By now you should be aware that a recent report is out that indicates that there are more Muslims than Catholics. This should Catholics who have been playing the numbers game (1 billion members cannot all be wrong ...) a bit of pause.
At least one Catholic, however, has pointed out that this comparison is not completely fair, since "Islam" is actually a collection of many different sects. The largest of those sects is still (so far) smaller than Catholicism. Likewise, if we were to combine Catholicism with the other sects of Christianity, Christians (they say) are still more numerous.
My response is this:
a) The way Muslims are multiplying by having large families, the only ways that they are not going to outnumber all kinds of Christianity is by mass deconversion from Islam (preferably to faith in Christ and salvation of their souls);
b) Since when does Catholicism claim to be just another sect of Christianity? Hasn't Catholicisms claim traditionally been to be the only authentic Christianity? It seems a little ad hoc to start including Protestants and Orthodox folks in the mix in order to outnumber Muslims; and
c) Numbers don't matter. I should know, I'm a Reformed Christian. The true faith has often been the minority faith. Remember that this was the case even within Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha. Recall that there only about 7000 believers in all of Israel at that time, and the rest of the world was in darkness and unbelief. Recall as well how few of the Jews believed on the Lord Jesus even when He was in their midst, especially among the religious leaders.
Action
We are already facing a clash of cultures as Muslim populations expand in Muslim-majority countries and in Christian-majority countries. What both such countries need is the gospel of Christ: the message that men are saved from their sins only by grace through faith alone in Christ alone. But so does a lot of what calls itself "Christian." A lot of "Christians" need to repent and trust in Christ alone for salvation.
Calling people to faith in Christ, preaching that gospel, is this blog's raison d'etre,
May God's kingdom be increased,
-TurretinFan
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
2 comments:
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Calling people to faith in Christ, preaching that gospel, is this blog's raison d'etre,
ReplyDeleteAmen.
Your work here is excellent, keep it up!
Thanks, Carrie!
ReplyDelete