Do christians inflate their numbers by counting everyone who was baptized?

Question

I know lots of people who were baptized, but I know very few who are actually religious or go to church (except maybe for christmas). When it's said that there are 2.129 Billion christians in the world are they counting everyone who was baptized? Isn't that cheating? Do other religions do the same sort of thing?

Answer 1

Acts 2:38 41
And Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him." And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls
----3,000 souls

John 3:1-5
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
I can't go back to my mother's womb and be born again?
>>>water and spirit...


Matthew 3;13-16
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
We please the LORD not the people ..

they counted it before..were they cheating that time? Can you cheat the Lord? even your secrets can't be hide..
the Lord would speaks into you.. even you should receive many attacks.. remain close to HIM..

Answer 2

There's no central registry of Christianity to count who is in and who is out. (At least, not on this Earth.) So the best statisticians can do is try to estimate the numbers of people who belong to various religions. To do this, they may use surveys, or they may simply assume that if you're born to parents of one religion, you will follow the practices of that religion. Thus, they may assume that anyone born to Jewish or Christian parents is Jewish or Christian their entire lives (and doesn't become Buddhist or Atheist).

Similarly, they may also assume that anyone who is baptized as a Christian (or converts to Islam) continues to follow that religion their entire lives, since past experience has shown that the majority of people don't change their minds after going through such a ritual.

Thus, surveys of baptisms or conversions can yield an estimate of the numbers of people following a religion. For any one person, the assumptions may be incorrect, but over a large enough population, the estimates are probably about as accurate as one could get.

Answer 3

Christians are the only ones that do that.. most other religions go by the religion of your parents.. so you are born into a religion.

to be a Christian.. you MUST be baptized at some point.. and by someone authorized by God ... not just the $10 ordination paper you can order over the internet.

Answer 4

The catholic cult takes the attitude that once you're in the cult, you never leave. In other words, if you're lying near death in a hospital and they find out your family belongs to the cult, they'll do all they can to get some child raping priest drooling over you as you croak. Your wishes will be ignored, regardless of whether you became an atheist or you were perverted - oops, converted - to another religion.

The morons - oops, mormons - go around to graveyards of other religions and "convert" the dead. This, of course, pisses off the living who belong to said cults, especially when the maroons - oops, mormons - do it to jews.

A few jews have ludicrously called it "genocide"...that's hard to swallow considering that the people are already dead.

Answer 5

Probably. I doubt they do it to "cheat" or to be sneaky or anything, it is probably just the easiest way of keeping track. They can't go around to every person in the world and have a deep discussion about their faith and what they beleive in before tallying them, that would take forever and people might change their opinions after they were counted. I imagine other religions do it too, it is just practical!

Answer 6

Well I am not sure what you mean by saying they was Baptised, but being baptised does not save a person. So if thats what people are going on then there is many who are fooled and don't know the truth. Maybe that explains why so many aint in church.

Answer 7

To be honest, there is a wide difference between baptised members and actual members actively serving their faith in a lot of denominations. Jehovah Witnesses do retain a high active member count.

Answer 8

When Africa was colonised, and the missionaries opened schools, then it was the usual practice to give the young entrant a Christian name and to report back home that so many have been converted. This also helped swell 'the numbers'.

Answer 9

It has nothing to do with Christians inflating their numbers through baptism or attending a church..
Faith alone in Christ alone is what adds believers to God's universal church.
We are the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:26
And only God the father knows the numbers.

Answer 10

Baptism doesn't make you a Christian. And I didn't even know the number. some people may keep score, but they probably are just peon bean counters who aren't doing anything for Christ.