The Question that Stops Christians in Their Tracks (2023)

FAQs

What is the strongest argument against Christianity? ›

The arguments against Christianity include the suppositions that it is a faith of violence, corruption, superstition, polytheism, homophobia, bigotry, pontification, abuses of women's rights and sectarianism.

The most important question in all of Scripture comes from Jesus, and he asks it very simply: “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answers the question correctly by stating, “You are the Christ.”

Among self-identified Christians, the predominant reason that non-churchgoers offer for not attending worship services is that they practice their faith in other ways. Upwards of four-in-ten (44%) say this is a very important reason for not going to church more often.

When did you first know there was a God? When in your life did you feel closest to God? What makes you feel most connected to God? How do you balance all the priorities in your life?

About 64% of Americans call themselves Christian today. That might sound like a lot, but 50 years ago that number was 90%, according to a 2020 Pew Research Center study. That same survey said the Christian majority in the US may disappear by 2070.

All humanity is now involved in a great controversy between Christ and Satan regarding the character of God, His law, and His sovereignty over the universe. This conflict originated in heaven when a created being, endowed with freedom of choice, in self-exaltation became Satan, God's adversary.

We believe that: (1) the Scriptures are God's revelation of himself to mankind; (2) they are infallible (never wrong); and (3) they are the divinely authoritative guide for our faith, belief, and manner of living (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Peter 1:21).

Christians believe that God is revealed through three dimensions: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.

Much religious education now, and perhaps more to come, is based on a consideration of what some have called ultimate questions. Questions like 'Who am I ?' , 'Why are we here ?' , 'What is the purpose of life ?' , 'Does the universe have meaning ?'

The Presbyterian Church has had the sharpest decline in church membership: between 2000 and 2015 it lost over 40% of its congregation and 15.4% of its churches. Infant baptisms have also decreased; nationwide, Catholic baptisms are down by nearly 34%, and ELCA baptisms by over 40%.

Can you still believe in God and not go to church? ›

Most people who stop attending church services still believe in God, according to new research commissioned by the Church of Scotland. Many who no longer attend church choose to express their faith in new ways, said Scotland's national Church.

Among non-churchgoers who self-identify as Christians, the predominant reason offered for not attending worship services is that they practice their faith in other ways. Almost half of evangelicals in this category (46 percent) say this is a very important reason for not going to church more often.

In relation to God, we ask: 1) that His name will be honored, 2) that His kingdom will come, and 3) that His will should be done. In relation to ourselves, we ask: 4) that God will provide what we need, 5) that God will forgive our sins, and 6) that God will deliver us from evil.

He created people out of love for the purpose of sharing love. People were created to love God and each other. Additionally, when God created people, he gave them good work to do so that they might experience God's goodness and reflect his image in the way they care for the world and for each other.

Studies in the 21st century suggest that, in terms of percentage and worldwide spread, Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world.

As the US adjusts to an increasingly non-religious population, thousands of churches are closing each year in the country – a figure that experts believe may have accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that the country shall have no official religion, and Americans have been debating where to draw the line between religion and government since the country's founding.

Sexual harassment scandal

In an editorial on the magazine, the CEO of Christianity Today Timothy Dalrymple admitted that the society that owns and edits the magazine fell short on protecting the employees and apologized for the fact, promising strong and swift action against sexual harassment.

"The Great Controversy" is the detailed and fascinating history of the conflict between Jesus Christ and Satan by Ellen G. White, one of the founders of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

What was one of the controversial things Jesus did? ›

Perhaps the most famous of Jesus' anger issues occurred when he came across a temple to his dad, and found it full of moneylenders and animal-sellers. He was furious at this sacrilege, but he didn't just get mad—he effectively Hulked out, flipping over tables and knocking over chairs.

When thinking and speaking of the good news, always keep the following four truths in mind: God is holy and righteous; we are sinful and rebellious; Jesus is the answer; but we must respond. God is holy and righteous. Understanding the gospel begins with an understanding of God's holy character and righteous demands.

The 5 are: 1) Uniqueness of Jesus (Virgin Birth) --Oct 7; 2) One God (The Trinity) Oct 14; 3) Necessity of the Cross (Salvation) and 4) Resurrection and Second Coming are combinded on Oct 21; 5) Inspiration of Scripture Oct 28.

Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world. The word Hindu is an exonym although many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म, lit.

Sikhism, (Gurmukhi: ਸਿੱਖੀ ), amongst the youngest of the major world religions, originated and primarily developed in the 15th-17th century sub-continental India (South Asia).

The Bible is the holy scripture of the Christian religion, purporting to tell the history of the Earth from its earliest creation to the spread of Christianity in the first century A.D. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament have undergone changes over the centuries, including the the publication of the King ...

Why and from what was he created? Who created him? What does his creation imply about the status of human beings? Some or all of these questions are answered by a religion's creation stories.

Christianity has been estimated to be growing rapidly in South America, Africa, and Asia. In Africa, for instance, in 1900, there were only 8.7 million adherents of Christianity; now there are 390 million, and it is expected that by 2025 there will be 600 million Christians in Africa.

Participation in houses of worship continues to decline, according to the study. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they "seldom" attend religious services, and 29% of respondents said they "never" attend religious services. A decade ago, those figures were 22% and 21%, respectively.

What church has the most believers? ›

Catholicism is the largest branch of Christianity with 1.345 billion, and the Catholic Church is the largest among churches.

While Jesus told Nicodemus, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5), he did not set baptism as a hindrance to salvation but just the opposite. We so often judge things by human standards, but God is not restrained by our standards.

He Went To The Synagogue

The Gospels record that "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues." Yet the Christian reader rarely ponders the significance of such an apparently common structure so central in Jesus' ministry.

He was born of a Jewish mother, in Galilee, a Jewish part of the world. All of his friends, associates, colleagues, disciples, all of them were Jews. He regularly worshipped in Jewish communal worship, what we call synagogues.

The term ietsism is becoming more widely used in Europe, as opposed to the phrase 'spiritual but not religious' which prevails in North America.

Non-religious people can be called atheists or agnostics, but to describe things, activities, or attitudes that have nothing to do with religion, you can use the word secular.

An agnostic theist believes in the existence of one or more gods, but regards the basis of this proposition as unknown or inherently unknowable. The agnostic theist may also or alternatively be agnostic regarding the properties of the god or gods that they believe in.

We cannot hope to appease God by working our way into righteousness, nor sacrificing others for our own sin. Instead, Micah listed out the three principles of what God asks of His people: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him.

When we put our faith in Jesus as our Savior, we are pleasing God. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him.” Faith comes from the heart (Rom.

God allows, and even desires, our questions because He knows we sometimes need clarification to understand His will. One example is the disciple often referred to as “Doubting Thomas.” Thomas missed Jesus' resurrected appearance to His disciples.

What is life's biggest question? ›

The biggest question in life for most of us is “does God exist?” While there are many other spiritual questions, all are predicated on this one. Knowing there is a creative force behind this universe puts every other spiritual question in context.

Religion is an explanation of the ultimate meaning of life, and how to live accordingly; based on a notion of the Transcendent. Normally it contains the four "C's": Creed, Code, Cult, Community-structure.

When the people of Israel were enslaved in Egypt, they cried out to God for deliverance. Then God answered their cry, using the expression “I am who I am” (Exod 3:14) to introduce himself as their deliverer. In English, that sounds like a philosophical statement about God's existence.

Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, adam is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as "mankind".

According to the Bible, dinosaurs must have been created by God on the sixth day of creation. Genesis 1:24 says, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”

Critics of religion in general may view religion as one or more of: outdated, harmful to the individual, harmful to society, an impediment to the progress of science or humanity, a source of immoral acts or customs, a political tool for social control.

Arguments for atheism range from philosophical to social and historical approaches. Rationales for not believing in deities include the lack of evidence, the problem of evil, the argument from inconsistent revelations, the rejection of concepts that cannot be falsified, and the argument from nonbelief.

Mithraism is viewed as a rival of early Christianity. In the 4th century, Mithraists faced persecution from Christians, and the religion was subsequently suppressed and eliminated in the Roman Empire by the end of the century.

One type of cosmological, or "first cause" argument, typically called the Kalam cosmological argument, asserts that since everything that begins to exist has a cause, and the universe began to exist, the universe must have had a cause which was itself not caused. This ultimate first cause is identified with God.

What is the fight between religions? ›

A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war (Latin: sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs.

Some argue that religions and religiosity do not threaten human rights. Rather, the advancement of human rights needs the support of organized religions. Each of the world's major religions embraces some ideas that are consistent with and even predate modern human rights ideas.

The “Argument from Divine Hiddenness” or the “Hiddenness Argument” refers to a family of arguments for atheism. Broadly speaking, these arguments try to demonstrate that, if God existed, He would (or would likely) make the truth of His existence more obvious to everyone than it is.

There is certainly no shortage of arguments that purport to establish God's existence, but 'Arguments for the existence of God' focuses on three of the most influential arguments: the cosmological argument, the design argument, and the argument from religious experience.

In the U.S., belief in a deity is common even among the religiously unaffiliated – a group composed of those who identify themselves, religiously, as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” and sometimes referred to, collectively, as religious “nones.” Indeed, nearly three-quarters of religious “nones” (72%) ...

The term God-of-the-gaps fallacy can refer to a position that assumes an act of God as the explanation for an unknown phenomenon, which according to the users of the term, is a variant of an argument from ignorance fallacy.

agnostic vs.

The word atheist originates with the Greek atheos, which is built from the roots a- (“without”) and theos (“a god”). Atheism is the doctrine or belief that there is no god. In contrast, the word agnostic refers to a person who neither believes nor disbelieves in a god or religious doctrine.

Catholicism – 1.345 billion

Catholicism is the largest branch of Christianity with 1.345 billion, and the Catholic Church is the largest among churches.

Most mainstream Muslims would generally agree they worship the same God that Christians — or Jews — worship. Zeki Saritoprak, a professor of Islamic studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland, points out that in the Quran there's the Biblical story of Jacob asking his sons whom they'll worship after his death.

What religion is bigger than Christianity? ›