Are We Seeing a Repeat of History from 2,000 Years Ago
About two thousand years ago, the many strains of religious thinking we now call Paganism were replaced with Christianity. The entire transition took about 500 years. During most of those years it appears Pagan people thought Christianity was a passing fad and would eventually disappear. Those alive toward the end of the 500 years they were still surprised to suddenly find themselves on the outside looking in.
Pundits say the decline of Christianity in the U.S. is accelerating. A prevailing view within Christianity is that people "will come to their senses" and return to the faith even after leaving it for a while. That could happen. It also could happen that the same trend that has been going on now for a couple of decades, people leaving the faith, could continue indefinitely. If that were the case Christianity would experience the same defeat it imposed upon others some 2,000 years ago.
If history is any judge, it would be unusual if Christianity continued on for more centuries. The evidence we have of ancient societies is that religions have a shelf life. It is longer than bananas but it does spoil eventually.
I'm not sure how many Christians know the their faith is not the oldest one in the world still being practiced. There may be several older but the most prominent one older than Christianity is Hinduism. One can assume Hinduism will have its time in the sun reduced to little or nothing as other faiths have done since the beginning of humans.
Is there anything Christianity can do to extend its life line? It seems to me it needs to adapt to contemporary culture faster than it is doing.
Pundits say the decline of Christianity in the U.S. is accelerating. A prevailing view within Christianity is that people "will come to their senses" and return to the faith even after leaving it for a while. That could happen. It also could happen that the same trend that has been going on now for a couple of decades, people leaving the faith, could continue indefinitely. If that were the case Christianity would experience the same defeat it imposed upon others some 2,000 years ago.
If history is any judge, it would be unusual if Christianity continued on for more centuries. The evidence we have of ancient societies is that religions have a shelf life. It is longer than bananas but it does spoil eventually.
I'm not sure how many Christians know the their faith is not the oldest one in the world still being practiced. There may be several older but the most prominent one older than Christianity is Hinduism. One can assume Hinduism will have its time in the sun reduced to little or nothing as other faiths have done since the beginning of humans.
Is there anything Christianity can do to extend its life line? It seems to me it needs to adapt to contemporary culture faster than it is doing.
Exactly right...religions also change over time to suit cultural needs.
ReplyDeleteLet it go.
ReplyDeleteChristianity is the world's oldest religion. A word from (your namesake) John the Apostle....
ReplyDeleteJohn 1:1-5, 14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it....
...14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus is the Alpha AND the Omega (Rev. 22:13), the beginning and the end. It is atheism that is destined for extinction.
I always get a kick out of how people use the Bible to support things that the Bible said.
DeleteUnfortunately for your argument, pre-historical evidence of religious worship predates the birth of Abrahamism by almost 10,000 years, and documented, primary historical sources exist for religions that predate Abrahamism by almost 4,000 years. I understand that is tough to digest for folks who don't even think the entire world is that old, but the evidence is stacked against you.
I just want to chime in with a boom-shakalaka!
Delete(boom-shakalaka means anonymous looks like a turd)
Thank you Bryan!
Lindgren has nothing better to do than criticize others. He is like a terrorist, and looks to destroy things because he has no abilities to be constructive. Maybe if he doesn't like things here it would be better for him to leave. You are just a nuisance.
ReplyDeleteSo, I don't quite understand how giving people some "food for thought" is destructive. If you find him such a nuisance then why do you even read his blog??
DeleteI can certainly say that I don't necessarily agree with all that he says, but that is one thing that I love about our country, we can think and say what we want.
John and Elaine,
ReplyDeleteI continue to enjoy reading your Forum columns. The photo of the two of you helps me remember the "years ago" time when we were colleagues at ND Stat University.
Chuck Humphrey
The difference was back then people were forced into Christianity by the tip of a sword. How many switched out of fear for their lives? Eventually their children adopted it and it was passed down for a long time.
ReplyDeleteToday, in the USA at least, we don't have to fear being killed for leaving a faith. This isn't so much the case in some places in the world yet.
I dream of a world one day where we don't need these religions to help us feel better about the universe.