Posted on 03/19/2008 6:27:57 AM PDT by Dutchgirl
Once in a while, we decide to try going to church again. We sometimes think we should because we hear from preachers and other people that we need to be in a church. It is mostly for the kids.
I’m not really into church all that much, because I always find people who don’t have a christian attitude. I used to be kind of a stinker when I was younger. The first time I went as a teenager I was met with dirty looks and horrified glares and whispers of “What’s SHE doing here?”
In later years my family tried it, but it’s hard to find a church that is 100% pure on a biblical basis. They can also be a little bit clique-ish. My son got kicked out of sunday school because he had some kind of homework to do and he didn’t do it. We didn’t put him there to do homework, we put him there so he could be around other kids who believe. When we went to sunday school, we didn’t have homwork, we had bible study and that was good.
I know of other people who go and the preacher will plainly refer to them in front of the whole group during his message without mentioning them by name, but everyone knows who he’s discussing and sort of turns around to gawk at them. I don’t believe public humiliation is supposed to be part of the deal!
I don’t believe in sugar coated self esteem based feel good sermons, but if they want to condemn a certain behavior, they can do it without humiliating the people who are attending church. They can convict without referring to people or mentioning names just by leaning on the word if they are any good at it. God is perfectly capable of poking you with his elbow and saying, “Hey! You listening? He’s talking about you!”
We believe it’s far more important to fear God and try to live according to His word than to go out a few times a week to prove our beliefs to the community. I have a tendency to believe the number one reason folks go to church is to make a statement to society just like most people who drive a Prius.
It is one thing to seperate yourself from society as a believer, but Joyce Meyer used to say, “I can sit in a garage all day long, and I’ll never be a car!” I believe there are a lot of people sitting in church just like that, thinking that’s what makes them a christian.
Some people say you need to be around other christian people in order to stay strong and believe. That kind of blows the whole thing about God being able to work miracles in your life through prayer and belief though. We don’t need other people so much as we need God and His word. To me, that is denying the true power of God! What about all the pioneer types who might have been too isolated to attend church? Did they all sink just because they weren’t in a certain building on sunday?
Whenever we decided that it was the wrong place to be for whatever reason we didn’t make any noise about it. We just quit going. Why make any noise about it? The people won’t listen anyway because they believe they are holier than you just because they park their bodies in that building no matter what, just like the car in the garage. Or they attend every function or potluck or whatever. It’s more like they live for church instead of living for God.
I believe He would be offended to see how people behave in church sometimes!
As far as Obama goes, I don’t consider him a true believer.
If he was, he would probably have run screaming from this hateful institution!
The thing that strikes me every time is that a Hollywood film actually portrays a man who loved God above wealth and power, and ultimately above life itself. It also provided a definition of what it means to take an oath - which is standing before God to speak- and losing one’s honor if that oath is betrayed.
Physician, heal thyself
I beg your pardon?
More to the point of this question, though... Back in the 70's I was a still a nominal member of First Southern Baptist Church located in Del City, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City. The Pastor, a gentleman named Bailey Smith, spake about Judaism and Jews from the pulpit, and it didn't take long for it to get ugly. Part of the diatribe was an anti-semitic slur about facial characteristics, something having to do with those Groucho Marx noses and glasses we used to get at the dime store...
I never went back. Don't know what ever happened to The Reverend Bailey Smith - I hope he learned something and got on with his life at his new calling...
I saw you’re from Oklahoma. Ever heard of Duane Sheriff?
He’s kind of cool!
“I’m not really into church all that much, because I always find people who don’t have a christian attitude”
Maybe the problem is you, not them.
A friend of mine induced a young lady to join her kids (teens) attending a fellowship dinner at my former church. The young lady had tattoos, a bare midriff and a nose ring. She was insulted by a member of the church staff, essentially telling her she didn't belong.
When I approached the staff member, and then my pastor about this, I was told that I had a problem. It occurred to me that I did. My church was not a safe place for seekers. It was dead. I didn't make a stink, but I left, and the pastor knew why.
When I went "shopping" for another church I asked a lot of probing questions. I started by finding a mission I believed in (Habitat for Humanity) and asking for a list of covenant churches. I then called and asked where the various churches spent their money (to see where their heart was.) I asked questions of the Pastors, secretaries, music ministers, deacons and teachers at all of the churches that I visited that I had pared down from the list(about six in all.) And when we were satisfied, my husband and I joined another congregation.
The one thing I disliked about them was that they had felt a need to have a "Mission Statement,"- but since the leadership has lived up to it, I have no cause for regret. It says "Times change, values don't."
A few years after joining my new church, my sister, who was bipolar with schizophrenic affective disorder, moved in with me. As highly medicated as she was, my church welcomed her as a sister, in particular the choir. I don't know how I could have gotten through her suicide without the help and support of my congregation.
I am in a Joyce Meyer Bible Study right now called "Battlefield of the Mind." God's word is powerful.
Did you read the entire post? The other people can be overlooked, but when you’re not being spiritually fed why stay there?
The other people I mention who attended church and got kind of slapped in front of the group by the man in charge telling a story that specifically referred to them is one example. This was not done wholly through a reference to a bible verse, this was done by relating a specific incident-he did everything short of mentioning names!
And the whole “What’s SHE doing here?” scenario? Church is for sinners-I will always be a sinner, whether or not I attend church. I can’t even breathe or think without sinning, so if anyone needs to be in church, I do!
But I haven’t found a church yet that focuses on the bible enough to suit me. That’s my major gripe and I probably should have referenced that POV more. I am not saying all people who go to church are a bunch of phonies or anything like that and I’m not saying I’m better than the people who attend church. I just gave my reasons for leaving or non-attendance.
However, you are free to judge me as you like without knowing what’s truly in my heart. He knows and that’s all that really matters to me.
> It occurred to me that I did. My church was not a safe place for seekers. It was dead.<
Unfortunately, there are a lot of “dead” churches.
But the bible is a sure thing! I don’t read as much as I should, but it never lets me down!
There’s another Church down the street or around the corner....get out now!!
Church isn't about you. It's about God. You are a sinful creature. You will always be able to find a flaw with any church. The question you should be asking yourself is "Where can I do the most good?". Ask not what your church can do for you; ask what you can do for your church.
I am a very conservative person and I am a Methodist. I know of what I speak. Because my church is visited by a lot of spiritually weak people, I am better able to share the Gospel than my friends who attend the "perfect" church.
Just so you know, the worst hypocrite in any church I attend is always going to be ME.
Great line, appy. I think I'll steal it.
There is one excellent reason for leaving a church, and I believe it to be biblical. There are a few other reasons I would understand and would consider logical and biblically supportable.
The excellent reason is this: When Christ removes the candlestick. In other words, the church no longer is a light on a hill about the Gospel of Jesus. Instead, the light in them is darkness. They no longer represent the truth of the Gospel.
See Ephesus, Rev 2.
One is justified in leaving such a church, because Christ's action removes it from being a church.
This is the case with the Unitarian/Universalist predecessors who came out of a Christian tradition.
I use the Gospel test. If they recoil at the hearing of the Gospel, I am gone. That’s what happened to the Unitarians. That’s what is starting to happen to the “Success” preachers.
I can work with anything else because that is our mission field.
We are in agreement. Godspeed this day, brother.
I left my former Novus Ordo Catholic parish for a Traditional Catholic chapel and mass about five years ago. It was a year long decision which involved much reading and investigating. The straw that broke the camel's back was when a new pastor was assigned who openly preached heresy and "conducted" "mass" like a circus event. To my sadness most of my fellow parishioners thought it was wonderful. The day my then 9 year old asked me, "what time are we going to the Fr. Jerry show?", I knew it was time to go. I never returned.
Now a friend of mine did not leave so quietly. Shortly after I left she and her children were attending one of this priest's "productions" which was especially heretical and sacrilegious. At one point during his homily she stood up, loudly announced, "C'mon kids, we've stayed at this carnival too long," and marched her children out the door.
Is not going to church a sin? I will always be a sinner no matter what I do. Church doesn’t save, Jesus saves.
>Church isn’t about you. It’s about God<
That’s exactly the point! Aren’t we supposed to be spiritually fed by hearing and studying His word?
They called it "Contemporary Worship" I called it watered down and an insult to the Holy name of Worship. I want to escape the world on Sunday morning, not see a bad imitation of local cable station program.
>When my Church brought in a horrible Rock Band and started with entertainment on Sunday morning, I figured it was time to leave.<
I have a hard time listening to this stuff because most of the time you can’t understand the words! I prefer the regular old fashioned gospel sound or a country sound.
It does speak to some people. But I don’t know how. I agree with you about entertainment though. We’re not there for entertainment’s sake.
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