It seems to me (by way of the media, email, internet, etc) that those who believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior, he was born as the son of God and is Risen, are few and far between. I live in the 'Bible Belt' in a large metropolitan city. Here, nearly everyone I know goes to church and claims to be saved. What is the difference between so many of us in this area, and so many others in other parts of the country?
2007-11-29 13:45:11 · 30 answers · asked by Flying Pig a.k.a The Fat Lady 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Ouch...I suppose I should have expected some of these answers. I know I'll get some nasty comments for this, too, but bless all of you!
2007-11-29 13:57:56 · update #1
For those of you that are commenting "YOU ARE WRONG." Please, just give me the facts...I'm not pointing any fingers, hence the "it seems that..." in the body of my question.
2007-11-29 14:00:36 · update #2
yes and no . people have different degrees of belief in Christmas from none to inordinate delusion . Pick for yourself . most people will celebrate life, nativity and generosity, despite religious beliefs.
2007-11-29 13:51:17 · answer #1 · answered by dogpatch USA 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Isolation? Education? Who knows? My own personal belief (and I'll probably get deleted for this, but what the hey) is that Jesus walked the Earth and was a charismatic leader. I probably would have been a follower if I were on the scene back then. I've read many, many books on many different subjects and sought my own education and spirituality, and what I've found is a belief that I happen to be comfortable with. I actually take a little from each religion that I've studied and come up with something that works for me. Organized religion doesn't work for me, i have a problem with people telling me how and when to pray, and that I have to live without sin when they are just as human as I am and "sin" just as much as I do. I'm glad I live in a part of the country where I am not judged for my own personal beliefs.
No offense, but if I had to live where you do, I'd probably move.
2007-11-29 21:52:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Families from the Bible Belt have a long close Christian history in their communities . Even to the extent that 2nd ( and even ) 1st cousins married with some frequency . The East (and later the West) coast were inhabited by people of various faiths and beliefs and knowledge ( because of their shipping ports ). People were encouraged to open their minds up .They were the ones to first fight against Slavery and The Viet Nam War , and Anti-Choice nazis , and Creationism in the Schools , and ... Well you get the idea . People in and near the big cities such as LA , NYC, SF , Boston , etc were all better educated and free from the constaints of religious pressure . The exact opposite is true of the people in the Bible Belt to whom a visit to a large US city is like going to a foreign nation .
2007-11-29 22:06:25 · answer #3 · answered by allure45connie 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Possibly a little history:
Christmas, as we know it, was not designed by religion. It was designed by one newspaper and five major retailers in New York City, all with the best of intentions===profit!
Coca Cola gave us the chubby St Nick based upon the magazine cover from Saturday Evening Post.
You may remember he used to be a rather unattractive, skinny elfin person.
Now that you have a bit of reality you can stop blaming adjusted christianity or giving it credit for yet one more thing that it claims and didn't invent.
Our indulgence in religion is thankfully not generally fundamentalists in nature.
The Reagan and later the Bush administration is guilty of mollycoddling the religious right just to acquire their voting block. This is possible because fundamentalists are...natural born follower types and can be relied upon to vote the way they're told by sooth-sayers.
Pathetic, really!
2007-12-01 09:23:45 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
You are wrong.
China is the country with the fastest growing number for christians.
The government in China admits to 23 million christians, under their registered churches. There are many more underground churches in China, and the real number of christians might be 69 MILLION.
42.7% of South Koreans are christians, when a few decades ago, South Korea was a Buddhist predominant nation.
South Korea biggest church, Yoido Full Gospel Church boasts of 830000 members.
Singapore (my country) is seeing the christian population growing too, with 3 mega churches, with populations of up to 15000 for each mega church.
Evangelical churches in West Africa are numbered 157, double the number 5 years ago.
source: The Economist Nov issue
++++++++++++++++
i gave you the figures. The Economist Magazine
2007-11-29 21:57:25 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Your own eyes and logical observation say that there are a lot of Christians out there ("nearly everyone I know goes to church and claims to be saved"). Unproven stories and myths (from the "media, e-mail and the Internet") tell you that Christians are few and far between.
And you believe the myths.
Man, that just about sums it all up, doesn't it?
2007-11-29 21:51:52 · answer #6 · answered by Tut Uncommon 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
ROFLMFAO. Christians are the only people in the entire world who would think that they are in the minority when they have two billion believers globally. Just lol at this question. Yes, you are technically in the minority but the number of people that follow your religion makes this question ridiculous.
Btw, you better not be referring to the US when you say "this country". Also, Jesus was not born in Decembr and Christmas started off as a pagan holiday, period. Get it through your head.
2007-11-29 21:53:44 · answer #7 · answered by Keyring 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I don't get why so many of you are so convinced you are so few. From my perspective, not even in the bible belt, the large majority are Jesus followers... Why so pessimistic, and I don't mean just you, but many I've seen post similar stuff on here. Is it because other views are being given more of a voice, or what.
2007-11-29 21:51:03 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
So few? And just how many of these people that don't believe in the religion behind Christmas do you know?
Anyway what business is it of yours what anyone else believes or doesn't believe.
Btw, 1/3 of the worlds population is Christian.
2007-11-29 21:51:08 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
OK...I'm starting a "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" Drinking Game. I just don't know how many times I can post that it's based on a Pagan Holiday, that Jesus wasn't born on Dec. 25th, and that Jesus never said in the Bible to celebrate His Birth in the first place.
*drinks*
2007-11-29 21:49:47 · answer #10 · answered by mental1018 3 · 7⤊ 3⤋