What do you believe the greatest danger to Christianity is is it from the world
By suspenseful
@suspenseful (40192)
Canada
January 23, 2008 12:29pm CST
Our own flesh, from Satan himself, or is it from being afraid to stand up because of fear of persecution, either emotionally or physically. It seems that there is no trouble standing up to those who are of a different religion because one can dispprove that their god is not a real god but an idol, but when it comes to science, or rather the so called science of evolution, that is hard for someone not educated to stand up to that person. For someone like me who does know a bit, it is easier. Also it is hard to fight against secularism as we all need to live in this world and we do need material things. But I feel that it is not the secularism that is the danger, but us compromising is the danger.
What is your opinion?
7 people like this
21 responses
@Buttercup26 (164)
• India
23 Jan 08
I feel the greatest danger in our christian lives is when we succumb to the Satan's plots. Once we do that, we tend go astray from the Lord and it makes our lives go haywire. When we are close to the Lord, nothing can shake us apart from the Satan if we give in to it.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
23 Jan 08
Do you really believe that Satan causes the bad things in the world or do you believe that people have free will and choose to d things that are bad for them (created by other people not an "evil" force)?
FYI Satan is just another term for adversary (historically), people twisted the word into what it means today.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
23 Jan 08
Thank you Buttercup26 for your answer. We must flee from Satan and his devices, and the only way we can do that is to get close to the LORD.
@Buttercup26 (164)
• India
23 Jan 08
Satan most certainly is the creater of bad things which it sows into people's minds. Yes, we have the free will but it is either governed by God or Satan and that is why I mentioned that we should not succumb to his plots which is the greatest danger!
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@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
24 Jan 08
It depends on who you listen to. If one listens to the pastor in Church it is a good thing, but if one pays attention to those who would weaken your walk, it is a bad thing. We must all listen with discretion and know who to listen to. You hear the word of God from the puplit every Sunday.
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@shotgunner101 (315)
• United States
24 Jan 08
Well tbh I'd say its groups like the muslims and atheisit who actually start to hate christians to the point they would actually kill someone who was a christian for about no reason.Also one thing i noticed that doesn't help christians is the fact that even though they are extremly excited about god/christ they kinda push what they believe on everyone aroudn them which in turn can push others away and make them get tired of that person.I think if someone says they don't like to talk abotu somethign someone shouldn't still shouldnt try to force them to talk about it :P.ANyways last but not least would be Enemy number 1 ourselves.People tend to cause uneeded drama and end up having the attitude 1 church is better than another.Wellt hat attitude is a bad one.You should no put down another church for not being as biblically smart as your church.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
24 Jan 08
Your first point is good. But we should pray that God will open the hearts of those who are attending a worldy Church to attend a Bible believing Church or if God wills, to turn that worldy church into a Bible believing Church. As for pushing, for some people just mentioning God and Christ is pushing. We do not want that there be no talk about Christ on mylot do we?
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
24 Jan 08
I can not speak for anyone else. But I know for me, when it comes to the things of God, my worst enemy is me. Like the Bible says, the heart is willing, but the flesh is weak. Like Paul basically said, What I want to do, I don't do and what I don't want to do, that I practice.
But oh I thank God for knowing my heart wants to please him and I thank him for his mercy on a sinner like me. But most of all, I thank him for sending his son Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. What a mighty God we serve.
2 people like this
@Buttercup26 (164)
• India
26 Jan 08
I agree with you completely. That is a point that I wanted to make but I guez I brought the Satan into it too. We serve an awesome and mighty God for sure. God bless you.
1 person likes this
@mrarkangel (72)
• Canada
6 Mar 08
I think that the greatest danger to Christianity in our modern life is further division! I understand why the Church was divided and surprisingly I am a Roman Catholic who understands and appreciates some of the greatest of Protestant leaders I especially understand and embrace the teachings of Martin Luther his stand against indulgences and the Church's ban on the Bible in the Prolitariate tongues where well before there time and I commend him for having the conviction to stand up against the Church of Rome. I think that we need to re-unify the Church and I know that that is a tall order and it would involve a great deal of listening, learning, tolerance and debating but as a whole I think we would if we could work this out stand stronger united. One of the biggest problems in Catholism these days is that we spend as much time fighting and competing with the other denomination as we do the things we are actaully against and it eats up lots of reasources that could be used to feed the poor,save lives and give our children better educations. This is the first of many things that I think are the most dangerous threats to Christianity at this time!
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
23 Jan 08
I believe that Christianity is leading itself to its own demise. Christianity is a very flaw filled religion type that is full of people who are blindly following others who are on the wrong path. Christians in general can be considered the biggest hypocritical people (currently and in history) as they rarely practice what they preach and confuse the Bible as stated fact instead of what it truly is - the word of man.
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@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
23 Jan 08
God has always existed from the beginning, and you did not answer the question. Christianity is the only belief that offers HOPE to all.
The other religions blindly follow their leader. The Buddhist follow a man, the Muslims follow Mohammed (a man,) The Jews believe they can gain salvation by works. Only the Christians believe that God imparted HIS spirit into HIS believers and though they may fail temporarily, they will soon reach their goal.The Bible contains the inspired word of God and Jesus came to preach the word to sinners, HE did not need to save people, like you, who are already perfect. So to borrow a phrase, if you wanted to turn me and other believers from being Christians, you failed sedel027, you failed.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
23 Jan 08
I am not trying to turn anyone away from Christianity. That was not anywhere near my point. You are so funny LOL!
I did not fail at anything nor do I view myself as perfect. Only the fools who follow blindly like sheep will not understand my post. I did answer your question. You asked what the greatest danager to Christianity is, I answered that very clearly. Sorry you aren't smart enough to grasp my answer.
1 person likes this
@slickcut (8141)
• United States
24 Jan 08
you know sedel you are a smart aleck, you did not answer her question at all..You started out putting dowm anyone who belives in God..Just because you feel we are all lost sheep that are following a man, you need to understant what the discussion is all about...I am following Jesus, i am not following some man...Since you are an unbeliever, why did you chime in on this discussion? You may say she is not smart enough to know what you are talking about, but i think you are the one in the dark..We will just pray for you!
2 people like this
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
24 Jan 08
Why do you believe the greatest danger is Islam? They are not a threat to the Christian community. There are more Christians than people who believe in Islam in most places on the Earth.
2 people like this
@revdauphinee (5703)
• United States
25 Jan 08
they most certainly are a threat as here main desire is a muslim earth nothing else will be tollerated !
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@dta_kitty (191)
• India
24 Jan 08
I believe that no matter what the threat is,there would be no end to it.In a way there is no threat to Christianity from being non-existent.There is nothing we can do for people to receive their salvation.It is His job.All we were asked to do is to be more like HIM,tell people about free salvation,forgiveness,peace and joy.Also the truth about no way to heaven except through HIM.We are to do what He asked us to do.Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.Our reward in heaven is going to be high for doing so.God can raise up stones to do the job instead.Its HIS world.There are certain shameful things going on which are unacceptable in the church.It is the compromise made to the world.Accepting homosexuality,abortion etc.Every believer and non-believer is accountable to God.We will see it on the day of judgement.There is a threat only to personal lives.When God is the center,nothing else would bother us.Persecution,loss,Satan etc.Satan is doing the same old things he has been doing from the beginning lying,destroying,steal,kill.We are to be watchful that it doesn't affect us.Prudent/wise as snakes and harmless as Doves.
1 person likes this
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
24 Jan 08
What about the people who are the church goers that say they follow God, but in their hearts are truly wicked?
It is not necessarily about accepting other people actions, it is more about accepting that everyone is different and has differing opinions.
1 person likes this
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
24 Jan 08
In theory, the devil would never walk into a church since it is the house of God, correct? The devil is outside of the church and its teachings. Why do you think people who know that going to mass once a week won't help them out, attend mass?
1 person likes this
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
23 Jan 08
I don't think the danger to Christianity is nearly so much from secularism as it is from intolerance and corruption within the faith itself...and from ignorance, as you suggest. Granted, this is not going to be a popular view, but one must also bear in mind that not all Christian religions acknowledge the existence of Satan. One should not be persecuted for not believing in Satan or for believing in God or even for never having given either of them any thought. I think one should not be persecuted, period. Then nobody would have to be afraid.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
24 Jan 08
The Christian beliefs that do not acknowledge Satan as the father of lies, do that because they have permeated from the truth. It is not right to be tolerant of evil, and God certainly is not. HE let people go their own way except for the Hebrews until Jesus came and now we are to worship HIM and HIM only. We can no longer excuse our sins or the sins of others. We must call upon the name of the LORD and ask for HIS forgiveness.
@Sharon38 (1912)
• Jamaica
24 Jan 08
Well Lotterylover I can only pay attention to the affairs of me and if I cannot get "me' right how will I be able to encourage anyone? So when I speak its about me. I hate to poitn fingers at people because let's face it most of the times we are worse off that the person being accused.
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@BethersJR (10)
• United States
23 Jan 08
Biggest threat is Satan (adversary, enemy, whatever name you want to give him). Satan works through man, both saved and unsaved.
His working through the unsaved is easy for most to see. His working through the saved can be found in believers living in sin: adultery, idolatry (pursuing "the good life" regardless of who they step on along the way) and other things that unbelievers view as hypocritical.
Satan's sole mission is to create a divide between man and God. Persuading those who do not believe is easy. For the believers, while he can't take our salvation, he can, through fear and appealing to our weaknesses, cause us to live ineffective lives.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
23 Jan 08
Satan does use all his trickery to lure away believers. The world does not have to worry, Satan already has them in his grasp, but if he can turn the believers and divide them, keep them from thinking about God, he has won.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
24 Jan 08
Satan can never lure a true believer from the Faith, but he can make us less effective by getting us more interested in worldy ambitions, pride, jealousy, envy, hatred -the desire to murder, etc.. We must pray that we stand firm against all of Satan's devices.
@BethersJR (10)
• United States
23 Jan 08
By luring away, do you mean getting Christians to denounce their faith or just not living it out in word and deed?
Good discussion topic!
1 person likes this
@drrt_801 (116)
• Philippines
23 Jan 08
In my opinion, I think that Christianity is like the story "The tower of Babel". People believe in one thing and their goal is one thing, for everyone's good and the salvation of mankind. But what's currently happening is (we hate to admit) that sometimes, the church tends to involve themselves in somethings other than what they are supposed to do, like politics. So what's happening now is that Christianity breaks down to different religions with different beliefs, different ways of worship and different views of the Bible. And some of these religions contradicts each other but they are still Christians.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
23 Jan 08
What I get from your answer is that the Church gradually let the world in so instead of preaching the true word of God, many churches now concern themselves with social things, fighting poverty and yet when the true word of God is spoken in a poor region, the people themselves pick themselves up and work and so banish poverty because now they believe that if a man does not work, neither should he eat - speaking of able bodied men, not those who are sick, infirm, or are unable to work.
@anotherbirthday (810)
• Malaysia
6 Mar 08
the greatest danger to Christianity is from the religion itself...for example; papacy.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
22 Apr 08
I suppose you are talking about Christians who say they are, but are not or rather false prophets. We all have to be careful about that, and the only way we can is to arm ourselves with God's Word from the Holy Scriptures and not to believe everyone who claims to be a messenger from God.
@bgerig (1258)
• United States
27 Jan 08
I believe the greatest danger to Christianity is that Christians will get comfortable and fail to spread the word about what it means to be a Christian. Our secular world is getting very weird and yet the weirdness is caused much of the time by "Christians" who are not acting like they are the Christians they claim to be.
1 person likes this
@eyewitness (1575)
• Netherlands
24 Jan 08
I think the biggest thread is the human itself some christians may be involved in it as well as other religions or humans are.But the biggest thread in the world and not only for christianity but for all humanity is the human itself with their sick minds wanting to be the most powerful men women in the world,we want more,we kill,we abuse,we do all these bad things,we're our own criminals.
God made a great world and ask us to lead the world,but we are destroying it and we blame it on the religion but forget that the fight is not about the religion anymore but about us human not standing open for others and pushing others with our opinions (which are not facts).We're the blame.We're the policy,and i still hope i will see the world change before i die.I would love to see peace on earth.
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@adcab81 (65)
• Philippines
6 Mar 08
I think Christianity will prevail, and we need not fear of it ever being in danger. It is the people including Christians that can be in the midst of crises. Remember that the book of life already has the list of people who will be saved. We need not worry anymore, let's just wait for that day of judgment to come.
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@Kenorv (343)
• United States
27 Jan 08
The greatest danger is the corrupt people in Christianity that are gaining more power and giving true Christians a bad name. You rarely ever hear about the Christians that follow the teachings of Jesus and do the work of God without being judgemental or hypocritical but you do hear about those that just care about promoting their own agendas while tarnishing(and that probably isn't a strong enough word) the good image of what Christianity is really supposed to be about.
Christianity is supposed to be a peaceful religion. It's supposed to be about helping those in need, doing good works all the while showing forgiveness to those that sin against you. It's not about being outspoken, judgemental and hypocritcal like it's been branded as. Unfortunately there are too many bad apples in Christianity and that's given too many people the wrong idea about what the religion is really about.
1 person likes this
@ubuntujason (196)
• United States
25 Jan 08
hey all~
i am a Christian! i would call myself a moderate when it comes to how i view things in relation to not only religion but also to politics and life in general. i personally think that the greatest threat to Christianity today is a threat from within. i think it's the threat of extremist in our own ranks. we all know how violent extremism in any way can get, when it comes to religion i think the threat is doubled or even tripled.
we know its not all Muslims who preach the violence, it's the extremist. just like its not all Christians who preach hate, its the extremist groups who say they are Christian (such as the kkk)
so thats my take on it....
cheers all
~j
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@happy2bfree (16)
• United States
24 Jan 08
The greatest danger is from ourselves. We have the power to overcome anything when we realize that the Spirit of God is living within us. The problem is that for most christians they do not realize how good God is. It's not because God hasn't been good to them but because there eyes are closed to his grace and mercy and the blessings he has given them. I think it comes from a lack of TRUSTING that God will do what he says: be with us, help us and work everything out for our good.
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