Mythbusters

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MYTHBUSTERS
Christianity and the church has been a plague on
society, an evil, full of oppression and greed.
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The great unmentionable evil at the center of
our culture is monotheism. From a barbaric
Bronze Age text known as the Old Testament,
three anti-human religions have evolved
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
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All religions and all churches are equally
demented in their belief in divine intervention,
divine intercession, or even the existence of
the divine in the first place.
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Faith is one of the worlds great evils,
comparable with the small pox virus but harder
to eradicate. Religion is capable of driving
people to such dangerous folly that faith seems
to me to qualify as a kind of mental illness.
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If a scientist can destroy the influence of
religion on young people, then I think it may
be the most important contribution that we can
make.
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Psychologist Nicolas Humphrey argued in a recent
lecture that just as Amnesty International works
to liberate political prisoners around the world,
secular teachers and professors should work to
free children from the damaging influence of
their parents religious instruction.
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Jesus said to the Christians

• You are the light of the World!
• You are the salt of the Earth!
• I will build my church and the gates of hell
  will not prevail against it!

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Which is it?

• Has Christianity been a curse on civilization or
  a benefit?
• Light or Darkness?

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1. Historically Christianity and the church
has been a huge benefit.
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1. Historically Christianity and the church
has been a huge benefit.

• The First Hospitals
• The First Homeless shelters
• The First Orphanages
• The First Mental Hospitals
• The First Ministry to Crime Victims
• The First Prison reform ministry
• The First SPCA

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1. Historically Christianity and the church
has been a huge benefit.

• Rescuing females from Infanticide
• Did away with the veiling of women
• Abolition of slavery championed by Christians
• Equal status of women Gal 328
• Equal Rights because of equality of souls
• Gladiatorial combat Telemacus
• Most of the great Universities started by
  Christians Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Darmouth,
  etc
• Over 1261 written languages were developed by
  Christian missionaries

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2. Scientifically Christianity and the
church has been a huge benefit.
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2. Scientifically Christianity and the church
has been a huge benefit.

• Copernicus
• Kepler
• Galileo
• Newton
• Faraday
• Pascal
• Mendel
• Boyle
• Planck

• Descartes
• Leibniz
• Gassendi
• Cuvier
• Lyell
• Joule
• Kelvin
• Ohm
• Pasteur

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Christianitys assumption of a reasonable ordered
knowable universe allowed science to begin.
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Science as an organized, sustained enterprise
arose only once in human history. And where did
it arise? In Europe, in the civilization, then
called Christendom. Why did modern science
develop here and nowhere else? In his September
12, 2006 speech in Regensburg, Germany, Pope
Benedict XVI argued that it was due to
Christianitys emphasis on the importance of
reason.
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Philosopher Ernest Fortin writes that while the
highest discipline in Judaism and Islam is
jurisprudence, the highest discipline in
Christianity is theology. The Christian
theologian is charged with employing reason to
understand the ways of God. There are no
theologians in Hinduism or Buddhism because human
beings are not called to investigate Gods
purpose in this manner.
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The Discovery of the Anthropic Principle
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Brandon Carter an astrophysicist wrote a paper in
1973 citing hundreds of numerical coincidences
that were designed for man. He called this the
anthropic principle. In essence the anthropic
principle came down to observation that all the
myriad laws of physics were fine- tuned from the
very beginning of the universe for the creation
of man the universe we inhabit appeared to be
expressly designed for the emergence of human
beings
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2. Scientifically Christianity and the church
has been a huge benefit.
In a stunning confirmation of the book of
Genesis, modern scientists have discovered that
the universe was created in a primordial
explosion of energy and light. Not only did the
universe have a beginning in space and time,
space and time did not exist prior to the
universe. Dinesh DSouza
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3. Medically Christianity and the church
has been a huge benefit.
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3. Medically Christianity and the church
has been a huge benefit

• Greater Physical and Mental Health
• Lower Rates of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
• Increased Quality of Life
• Enhanced Recovery From Illness
• Marital Happiness and Fewer Divorces
• Happier and More Successful Children
• Increased Life Expectancy

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Life Expectancy increases by 8-13 years with
Religious Involvement
Never
Once Per Week Whites 56.1
63.4 (7.3) Blacks
46.4 60.1 (13.7) Both
Sexes/ Both Races 55.5
62.9 (7.4) Robert A Hummer, et al Religious
Involvement and U.S. Adult Mortality Demography
, Vol 36-No. 2, May 1999

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The Power of Prayer Six Year Study Suggest
People Can Be Blessed With Longer Lives
Over the Six Years of the Study, Healthy Senior
Citizens Who Rarely or Never Pray Have a 50
Greater Risk of Dying Than a Matched Group Who
Prayed or Meditated More Than Once a Month. All
Types of Prayer and Meditation Can Offer Health
Benefits. Harold Koenig, Duke University Medical
Center, (Journal Of Gerontology, July 2000)
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The More Religiously Committed You Are, The More
Likely You Are To Benefit

• Washington County, Maryland Study (91,909
  Subjects)
• 50 Reduction In Coronary Artery Disease
• 56 Reduction In Emphysema
• 74 Reduction In Cirrhosis of The Liver
• 53 Reduction In Suicides
• Lower Incidence of Sexually Transmitted
  Diseases,
• Alcohol Use and Pulmonary Tuberculosis
• G.W. Comstock and K.B. Partridge,Church
  Attendance
• And Health, Journal of Chronic Diseases 25
  (1972)

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The Clinical Effects of Intercessory Prayers
(393 Patients on the CCU)
Prayed for n 192
Controls n 201
Episodes of CHF Cardiopulmonary
Arrest Pneumonia Intubations Antibiotics
4 10 3
7 2 7 0
6 2
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Randolph Byrd,Positive Therapeutic Effects of
Intercessory Prayer in a CCU Population,Southern
Medical Journal 81 (1988) 826-29
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Evans County, GA (355 Men)

• Those Who Attended Church More Than
• Once Per Month Had Lower Blood Pressure.
• Frequent Church Attendees Who Do Not
• Abstain From Cigarettes and High Fat
• Diets Still Benefit From the Faith Factor.
• T.W. Graham Et Al Frequent Church Attendance and
  Blood Pressure Elevation, Journal of Behavioral
  Medicine 1 (1978) 37-43

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4. Presently Christianity and the church are
a huge benefit.
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The Church and Christians through their
generosity have made a huge difference in the
world.
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• Last year the American Idol television show gave
  60 million dollars for world hunger, poverty,
  AIDS, medical care, etc.
• 30 million per day

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• Every year Christians give 17 billion dollars for
  world relief and mission over and above what they
  give to their local churches.
• 50 million every day of every year!!!!

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The Church and Christians through their service
have made a huge difference in the world.
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4. Presently Christianity and the church
has been a huge benefit.

• Nicolas Kristof, writer for the NY Times, not
  a Christian, became concerned about human rights
  abuses, modern slavery, poverty, etc.
• Whenever I show up at a hell hole to help, the
  Christians are already there helping.

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Regular church attendance and involvement
changes a persons well being.
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4. Presently Christianity and the church
has been a huge benefit.

• The study conducted by University of Iowa
  psychology professor Susan Lutgendorf and
  co-written with Robert Wallace showed regular
  church attendance and involvement contributed
  significantly to a person's well being. The
  results were so significant, they recommended
  doctors prescribe regular church attendance to
  patients as a prescription for better health.

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The Family That Prays Together, Stays
Together

• Frequency of Attendance at Religious Services
  Is the Strongest Predictor of Marital Happiness
  for Both Men and Women - Stronger Than Education,
  Age, Income, Occupation and Number of Children.
• N.D. Glen and C.N. Weaver, a Multivariate,
  MultisurveyStudy of Marital Happiness, J. Of
  Marriage and Family 40 (1978) 269-82

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MYTHBUSTERS
Christianity and the church has been a plague on
society, an evil, full of oppression and greed
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Action Steps
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1. Invite your friends to church so they can
benefit and become a part of the greatest force
for good the world has ever known.John 717
Luke 1423 Matthew 513,14
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2. Get involved in Worship Service, Small
Groups and Ministry.

• Hebrews 1024,25 - And let us consider how to
  stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not
  forsaking our own assembling together, as is the
  habit of some, but encouraging one another, all
  the more, as you see the day drawing near.

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3. Start more Vibrant Communities of Faith.

• Keep doing what you have done      Began
  Iranian (Farsi speaking) Church on campus
    Planted two more Deaf Churches in Bay Area
    Started first video venue worship services on
  campus   Began Mandarin Church on campus
    Planted three churches in Vietnam   Launched
  first off-campus video venue worship service
  in Livermore

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Truth
While Christianity and the church have had their
bad apples and problems, Christianity has been a
huge benefit to mankind, culture and
civilization.
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Help me start other Vibrant Communities of Faith

• Every time we start a church we bring hope,
  charity, community, eternal life to people.
  310 plan
• 10 new church starts
• 10 adoptions
• 10 new ethnic ministries
• Require Prayer, Service, Contacts and Joy
• Cost 500,000 dollars over the next 3-5 years

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Help me start other Vibrant Communities of Faith

• 4 Chinese Ministries
• 2 English speaking Chinese ministries
• 1 Deaf community of faith
• 1 Indian (Shikh) community of faith
• 1 Iranian community of faith
• 1 Korean community of faith
• 4 Hispanic ministries

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Why should I be deeply involved in a Community
of Faith?

• Gods Grace
• World Wide impact
• Helpful Information
• Unconditional Love Acceptance
• Good Music, Group Readings Reflections
• Testimony Confessions
• Health Promotion
• Meditation Prayer
• A Sense of Community A few friends to do life
  with
• Opportunities to Serve Multiplied impact

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Orthodox Vs. Secular(Deaths Per 10,000)

• Orthodox
  Secular
• Heart Disease 38
  61
• All Causes 135
  168
• J.D. Kark Et Al, Does Religious Observance
  Promote Health?
• Mortality in Secular Vs Religious Kibbutzim in
  Israel,
• American J. Of Public Health 86, N0.3 (1996)
  341-46

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