Christianity in Africa stats: <10 MN in 1900, 700 MN today.

[Angrboda]

Half of Africa is Christian, the other half Muslim.  If you can make a compelling argument out of that, I'd be pleasantly surprised.  Instead you seem to be simply engaged in cherry picking the hits and ignoring the misses.

Yes, Africa was predominantly polytheistic not long ago. Today, it is mostly monotheistic, from the mostly Christian South to the mostly Muslim North. As for an argument, I'm just looking at demographic trends, the same as Atheists do, when they say, Religion in the West, at least in some places, is declining. That may be true in certain countries, but not in Africa, neither in the world as a whole, which is getting more Religious, not less. See this Guardian Article: "If you think religion belongs to the past and we live in a new age of reason, you need to check out the facts: 84% of the world’s population identifies with a religious group. Members of this demographic are generally younger and produce more children than those who have no religious affiliation, so the world is getting more religious, not less – although there are significant geographical variations." https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/au...ppens-next

Your conversation would then be with those who say those things.  I think the more salient question is what is growing or declining, and that paints a very different picture.  The average Catholic today believes considerably differently from the average Catholic a hundred or a thousand years ago.  The same thing is happening within Islam in that the conservative strains such as Wahabism are being replaced by modern reinterpretations which attempt to whitewash the bad parts of Muslim belief and history and replace it with a sanitized, bowdlerized version of Islam through selective retconning.  And in the West, which doesn't include Africa, there is an explosion of the so-called nones who don't subscribe to a religion, yet are on the whole quite spiritual and believe in things that previously were the province of recognized religion.  Yes, in Africa, where the standard of living is poor, faith is growing.  Thus it has always been.  You'll notice the same trend in the southern United States, where poverty and lack of education are greatest, there belief is greatest.  Once you leave those conditions, the people change -- for example, poor people have more babies, but the more affluent they become, the fewer children they have.  Your "victory" if you want to call it that, depends on human suffering; alleviate the suffering, and the religious and spiritual beliefs change.

But speaking of that demographic change in Africa, where Christianity is now greater than 50% of the Continent, follow how it happened, and you might see it couldn't have happened without Miracles accompanying the preaching of the Gospel. Some 1 MN people gave their lives to Christ at one single Reinhard Bonnke Crusade. They did that only because they experienced Miracles shortly before trusting in Christ. Miracles happen. That is reality. That's how Christianity spreads. The extraordinary effect requires an extraordinary cause. St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John Chrysostom, at an earlier time, make a similar argument, for how Christianity grew so large so quickly, starting with but 12 Poor Apostles who had nothing to bring that about except Teaching and Miracles. That they did, and Millions soon became Christian. The extra-ordinary effect of an extra-ordinary cause, in that case, the Resurrection of Christ, and the Miracles of His Apostles. In this case, the Miracles Christ still works today for those who seek Him or are open to His Truth. Africans are devoutly seeking Christ, while some in other parts of the world are not. Hence, they receive such Great Favors from His Goodness as Powerful Miracles, which is what helped 1 Million Souls come to Christ at one Single Crusade; and there have been many such. One can hardly grow from 10 MN to 700 MN in a short time through naturalistic causes; otherwise, let Atheists try the same, lol.

You mean miracles such as the Zambian preacher who had himself buried alive, predicting that like Jesus, he would miraculously rise again?  Credulous people believe many things.  That people in Africa tell tales of miracles is no great deal.  It reflects the facts of who these people are, not the truth of your beliefs.  They ask why God no longer performs miracles like he did in the bible.  The apologist's response is that the miracles served their purpose and God works in other ways now.  The more parsimonious explanation is that people were less learned, knowledgable, and educated then, making them vulnerable and gullible.

What do you think is going to happen when people in Africa are brought up to Western standards in terms of health, affluence, education, and so on?  

And for what it's worth, demographic trends worldwide favor Islam catching up to Christianity in 25 years.  I'd get out that prayer rug if I were you.


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