--- In [email protected], Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > on 1/18/06 4:43 PM, authfriend at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > --- In [email protected], Rick Archer > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> > >> on 1/17/06 11:16 AM, Patrick Gillam at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> > >>> At a time when the nation is highly influenced by > >>> religiously conservative politicians, I'm surprised > >>> more people don't take the tack Steven Druker > >>> does below: ask these people to reconcile their > >>> policies with their religious beliefs. > >>> > >>> For example, I've wondered why the Christians > >>> among the DC Power Elite don't lead the nation > >>> in forgiving terrorists for crimes committed in the > >>> name of Islam. > >> > >> Most Christians are looking forward to watching God rip the guts > >> out of non-Christians > > > > Er, no, not "most Christians," Patrick. > > It was I who said that.
Oops, sorry. > I get the impression that the majority of Christians, at least in > this country, are fundamentalists, and most of them buy into the > Judgment Day thing, which implies that they don't expect a > picnic is in store for the "unsaved." Maybe they're not the > majority, but just make the most noise. Please clarify my > understanding of the demographics. The demographics, as in statistics, aren't easy to determine because they depend so much on definitions. I've seen estimates of from 10 to 50 million fundamentalist and evangelical Christians, so I think "make the most noise" is the appropriate phrase (especially if you tack on "right wing" to the characterization). About 75 percent of U.S. residents characterize themselves as Christian, so if you use the 50 million figure, that's around 22 percent of U.S. Christians. However, I was primarily taking issue with your "looking forward to." Most Christians (including Catholics, of course) assume the "unsaved" are in for a bad time, by definition, although not necessarily in terms of Hell or of being vengefully "smitten" at the time of Christ's Second Coming--but certainly that they will not be with God in heaven after death. *Looking foward* to seeing the "unsaved" suffer at God's hands is obviously not doctrinal; it would be a matter of personal idiosyncrasy (not to mention hard to reconcile with the directive to convert nonbelievers). ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
