tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post3231154226106358088..comments2024-02-13T08:49:07.287-04:00Comments on 'Thought & Humor!': Sandwich Board!Professor Howdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12189934292678757335noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post-25715673217024559072011-08-18T18:28:35.117-03:002011-08-18T18:28:35.117-03:00"President Obama will begin a three-state bus..."President Obama will begin a three-state bus tour. I believe the three states are confusion, delusion, and desperation." –Jay LenoProfessor Howdyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12189934292678757335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post-59473887937297578872008-04-04T13:55:00.000-03:002008-04-04T13:55:00.000-03:00Present day - Many Americans - very few Native Ame...Present day - Many Americans - very few Native Americans.<BR/><BR/>A Muslim wonders why this is true. He was told "We haven't as yet played cowboys and Muslims." Let's start a fresh game! Conservative BobAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post-58159548722185016252008-04-04T12:08:00.000-03:002008-04-04T12:08:00.000-03:00Jesus Shall ReignGlobal ChristianityIn his book Th...Jesus Shall Reign<BR/>Global Christianity<BR/><BR/>In his book The Clash of Civilizations, Samuel Huntington predicts that<BR/>demographics will decide the clash between Christianity and Islam. And, as<BR/>he puts it, "in the long run ? Muhammad wins out."<BR/><BR/>In this instance, Huntington is wrong. For the foreseeable future there will<BR/>be many more Christians than Muslims in the world.<BR/><BR/>As Penn State professor Philip Jenkins writes in The Next Christendom: The<BR/>Coming of Global Christianity, predictions like Huntington's betray an<BR/>ignorance of the explosive growth of Christianity outside of the West.<BR/><BR/>For instance, in 1900, there were approximately 10 million Christians in<BR/>Africa. By 2000, there were 360 million. By 2025, conservative estimates see<BR/>that number rising to 633 million. Those same estimates put the number of<BR/>Christians in Latin America in 2025 at 640 million and in Asia at 460 million.<BR/><BR/>According to Jenkins, the percentage of the world's population that is, at<BR/>least by name, Christian will be roughly the same in 2050 as it was in 1900.<BR/><BR/>By the middle of this century, there will be three billion Christians in the<BR/>world?one and a half times the number of Muslims. In fact, by 2050 there<BR/>will be nearly as many Pentecostal Christians in the world as there are<BR/>Muslims today.<BR/><BR/>But at that point, only one-fifth of the world's Christians will be<BR/>non-Hispanic whites. The typical Christian will be a woman living in a<BR/>Nigerian village or in a Brazilian shantytown.<BR/><BR/>And these changes will be more than demographic. Jenkins points out that<BR/>who he calls "Southern Christians"?those living in Africa, Latin America, and<BR/>parts of Asia?are far more conservative, theologically and morally, than<BR/>their counterparts in the West.<BR/><BR/>Thus, as Christianity becomes more Southern, it becomes more biblically<BR/>orthodox. While people like Bishop John Shelby Spong and Templeton Prize<BR/>winner Arthur Peacock insist that Christianity must abandon its historic<BR/>beliefs to survive, it is precisely these historic beliefs that attract our<BR/>Southern brethren.<BR/><BR/>And that's why in Spong and Peacock's own Anglican Communion African<BR/>bishops are ordaining missionaries to re-convert the West.<BR/><BR/>This story of Christianity's explosive growth is one of the great untold<BR/>stories of our time?a story that North American Christians need to hear.<BR/><BR/>It's a story that repudiates those who say that Christians must compromise<BR/>their beliefs to remain relevant. The opposite is the case. Biblical<BR/>orthodoxy is winning converts while churches that have lost their biblical<BR/>moorings languish.<BR/><BR/>This shift of Christianity's "center of gravity" is also a reminder to<BR/>Western Christians that we are not the whole show, and we have to start<BR/>thinking differently about ourselves. We are part of a much larger<BR/>community: the worldwide Church.<BR/><BR/>Finally, it's a sign that, no matter how bad things seem at home, God is at<BR/>work throughout the world. Everywhere it's proclaimed, the Gospel is<BR/>changing lives and societies.<BR/><BR/>One thing remains true: It's Jesus who people of every realm and tongue bless.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com