Studies Conclude: Atheism = Peace, Religion = Confliction

[Nick]

good post nick! I would have to agree with you on your first paragraph. This specific study by these people seems to be becoming less and less accurate. It may not be able to say that specific religions cause conflict, but it can certainly bring up conversation :D

Thankyou. I might make some effort later to read this entire thread, as it does look to be interesting conversation.

as for your next paragraph however, I dont really understand the evidence behind that. shouldn't the countries with a good amount of atheists be less stable than the religious ones? also, any nation with the least number of christians would fall under that category as well. Not only that, but we would have to make assumptions on what is the devils work, versus Gods plan. so I don't think we could actually bring that into account.

I do realise that I brough up two conflicting views:
1) Satan works in Christians to try and turn them against Christianity, so therefore there may be more conflict in those countries
2) The countries without Christianity don't have the love and peace that is brought by a relationship with Jesus Christ, therefore they may be more suseptible to conflict

I am thinking that the second option is more of a theoretical situation, where the country as a whole is genuinely Christian and the country works for the good of the gospel. I think it's fairly safe to assume that no country ever really did this. But I am thinking that the first option is more the reality, or at least somewhere between 1 and 2.

This brings up another part of my post:

If you take a census (and I assume this is where many of the statistics of internal country information came from), people tend to answer the religious question(s) based on what they have been brought up in. Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is actually a Christian. I know many Catholic families for instance that grew up in a Catholic family but do not actually practice their religion - but they would put down on their census that they are Catholic.

I hope meaningful discussion countinues...this is quite an interesting and thought stimulating thread.

 

[Evointrinsic]

If you take a census (and I assume this is where many of the statistics of internal country information came from), people tend to answer the religious question(s) based on what they have been brought up in. Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is actually a Christian. I know many Catholic families for instance that grew up in a Catholic family but do not actually practice their religion - but they would put down on their census that they are Catholic.

I would completely agree with this. I meet more people often than not who dont really know anything about the religion they claim to follow.

Statistical research shows that less than 10% of professing Christians have
ever read the entire Bible.

Source = http://healtheland.wordpress.com/20...fessed-christians-have-read-the-entire-bible/

Of course we would have to know exactly what makes a Christian a Christian. There is currently around 2.1 Billion "Christians" around the world. And I am sure some of them, including some on the forums (I assume), believe that you cannot truly be Christian without reading the bible. which means only 210 million Christians would actually be Christian. which means 1.89 billion christians are in fact not christian. Of course, there are other people who think a good person who claims to be Christian, is Christian. Or simply A person who accepts Jesus as their savior is Christian. or, or, or... What would you define being Christian as?

 

[Nick]

What would you define being Christian as?

Someone who believes John 3:16, and moulds their life in response, like 1 John 2:6, and the faith and deeds section in James 2. So basically someone who lives out their faith, and obviously believes the Bible. I do not think reading the entire Bible is a requirement at all, though I would encourage people to do so. I haven't as yet read the entire Bible, in fact there are some books which I haven't even looked in yet. But I will get there.

 

[Believer.Evermore]

It is my understanding that the devil’s main objective is to deny God the pleasure He derives, and righteously deserves, from the love and worship of each and ever one of us, the most favored of all His creation. From the devil’s perspective, the more souls that he can corrupt, make unclean, and turn away from the Father, the fewer will remain to fulfill God’s purpose, thus furthering his own spiteful, envious, and vengeful goal.
With that in mind, where do you think the devil would concentrate his efforts most heavily? Would he do so in the areas where many, if not most, of the people are already in his back pocket, so to speak; areas where many, if not most, of the people have already denied their own souls eternal life with Jesus in the Kingdom of the Father? No. Instead he would, and does, concentrate his efforts in those areas where the belief in God and Jesus is the strongest and shared by the majority. One does not fish in a lake or pond or stream that contains few desirable fish, one fishes where the prey is plentiful and concentrated. It is in those areas that the devil baits his hook and casts his net. It is there that he sets about the task of dividing the House of God against itself [he knows the truth of what Jesus said (Matthew 12: 25)]
He has many tools in his arsenal, not the least of which is his knowledge of the mind of man (second only to God’s knowledge). Atheists are also one of his favored tools, especially those who once believed, for they present themselves to others as examples of the “enlightened elite†and urge others to join them. They make the devils work a much easier task for him. Sadly, they do so unknowingly (since they do not believe in either God or Satan). I pray for them, for they, too, are God’s children.

 

[Nick]

It is my understanding that the devil’s main objective is to deny God the pleasure He derives, and righteously deserves, from the love and worship of each and ever one of us, the most favored of all His creation. From the devil’s perspective, the more souls that he can corrupt, make unclean, and turn away from the Father, the fewer will remain to fulfill God’s purpose, thus furthering his own spiteful, envious, and vengeful goal.
With that in mind, where do you think the devil would concentrate his efforts most heavily? Would he do so in the areas where many, if not most, of the people are already in his back pocket, so to speak; areas where many, if not most, of the people have already denied their own souls eternal life with Jesus in the Kingdom of the Father? No. Instead he would, and does, concentrate his efforts in those areas where the belief in God and Jesus is the strongest and shared by the majority. One does not fish in a lake or pond or stream that contains few desirable fish, one fishes where the prey is plentiful and concentrated. It is in those areas that the devil baits his hook and casts his net. It is there that he sets about the task of dividing the House of God against itself [he knows the truth of what Jesus said (Matthew 12: 25)]
He has many tools in his arsenal, not the least of which is his knowledge of the mind of man (second only to God’s knowledge). Atheists are also one of his favored tools, especially those who once believed, for they present themselves to others as examples of the “enlightened elite†and urge others to join them. They make the devils work a much easier task for him. Sadly, they do so unknowingly (since they do not believe in either God or Satan). I pray for them, for they, too, are God’s children.

Great post . That was one of the points I was trying to make.

 

[Evointrinsic]

Interesting post Believer.Evermore. Would it then justify Christianity to have christian based/majority countries in peril rather than not?