Nobody knows for sure, the number is debatable. I've seen the number reported as anywhere from 1 to 2 billion, depending on where you look. It fluctuates and depends on the number of people who report they are Catholic in various polls...to be fair, here's a site that lists the number as 1.1 billion. (interestingly, note that it's a science website!) http://www.livescience.com/27244-the-world-s-catholic-population-infographic.html But it also says the following: Over the past century, the number of Catholics around the world has more than tripled, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. As of 2010, there are nearly 1.1 billion Catholics, up from an estimated 291 million in 1910. Of course that report is from 2010, so your number of 1.25 billion is probably more accurate, especially considering the fact that the number of Catholics worldwide has been steadily increasing over the past century. The number of young, active Catholics is increasing rapidly these days as well; there is a revival or renewal in the Church going on, as evidenced by the huge turnouts at World Youth Days each year, and the many active groups of young Catholics gathering weekly for prayer, community service activities, and other events. (I've been personally involved with a couple of them myself). I think it has something to do with the change in focus of the Church since the 40's/50's from one focused on a strict rigidity, "fire and brimstone" sermons, the "Do-Nots" instead of the positive aspects of the Faith, etc. The basic teachings of the Church have not changed, but the emphasis has shifted from a Church that was seen as "condemning, elitist, and excluding" to one that is now seen as "welcoming, forgiving, loving, and universal". What the Catholic (Universal) Church was always meant to be. Outstanding recent Popes, especially John Paul II and our current Pope Francis, have done much to change the image of the Church, especially among young people. Pope John Paul II, recall, was loved by countless young people worldwide. ...but I apologize for being a little lazy in throwing that number out there, and I'm glad you corrected me on it.
OK great, now THIS is what I've always hoped for with this thread, a chance for a real debate! ...and a debate different from what we see in our hopelessly divided, partisan politics; a debate where all involved seek only to find the Truth, and everyone is willing to change their minds on something without it being viewed as a sign of weakness or "losing" the debate. If you go back and read literature from the early Greeks and Romans, for example, the great philosophers, you will see what real, mature debate is, a back and forth that leads to clarity, the modification of views when appropriate, and collaboration in a true spirit of brotherhood! .... can we have that here, maybe, just maybe? (and then maybe in our country?) (actually, to be fair, it does happen occasionally in this thread, at least for a little while) OK, so let's give it a try, shall we? ..... so I would ask then, why do you make your claim that "Lutherans>Catholics." First, are you talking about the individuals who call themselves Catholics or Lutherans, or the religions themselves? That's a key distinction we need to make...
...what the small percentage of atheists have been telling themselves for centuries, in the hopes that one day they will really believe it to their core. Attacking the faithful along with way, hoping to psychologically make themselves feel better by tearing down others in their own mind (that's basic psychology btw). You say it will "die off eventually," but how many more years do we have to wait?! It's been over 2000 years since hundreds of people actually saw for themselves, with their own eyes, the amazing miracles of Jesus; over 2000 years since the apostles actually saw the physical Jesus himself, risen from the dead; they actually spoke with him, embraced him, ate with him, watched him eat! Were all of them "crazy or delusional", or whatever other label you want to attach to them 2000 years later? Were the hundreds of eyewitnesses to his miracles all crazy? Were the Jews and Romans of that time, and their leaders, stupid enough to let some "hoax" not only survive the execution of its leader, but increase and perpetuate? Were all of the countless martyrs just crazy when they stood up for their Faith even when it meant unspeakably horrific, torturous deaths? .... ..... I could go on and on, but it's amazing to me that there are still atheists out there (albeit only about 1.5% of the world's population, about 9 or 10% if you include agnostics...from the World Almanac 2016) given all of the evidence that continually piles up year after year, decade after decade, century after century; I'm talking about all of the near death experiences (including ones confirmed as authentic by top scientists!), Marian apparitions, confirmed miracles ( baffling doctors and scientists), martyrs even today in parts of the world dying for what you insist on calling a "hoax", etc etc etc. There have been many false messiahs in the history of the world, and their movements did actually die out soon after their leader died and/or the hoax was confirmed. The fact that the real Messiah, Christ Jesus, and his followers still account for about 25% of the world's population; that the Pope is still influential in world politics, that his Church is still the largest, most influential global organization of any kind, spanning every continent on earth ..... yeah, must have all come from a cheap hoax 2000 years ago, started by a poor carpenter who was executed by the Roman empire ... smh. ... I guess it's like they say, for people who really don't want to believe, no amount of factual evidence will ever suffice.
"Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him, everything else thrown in." -CS Lewis HAPPY EASTER everyone!
It means that I'm human, therefore I will make mistakes occasionally. I'm not perfect. I was probably thinking of the approx. 2.4 billion Christians worldwide. To clear things up, here are the numbers from the 2016 World Almanac (I have my copy in front of me). World Adherents of Religions (Source: 2015 Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014 numbers) Christians: 2.39 billion Muslims: 1.67 billion Hindus: 0.97 billion Buddhists: 0.52 billion Jews: about 14 million World Population: 7.3 billion All religious adherents: 6.42 billion Atheists: 0.14 billion (1.9% of the world's population) (including agnostics, the number of non-religious would be 0.83 billion, or about 11% of the world's population) Among Christians, 1.23 billion (about 51%) are Catholic.
I'm an attacking atheist? naaah, i'd keep my big mouth shut if religion would keep its big mouth shut, but it never does. well, for the last time, i have no doubt something created this universe, i have no idea what it is and im comfortable with that. believe what you want to Truth, but if you want me to believe, please furnish some evidence. The empirical kind of evidence preferably, not scripture, ive had it up here with that horrible book thats been edited, rewritten, twisted around, changed over and over, with content stolen from earlier cultures i might add but just spun differently with different characters. written by man, not God.
The number of atheists has been growing at a rapid rate over the last couple decades as we learn more and more from science. I think your %'s are heavily skewed. I would say more than 50% of the people I know don't believe in any form of religion. Religion has absolutely zero factual evidence to support any of their claims. The bible is a fairytale. It's written by man. It's just fictional stories passed down generation to generation. Ever heard of old wives tails? JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books are about the equivalent of the Bible. Give me some actual proof. Some real evidence. Not just "he said he saw this 2,000 years ago". It's all he said/she said. I literally saw the actual Tooth Fairy. It's real because I said it and you have no way to prove otherwise. I'm going to write a book about it and publish it as non fiction. Maybe people 2,000 years from now will believe it.
Not sure exactly what you are asking, but I'll answer it anyway: I believe there was a man commonly known by that name who lived in the approximate area(s) at or about the appropriate times that are set forth in the New Testament. As a matter of history. As a matter of theology, do I believe he was some divine personage? Not a chance.
It's just too bad that appeal to popularity is a logical fallacy. The amount of people that buy into fairy tales has nothing to do with whether the fairy tales are true or false. Plus you neglect the fact that the world population was just under 2 billion in 1910. Since then the population of the world has more than tripled, so if anything the amount of Catholics per capita is lower than it used to be. So either way the argument fails. The problem is that you can't verify any of that. It's pretty common knowledge that the gospels of Jesus were written down by folks that did not actually witness the events, 30+ years after the crucifixion. Sorry, it could just as easily be all made up, including the "hundreds of witnesses". In order to believe the stories of the bible you have to place more faith in the men that wrote it, than in god himself. Sorry, but I don't trust man. Humans lie to promote agendas. There's no more reason to believe the men who wrote the bible, than there is for the men that wrote the Koran, or the men that wrote Egyptian mythology. Were all those hundreds of witnesses of Horus' Resurrection proof that it happened? Negative. Evidence such as? Sorry but all of your evidence is completely subjective. People dying because they have strong faith is not evidence of anything but stupidity. That's like claiming that 9/11 is evidence that Islam is true. It's nonsense and people choosing to be martyrs only makes them stupid and stubborn. Funny that you mention martyrs, when the church burned people alive and invented far worse torture devices for folks that didn't believe. And again, appeal to popularity is a fallacy and bears no indication on whether something is true or false. You already made this false claim. Nothing has been confirmed by top scientists in regards to NDEs. The brain releases chemicals when you are dying. End of story. It looks trippy and causes hallucinations. Just because it is vivid doesn't mean it's evidence of god even if NDE's were proven to be real, it still proves zero about god.
If He was just a common man then why did He become the focal point in human history? His life divided time into BC/AD.
great american-the victors are the ones that write history.... I believe in Jesus myself but its easy for me to see this argument that he was a special common man, but not God. Our calendars, history books everything are based in a Christian tradition. Christianity "won" our history. so far. of course christians are going to have their god as the central figure in their history
Because the people that killed him saw his generic-style grass roots hippie doctrine was winning the hearts and minds of the people holding rakes and hoes and driving oxen, and those little people were building a population that vastly outnumbered the Roman soldiers, so they did what they had done with their previous few religions - adopted it as a form of population control. Only this time, there weren't 500 different gods they had to pretend to consult for policy, no 500 different temples to try to remember, there was just that one God who could boss the human race around. Sometimes the simplest answers are the most effective. And it was such a successful blueprint that it has been used for a couple of millennia.
My point was in response to those who claim that events in the Bible are fairy tales and passed down from generation to generation. The division of time came under Charlemagne's rule which wasn't too many generations after the death of Christ. Those generations watched the birth of the church and the spread of Christianity across Europe. They lived it and thought it was pretty special.
Jesus' little band of followers was only a small fraction compared to the power and control the Sanhedrin had on the common people in His day. IMO, the Romans perceived the Jews as a greater threat to peace. History proves this too. What happened in AD 70?
