Christianity in Japan

[lame_duck]

@Kashin: We agree on alot of points. Actually, it's almost 100%. XD If I was better with words, then I believe I could express what I mean better. I'm a simple person, I'm not good at this kind of stuff. lol

I would have to think the Christian population is more than 1%, considering I know/known Christian Japanese and Asians in general. It surprised the heck out of me when I meet them.

Anyway, this thread has been great so far and I'm REALLY surprised by how civil everyone has been. After come from places like Digg where it's "OMG! SCIANCE IS DUH ANSAR!!!" I was beginning to wonder if anyone didn't bash Christians now-in-days. I like this place. XD

P.S. Wow! Clay even post. O.O

[Kashin]

Yeah I would have to say if clay is posting at all then this thread should be doing ok.

lame_duck, don't worry about being eloquent. Even just from your posts I can still usually tell what you're trying to get across. I do like to joke around with people. And I do elaborate on some things...really, I usually just pull my posts from the top of my head. I really don't plan much of it. I just think it through as I go along. And I do get carried away. Why do my posts always have to be so long!!!???

And yeah I know there has to be at least 1%. Then again that statistic can be people claiming to be Christian, not necessarily practicing. But even with such a small percentile, it's still over a million people. When you really think about it, that's quite a number. And I've read that it's been rising steadily since 1945 when freedom of religion was established in the constitution.

But yes I was also surprised at the civility of this forum. At first I though the rule was to hinder us, but since we have that rule, it keeps heated debate out of the picture and just allows for an educational discussion. I've come across some really stupid people from all sides on different forums, and here there are none. I'll try and do my part to keep it like this!

[Kisshu]

flammable hippo wrote:

and not one of those people who are good on Christman and Easter and go to church on those days and then act however they want the rest of the year.

There are a lot of people though who don't feel that they have to go to church to be Christian. If you think about it, a church is basically just a meeting place to publicly express your faith. You don't have to go every sunday to be a believer.

Note: I mean to emphasize what i said in the second half of the sentance... "and act however thye want the rest of the year."

I was by no means insinuating that going to Church saves somebody. I was just annoyed with the people who consider themselves Christian just because they go to Church

[Kashin]

Wow I can't believe I didn't find this site earlier: Mission: Japan It's a collection of links, resources and stories of missionaries and Christians in Japan. There's a church directory and alot more that I haven't seen yet. Just letting y'all know if you're curious.

[two_heads_talking]

john2 wrote:

i find this verry funny,^^)

on the old subject
i culturally i think in japan, sort of cristians are less agresiv then in the west!, just my opinion

(PS:to those who know my email you can share it with other members.)

for those that cannot descipher john2.. this is what he was saying..

I find this very funny.

on the old subject.. (he had a brain fart here and didn't finish the sentence)

I think in Japan that culturally Christians are less aggresive than Christians in the West. Just my opinion.. (john2 likes to add words that don't need to be there and many times he just babbles. ((sort of critians is a new type of Christian that is less aggresive and smaller in stature))

and he actually got his PS message without bumbling it up..

[Kashin]

Ah...excellent exegesis. :p

[ri-ken-ka]

Haven't read all of this, but the common figure I've read is between <1 to 1.6% and that is pretty accurate I believe as some of the places I've read this come from Operation World (a world missions prayer and country info publication re: christianity) and other places that research this. I hear that if you only take the young people the percentage does go up, I forget, but it sounded more hopeful. And if you take Japanese outside of Japan, the likelihood is that the % of christians goes up because they are more likely to receive Christ outside the stifling home culture they've left behind. They tend to find it hard to grow once they return though. And Japanese tend to be pretty hard when it comes to making a decision to become christian, but once they do, they're pretty loyal and committed. Unlike other asian countries the culture of Japan is pretty strong and so the christian message doesn't take off like other countries due to the fact that to embrace Christianity can mean rejecting nationalism in the eyes of other Japanese. China doesn't have the same problem and so it thrives underground and through persecution.