appreciated and learned from.

 

Oh, you mean like the nature of sin and Hell?

Kind of an unpleasant thought, isn't it?

 

Very cynical perspective.

Probably because it's as wacky as your beliefs you already had.

This tells us everything we need to know about your beliefs.

It's ridiculous to pick the part about Heaven to believe in, but not the inconvenient part about Hell.

Besides that, I'm pretty sure you won't be martyring yourself for the sake of Vishnu, if such a situation ever confronted you, so you probably don't believe very deeply in what you believe.

 

What's an unpleasant thought? sin and hell? Sin is an absence of love. Hell is within us, as is heaven. I don't see the unpleasantness.

 

1) Lol, Constantine needed a religion to unite the empire and make the populations relatively easy to control. That's why Thomas was removed. His teachings taught that the way to heaven was within us, and spoke of reincarnation. The idea of reincarnation makes it VERY hard to control people, because that means no priesthood or church authority is needed.

2) Wacky? Have you read the bible? It's got extremely wacky stuff going on in there. Talking bushes, all of mankind somehow coming from 2 people, only 2 of every animal being saved (which would pretty much guarnateed their extinction, immaculate conception, etc etc. I'm not even saying their may be truth to some of the stories. I'm saying Christians have no room to talk about "wackiness".

3) I find it amusing people think that god revealed himself only to THEM. THEY are the chosen ones, and all other ideas before and after them must be garbage and heresy! What nonsense. There is as much of the holy spirit in for example the animism of Native Americans as their is in Christianity. It is this "superiority" people feel in their religion that is the source of so much evil in the world today.

4) Not ridiculous at all. Hell is just more BS made up by the church to control people. With hell, people only do things because they are afraid of going to hell, not because their soul is truly transformed to perfect love. With reincarnation, you can't fake it. You don't return to god until your soul is truly a state of perfect love.

Jesus spoke of reincarnation and these other ideas. It is Christianity that chose to censor Jesus' teachings. I think I'll listen to Jesus rather than some power hungry politicians (Emperor constantine and church officials)

 

You're smart enough to realize that's not an indisputable historical fact, right?

Which doesn't fit with the rest of the Bible.

Well then, I guess you don't literally believe in any of the four Gospels.

From a person who does not believe in the four gospels, should any Christian take your word about the book of Thomas?

You can start with Luke 16:19-31
How about Matthew 5:30 and 13:42 ?