HELLO!
I posted ACTS 15; which SHIOWED the 'rules' for the Gentile church.
Do you NOT believe what is clearly written in Scripture?
Posted on 08/28/2016 2:41:41 PM PDT by Salvation
The Surprising Reason Why More Americans Are Not Going To Church
The standard narrative of American religious decline goes something like this: A few hundred years ago, European and American intellectuals began doubting the validity of God as an explanatory mechanism for natural life. As science became a more widely accepted method for investigating and understanding the physical world, religion became a less viable way of thinking—not just about medicine and mechanics, but also culture and politics and economics and every other sphere of public life. As the United States became more secular, people slowly began drifting away from faith.
Of course, this tale is not just reductive—it’s arguably inaccurate, in that it seems to capture neither the reasons nor the reality behind contemporary American belief. For one thing, the U.S. is still overwhelmingly religious, despite years of predictions about religion’s demise. A significant number of people who don’t identify with any particular faith group still say they believe in God, and roughly 40 percent pray daily or weekly. While there have been changes in this kind of private belief and practice, the most significant shift has been in the way people publicly practice their faith: Americans, and particularly young Americans, are less likely to attend services or identify with a religious group than they have at any time in recent memory.
If most people haven’t just logicked their way out of believing in God, what’s behind this shift in public religious practice, and what does the shift look like in detail? That’s a big question, one less in search of a straightforward answer than a series of data points and arguments constellated over time. Here’s one: Pew has a new survey out about the way people choose their congregations and attend services. While Americans on the whole are still going to church and other worship services less than they used to, many people are actually going more—and those who are skipping out aren’t necessarily doing it for reasons of belief.
There were at least three fascinating tidbits tucked into the results of the survey. First, people who report going to worship services less frequently now than they used to overwhelmingly say the logistics of getting there are the biggest obstacle.Second, a significant number of people who said they’re not part of any particular religion expressed mistrust of religious institutions, suggesting these organizations’ reputations have something to do with why people are dropping out of public religious participation.
Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, the country seems to be split in half in terms of how often people get to services. Roughly 51 percent of Americans say they go to church or another worship service somewhere between once a month and multiple times per week, while 49 percent said they go rarely or never. But within that 51 percent, more than half of people said they go more often than they used to—in other words, about quarter of Americans have gotten more active in their religious communities in recent years, not less.
On the other hand, fewer than half of the people who rarely or never go to church said this has been a new decline in the last few years; a greater portion of that group said they’ve always stayed home on Sundays. All of this is a way of saying that, comparatively speaking, there’s more activity happening on the devout side of the spectrum than the drop-out side; this study suggests that even in a time of religion’s public decline, some people are experiencing religious revival.
According to the survey, about one-fifth of Americans now go to religious services a few times a year, but say they used to go a lot more. Roughly half of this group stopped going as often because of what the researchers called “practical issues”: They are too busy, have a crazy work schedule, or describe themselves as “too lazy” to go. Others said they just don’t care about attending services as much as doing other things.
While it’s easy to empathize with the hassle of trying to wake up and rally kids to go sit still for several hours every Sunday morning, this explanation is interesting for a slightly different reason: It suggests that many people view religious services as optional in a way they might not have in the past. Fifty or 60 years ago, churches, in particular, were a center of social and cultural life in America. For many people, that’s still the case, but the survey suggests that many people may be creating their social lives outside of a religious context—or perhaps forgoing that kind of social connection altogether.
The experience of those who are losing their religion shouldn’t obscure those who are finding it.
The sidelining of services may connect to another factor indicated in the survey: Among people who were raised religiously and who fell away from religion in adult life, roughly one-fifth said their dislike of organized religion was the reason. Another 50 percent said they stopped believing in the particular tenets of the faith they were raised in. Insofar as the decline in U.S. religious affiliation is an intellectual or philosophical story, it seems to be this: Fewer people are willing to sign on with the rules and reputations of institutions that promote faith. That doesn’t mean people don’t care about religious ideas or questions—many of those who are unaffiliated with a particular group still consider themselves “religious” or “seeking”—but they might not be as sold on the religious institutions themselves.
The experience of those who are losing their religion shouldn’t obscure the experience of those who are finding it, though. Twenty-seven percent of people in the survey say they’re attending services more often than they did in the past, cutting against the country’s overall decline in religious practice. This was most common among evangelical Protestants, three-quarters of whom say they go to church at least once or twice a month. Half of the people who said they’re going to services more often explained the change in terms of their beliefs: They’ve become more religious; they found that they need God in their life; they’ve gotten more mature as they’ve aged. By contrast, relatively few said they started going to church more often for practical reasons. Belief brings people to worship, it seems, while logistics keep people way.
The survey offers evidence that at least some Americans find worship services less relevant than other things they could be doing with their time, or perhaps they’re too hard to make time for. But the biggest takeaway is the variety of religious experience in America. Just as some people are drifting away from religion, others are moving toward it—and no matter what they might do on Sunday mornings, many people seem to find religious thinking still relevant to their lives.
Biggest lie ever. There may be people that claim to know the Lord but they refuse to repent of sin and to obey the Lord.
These are the ones here:
Mat 7:21 Not everyone who calls me their Lord will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only the ones who obey my Father in heaven will get in.
Mat 7:22 On the day of judgment many will call me their Lord. They will say, "We preached in your name, and in your name we forced out demons and worked many miracles."
Mat 7:23 But I will tell them, "I will have nothing to do with you! Get out of my sight, you evil people!"
Exactly!!!! but it seems that fundraising for specialty missions for a few have taken priority in most churches.
The "Great Commission" has been replace by "bring a friend to church" and receive a special mug.
See you in the clouds, brother.
Matthew 7:21 is revealed by JESUS in John 6:28 Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God: to believe in the One He has sent.”…
Does Satan believe in Jesus? He is intimately acquainted with Him yet that alone does not save him. He does not do the works of God nor obey Him.
Of course, I do and I have and that is why I am Catholic. I studied the theology for several years, on my own without anyone to influence me but theology, the Bible and most of all the Holy Spirit. I checked and cross checked and then when the internet came online did it again. So know, I don’t take my faith lightly.
We do that, especially my kids. We don't really chum around with many people because we live so far from the church. Most of the people who hang out together are locals.
What got me is that when the man said that to me, said that I was the only one who welcomed him, he also said that I was the only one to look him in the eyes. Most people avoided eye contact. They were so busy trying to shake as many hands as possible that they never look people in the eyes or even take the time to say hello. I didn't bring that part up to boast on my part but just to relay why he didn't like going to church. It wasn't because he was lazy, he just didn't think people were very friendly.
I don't necessarily think the majority of people avoid church because they are lazy as one person posted but that some people have tried to go to church and when they have, they didn't find their experience welcoming.
I've seen two types of church goers where I'm at. The ones who go to church to find God/Jesus, who are generally doing well in life but want to know more. Then there are the types of people who go to church after hitting rock bottom. These are broken people who are hurting and they come in looking for acceptance. I'm not blaming the regulars for not being more welcoming. I think it's the overall tone of the church which forgets that they don't have to send out missionaries to other countries to find lost souls, who need financial help and the gospel. I think the church likes to boast about sending people overseas and taking the glory for that instead of the less glamorous work of helping their neighbor who is just as in need of gospel and charity as anyone else.
“Which one of the Ten Commandments would you most like to forget?”
Well, let’s see:
I have no problem with making a statue:
““You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
I do work around my horses and have worked many Saturdays while in the military.
“Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.”
It was listed thus in Deuteronomy 5:
“You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”
I wasn’t a slave in the land of Egypt, nor were my ancestors. I’m not Jewish. Nor am I under the Old Covenant. I’m under the SON:
“1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” - Hebrews 1
In FAITH, I enjoy the real Sabbath:
“9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” (Chapter 4) Our rest is described in Hebrews 10:
“8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
If the Lord wants me to rest on Saturday, and do no work, His Spirit can instruct me. But there is nothing in the New Testament that indicates I am bound by the Old Covenant. The Law showed us sin and death. The Son gives us life. And it is worth remembering:
“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” —Mark 2:27
12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” - Matt 12
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. —Acts 20:7
Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. —1 Corinthians 16:1-2
Col. 2:16-17, “Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
I do, and I'll give you your answer if you can tell me the covenant which they established (and that is not the covenant under which we now live).
Gladly. It was the Mosaic Covenant which was another conditional one. "If you will indeed obey My Voice and keep my Covenant then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people, for all the earth is Mine".
This covenant covered three areas of the people and they are (1) their personal lives with how they personally related to God (2) their social lives with how they interacted with each other and finally (3)the ordinances governing their religious lives so that as a nation they were following God on the terms He has declared. This covenant was to condition the people to be ready and able to respond when the Redeemer came.
So; what ARE Jesus' "commandments"?
Just as vague?
ROME taught you this 'fact'!
I posted ACTS 15; which SHIOWED the 'rules' for the Gentile church.
Do you NOT believe what is clearly written in Scripture?
HE tried to bless the rich young ruler; too.
I wonder what ever happened to that guy...
Didn't I post what John said it was??
1 John 3:22And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
Good for you.
Now then; convince fellow Catholics to do the same.
HMMMmmm...
If you considered my post #183 vague, then YES! I promise just as vague.
Ruh-roh, is Elsie questioning the covenant? Never fear, they didn't live up to it for long.
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