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aquaspryt69
Knowflake

Posts: 1567
From: Arizona
Registered: Feb 2004

posted July 22, 2007 12:25 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for aquaspryt69     Edit/Delete Message


If you woke up this morning
with more health than illness,
you are more blessed than the
million who won't survive the week.

If you have never experienced
the danger of battle,
the loneliness of imprisonment,
the agony of torture or
the pangs of starvation,
you are ahead of 20 million people
around the world.

If you attend a church meeting
without fear of harassment,
arrest, torture, or death,
you are more blessed than almost
three billion people in the world.


If you have food in your refrigerator,
clothes on your back, a roof over
your head and a place to sleep,
you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank,
in your wallet, and spare change
in a dish someplace, you are among
the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If your parents are still married and alive,
you are very rare,
especially in the United States.

If you hold up your head with a smile
on your face and are truly thankful,
you are blessed because the majority can,
but most do not.


If you can hold someone's hand, hug them
or even touch them on the shoulder,
you are blessed because you can
offer God's healing touch.

If you can read this message,
you are more blessed than over
two billion people in the world
that cannot read anything at all.

You are so blessed in ways
you may never even know.



If you are feeling blessed, repay the blessings bestowed unto you and do something for others.

A blessing cannot be kept. If it stops with you, then the blessing will disappear. The blessing will only keep working if it is continuously passed around. If you are a recipient of a blessing, keep the blessing working by being the source of blessing to other people.

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Mirandee
Knowflake

Posts: 4812
From: South of the Thumb - Taurus, Pisces, Cancer
Registered: Sep 2004

posted July 22, 2007 12:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Mirandee     Edit/Delete Message


Thank you for the reminder to count our blessings, aquaspry

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aquaspryt69
Knowflake

Posts: 1567
From: Arizona
Registered: Feb 2004

posted July 22, 2007 12:53 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for aquaspryt69     Edit/Delete Message
Np Mirandee


We must never forget to be thankful for what we have and don't have.


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TheEvolution
Knowflake

Posts: 715
From: Mumbai, India
Registered: Aug 2005

posted July 22, 2007 12:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for TheEvolution     Edit/Delete Message
quote:
If you attend a church meeting
without fear of harassment,
arrest, torture, or death,
you are more blessed than almost
three billion people in the world.

there are about 7 billion on earth and most of them are not christians.

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Node
Knowflake

Posts: 1162
From: Crowded House
Registered: Nov 2005

posted July 22, 2007 12:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Node     Edit/Delete Message
Spryt: Thanks for that! Did you write it? If not may we know the author?
    Also may I recommend a movie for you? It is a 'message' motivational film adapted from a book based on a true story called Peaceful Warrior But unlike the hugely popular Secret it is based on what we have in the Now as opposed to what we think we want and or need.

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aquaspryt69
Knowflake

Posts: 1567
From: Arizona
Registered: Feb 2004

posted July 22, 2007 01:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for aquaspryt69     Edit/Delete Message
Hey Node,
I don't know who wrote it. It was sent to me in an email and am sharing it with everyone I know.

The Evolution,
It says nothing about any particular religion, so why bring up Christianity? If it's the wording you're having an issue with, then change it up to whatever is appropriate. ie synagogue, temple, the great outdoors, whatever sugars your cookies.

I sure hope I don't have to get nasty on what is meant to be a nice thread.

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Mirandee
Knowflake

Posts: 4812
From: South of the Thumb - Taurus, Pisces, Cancer
Registered: Sep 2004

posted July 23, 2007 02:05 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Mirandee     Edit/Delete Message
I don't want to get off the topic of a nice thread about blessings either, aquaspry, but I feel I do have to correct The Evolution on her facts.

As of 2005 there was a world population of 6.5 billion people. That was the last census report on the world population.

The world religions break down shows that in fact, there are more Christians in the world than any other religion or non-religion.

Here is the breakdown of the major religions and non-religions as of 2007:

Christianity: 2.1 billion

Islam: 1.3 billion

Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion

Hinduism: 900 million

Chinese traditional religion: 394 million

Buddhism: 376 million

primal-indigenous: 300 million

African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million

Sikhism: 23 million

Juche: 19 million

Spiritism: 15 million

Judaism: 14 million

Baha'i: 7 million

Jainism: 4.2 million

Shinto: 4 million

Cao Dai: 4 million

Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million

Tenrikyo: 2 million

Neo-Paganism: 1 million

Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand

Rastafarianism: 600 thousand

Scientology: 500 thousand


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miss_muffet
Knowflake

Posts: 832
From:
Registered: Mar 2004

posted July 23, 2007 07:47 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for miss_muffet     Edit/Delete Message
quote:
there are about 7 billion on earth and most of them are not christians.

I agree. Based on Mirandee's chart, 67% are non-christians. Evolution did not say what their religions are. Just that most of them are not christians. This statement is absolutely correct.

MM

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Mirandee
Knowflake

Posts: 4812
From: South of the Thumb - Taurus, Pisces, Cancer
Registered: Sep 2004

posted July 24, 2007 01:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Mirandee     Edit/Delete Message
As of 2007 there is an estimated 6.7 billion people on the planet. It is estimated that with the present birth and death rate there will not be 7 billion people in the world until around the year 2030.

As for Christianity being the largest religion in the world you can check out this chart along with the explanation of the figures and the total breakdown of the percentages and stats at the following site:
http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Classical

There you will find these statements as well:

Christianity: David B. Barrett's World Christian Encyclopedia (1994 update) gives an oft-cited figure of 1.9 billion Christians (or about 33% of the world population), and projected that by the year 2000 there will be 2.1 billion Christians in the world. The 2001 edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia stated there were 2.1 billion Christians in the world, or 33% of the total population. Regardless of the degree of accuracy of this figure, Christianity, if taken as a whole, is unarguably the largest world religion - the largest religion in the world. (Keep in mind that although Christianity is the world's largest religion, it is an umbrella term that comprises many different branches and denominations.)

My note: Of the various Christian denominations Roman Catholicism is by far the largest Christian group. With more than one billion adherents worldwide.


Islam: Contemporary figures for Islam are usually between 900 million and 1.4 billion, with 1 billion being a figure frequently given in comparative religion texts, probably because it's such a nice, round number. The largest and best known branches of Islam are Sunni and Shi'ite.
Many Muslims (and some non-Muslim) observers claim that there are more practicing Muslims than practicing Christians in the world. Adherents.com has no reason to dispute this. It seems likely, but we would point out that there are different opinions on the matter, and a Muslim may define "practicing" differently than a Christian. In any case, the primary criterion for the rankings on this page is self-identification, which has nothing to do with practice.

Smaller groups within Islam include Sufis (although some Sufis regard their practice of Sufism as pan-denominational or non-denominational), Druze, the U.S.-based Nation of Islam (previously known as "Black Muslims"), and Ahmadiyya. As is true with all major religions, there are adherents within all branches of Islam who consider some of or all of the other branches heterodox or not actually part of their religion. But these classifications are based primarily on historical lineage and self-identification. Protestations and disagreements based on exclusivistic internal concepts of belief or practice are normal, but are largely immaterial with regards to historical, taxonomic and statistical classification.

Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: This is a highly disparate group and not a single religion. Although atheists are a small subset of this grouping, this category is not synonymous with atheism. People who specify atheism as their religious preference actually make up less than one-half of one percent of the population in many countries where much large numbers claim no religious preference, such as the United States (13.2% nonreligious according to ARIS study of 2001) and Australia (15% nonreligious).


You can check out other sites as well and you will find the same thing. Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world. Although if you break those two religions down to just practicing then there are probably more practicing Islamics in the world than Christians. Not all Christians go to church regularly yet still consider themselves Christians in their beliefs.

I am not arguing this issue based on the fact that I am a professed Christian but because they are the true facts. As a Christian it doesn't really matter much to me because I would still be a Christian even if they were the least majority on the planet. I just feel that one should counter misinformation with the true facts.

Like it or not, the facts speak for themselves.


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aquaspryt69
Knowflake

Posts: 1567
From: Arizona
Registered: Feb 2004

posted July 31, 2007 07:26 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for aquaspryt69     Edit/Delete Message
Thanks Mirandee. I don't mind statistics being updated, I just didn't want this to turn into some ugly debate about religions.


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Bluemoon
Knowflake

Posts: 4456
From: Stafford, VA USA
Registered: Feb 2005

posted July 31, 2007 07:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Bluemoon     Edit/Delete Message
I agree with Spry!

This is not a topic for religous debate!

Be at peace, be good to each other, feel blessed, love this world.

My religion is not even listed.

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fayte.m
Knowflake

Posts: 9809
From: Still out looking for Schrödinger's cat. fayte1954@hotmail.com
Registered: Mar 2005

posted July 31, 2007 10:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for fayte.m     Edit/Delete Message
aquaspryt69
quote:
We must never forget to be thankful for what we have and don't have.

BTW...
I see Spiritism (Spiritist) listed but not Spiritualist which is the larger group.
There is a Big difference! These are not the same thing.

------------------
"Heaven doesn't want me and Hell is afraid I'll take over and start a rehab for the damned!"
~Judgement Must Be Balanced With Compassion~
~Do Not Seek Wealth From The Suffering, Or The Dire Needs Of Others~
~Assumption Is The Bane Of Understanding~
~ if you keep doing what you did, you'll keep getting what you got.~
}><}}}(*> <*){{{><{
~~~ ~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~
~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~

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maklhouf
Knowflake

Posts: 1392
From:
Registered: Nov 2003

posted August 01, 2007 01:40 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for maklhouf     Edit/Delete Message
I'm slightly turned off by the implied threat: pass on your blessings or else.
It makes blessings into one of those chain letters we know and hate

------------------

The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner;
Matthew 21:42

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Solane Star
Knowflake

Posts: 5378
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jun 2005

posted August 01, 2007 06:47 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Solane Star     Edit/Delete Message
SO BLESSED!!!!

THANKS AQUASPRYT69!!!!!!!!!

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