My personal experience of evangelism

[firstfloor]

Nice try at distorting my words with your spin. The message is forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ the rest is just the bounty that goes along with that.

Then just to be clear, atheists don’t reject the message, they reject the magic.

[Tassman]

And do you now to bribe them with cookies?

Any self-respecting child will go with whichever side offers the best cookies.

[One Bad Pig]

Sure. Its mostly coming from my reading of Philip Jenkins on the subject (specifically The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity). I thought this was more or less common knowledge.

Philip Jenkins is not high on my list of respected scholars. I've read his book on Eastern Christianity (the title escapes me at the moment).

[Abigail]

Not true. The message that everyone benefits if they love one another is not in the least problematic for atheists. It is not exclusively a Christian message.

Nice try at distorting my words with your spin. The message is forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ the rest is just the bounty that goes along with that.

[thewriteranon]

Lutherans are the original Protestants.


But only confessional Lutherans practice closed communion. The ELCA for example practice open communion.

I was confirmed in a WELS church and even attended a Missouri Synod church for a year during my catechism and I still can't receive communion in a Missouri Synod church!

[Adrift]

Islam is growing mostly through a high birth rate and immigration, and the NoI's identity with black empowerment doesn't hurt either. South America is something like 90% Christian, and AFAIK that is mostly Roman Catholic. In that situation, the odds are extremely good that the small minority is going to have a better growth rate and a smaller percentage of nominal believers, and so conversion is almost inevitably going to be in the direction of the minority. I would like to see where you're getting your data.

Sure. Its mostly coming from my reading of Philip Jenkins on the subject (specifically The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity). I thought this was more or less common knowledge.

[MaxVel]

firstfloor is my favorite tweb atheist

Because he's the only TWeb atheist who is as provocative as you are?

[MaxVel]

I understand him very well even, though I may not totally agree with him. It depends on what knowledge is being passed on and how. He believes the passing on the knowledge of science in the manner it does. He does not approve of how knowledge is sometimes passed on in Christianity, particularly evangelism which depends heavily depends heavily on an emotional connection to the knowledge.

Uh. Yeah. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[rogue06]

When my nephews were tiny, they'd ask why I didn't take communion when visiting my brother's church. I told them, "I'm not a Lutheran."



It didn't exactly fool them, but it wasn't really intended to do so. They knew I simply sat quietly without bowing my head when grace was said, because they peeked, the rapscallions! Still, it did make another point I could stress when they were older, that differences in our religious beliefs could be respected.

And do you now to bribe them with cookies?

[JonathanL]

No, they were the original Evangelicals.

Semantics.

But those aren't Real Lutherans^TM.

True.

[One Bad Pig]

Lutherans are the original Protestants.

No, they were the original Evangelicals.

But only confessional Lutherans practice closed communion. The ELCA for example practice open communion.

But those aren't Real Lutherans^TM.

[Juvenal]

Lutherans are unusual among Protestants in that they practice closed communion.

Lutherans are the original Protestants. But only confessional Lutherans practice closed communion.

When my nephews were tiny, they'd ask why I didn't take communion when visiting my brother's church. I told them, "I'm not a Lutheran."



It didn't exactly fool them, but it wasn't really intended to do so. They knew I simply sat quietly without bowing my head when grace was said, because they peeked, the rapscallions! Still, it did make another point I could stress when they were older, that differences in our religious beliefs could be respected.

[One Bad Pig]

This method of conversion in the Catholic and Orthodox church may count towards why those denominations are shrinking, and why Islam (in the Northern hemisphere) and Protestantism (in the Southern hemisphere) are filling in the gap.

Islam is growing mostly through a high birth rate and immigration, and the NoI's identity with black empowerment doesn't hurt either. South America is something like 90% Christian, and AFAIK that is mostly Roman Catholic. In that situation, the odds are extremely good that the small minority is going to have a better growth rate and a smaller percentage of nominal believers, and so conversion is almost inevitably going to be in the direction of the minority. I would like to see where you're getting your data. Eastern Orthodoxy is growing in Africa, and is growing in Guatemala (the only SA country for which I have much knowledge of Orthodoxy) so fast they're having a difficult time accommodating it; the Hatian mission desperately needs more priests. Part of the problem with Orthodoxy's expansion in this hemisphere is that it was established to mostly serve immigrant communities in their native language, and those communities tend to want to maintain that language in worship as part of their culture - which makes proselytizing rather difficult and makes it more likely that children will grow up and leave because they don't understand what's going on.

[JonathanL]

Lutherans are unusual among Protestants in that they practice closed communion.

Lutherans are the original Protestants.


But only confessional Lutherans practice closed communion. The ELCA for example practice open communion.

[One Bad Pig]

As far as I'm aware most* confessional Lutheran denominations (which are the only genuine Lutherans IMO ) require you to get catechised before you're allowed to receive communion in their churches.

Lutherans are unusual among Protestants in that they practice closed communion.