I was going to start this thread regardless based on some of my experiences on the ChristianForums, having just discovered a thread started by True Christian its great because fellow posters will have an idea of exactly the sort of person I am talking about when I say "New Age Christian".

(Actually for the last couple of days i seem unable to access the ChristianForums webiste... could be an IP ban but then it means they have blocked both home and work addresses.... maybe they have decided to block the whole of Russia... hotbed of atheism that it is).

Anyway, I don't think anyone, even hardcore Christians can deny the christian church(es) have evolved and changed a lot since their inception(s). The original Christianity was quite different from that of today with some different holy books (quite a few NT books were not even written at the time when Paul was doing his rounds... Paul's own books for a start). The only common thread is Jesus, and even his nature changed and was argued over for several centuries... was he a simple prophet? was he partially divine, or fully divine?

And so eventually we come to the present day, and the new species of Christian that seems to be evolving.

Many posters on CF seem to be like True Christian. They are willing to accept many scientific facts although attribute them to god. They are more than happy to discard the OT (except when it suits their purpose to quote scripture), and even parts of the NT, and say they are merely parables or allegories. The main thing they have in common is belief in Jesus and that Jesus was divine, son of god, died for our sins etc. The rest of it is open for interpretation or dismissal.

In other words, they have moved the goalposts.

When arguing for their belief their only real argument as it were is that people just need to open their hearts to Jesus and his spirit will enter you and you will be fulfilled and saved. So, i read this as believe in Jesus and you will believe in Jesus. Want to believe in Jesus, you will believe in Jesus. They really don't have any other position to argue. I saw many posts like this from both old and new age Christians, but in a way the old age Christians are better because they at least point to the bible as the "truth" ™.

I'm wondering, is it that there is a gradual shift within the christian churches, as they recognize that more and more aspects of their religion is open to ridicule, that they have to move away from "facts" to the realm of the pure spiritual, which science and logic have a more difficult time of presenting problems for them.

Are the christian (and possibly later Jewish and Islamic) religions slowly going to evolve to become more like Unitarian Universalism, and simply retain the spiritual side and discard their history of their religions?

Will they slowly even move away from having personified objects of worship (Jesus, Mohammed, Yahweh, Allah) so it simply becomes God the creator?

What do you guys think? And of course, True Christian and other theists are welcome to give some insider views as well.

Poll included.

It was tempting to pick the fourth options just for the heck of it.

But overall I agree, Christianity at the very least has changed quite a bit. I don't think I need to go into to much detail to get my point across, considering just how many forms of Christianity has split off, each having their own interpretations and ideals. That in itself shows just how much has differed since Christianity's first inception(s).

And on the science integration, might I point out that at one time the Catholic church threatened certain scientists on charges of blasphemy because they had the idea that the Earth was NOT the center of the universe. And of course it doesn't mention anywhere in the Bible that Earth is the center of anything really on the cosmic scale, but the Church had the audacity to claim it as truth.

Later, the church accepted it and then came up with some cop-out as to why it made sense, as the scientists were quite persistent in showing them the evidence they had collected.

The church will adapt to whatever it has to in order to keep the money flowing in.


God can never be allowed to interfere with the bottom line.

I put netural AND yes because... well, I think it's the best way to vote for how I feel on the matter:

I think that in general Christianity DOES seem to be going more 'spiritual' and there's a lot less literalism than there used to be - but then on the other hand, the fundies can always swing back, and with the rise of creationism in the UK and the like, I'm not sure it's that clear-cut unfortunately.

EvF

(April 29, 2010 at 4:24 am)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: I put netural AND yes because... well, I think it's the best way to vote for how I feel on the matter:

I think that in general Christianity DOES seem to be going more 'spiritual' and there's a lot less literalism than there used to be - but then on the other hand, the fundies can always swing back, and with the rise of creationism in the UK and the like, I'm not sure it's that clear-cut unfortunately.

EvF

Ah, not lived in the UK for more than 5 years... wasn't aware that creationism was on the rise..... do you have any articles supporting this?

http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5005

EvF

Hello, and thank you for making this thread, i personally voted for an evolution in the view of religion.

Every single theist has a special view of his spirituality. This is how i personally see things: God is a being that no one can really comprehend but that most humans have felt, hence the many religions that have existed for millenia. However God decided to make himself known to man and sent his son, Jesus, to teach us his true message. He chose a Jew maybe because they were the only true monotheist religion, the closest one to his true meaning.

Although we cannot comprehend God, thanks to Jesus we can know his message and follow it.

I think that all religions are simply a way to get closer to God, but only by following the Christ can someone reach true "godliness". That is why i only respect the New Testament.

The Church is a help for those who cannot find God by themselves. Their goal is to open the world's eyes to the true nature of God. However the Church is still a human organization and most Christians i know believe it has strayed from it path for several reasons, mostly greed and pride. The Pope is considered as authority by only a minority of people, at least in my country (France) and probably most of Europe.

So to answer the question, i believe thanks to higher education and deeper knowledge of the Bible people are developing their own ways to get closer to God and will less and less require the "old" faith symbols.

I think Christianity evolves naturally but the essence of it isn't much different from the original concept. What happens is an interpretation is needed constantly to relate the meaning to current times. New Age spirituality is just another threat to it. Same as ID, Creationism, Catholicism where it went off message, Flat Earth etc..

(April 29, 2010 at 5:36 am)True Christian Wrote: The Church is a help for those who cannot find God by themselves.

I found God!!!!!

He was down the back of the couch the whole time!

I found 45 cents in small change too!

The only thing that is evolving is Humanity's predisposition to delude itself. :rofl: