I’ve heard that in the bible, it is unnecissary to have a place of whorship to believe in God. I’ve also heard that it would be a sin to do so. Also, I don’t remember the movie too well but they make reference to this in the movie Stigmata.
I don’t know if it’s true or not. But if it is, and you whole heartedly believe in the bible, why do you go? Please don’t smack me for this, i’m very ignorant to what the bible says. You could say that i’m just looking for the Straight Dope.
I go because i like to get spiritually fed.
Yes, but if God wanted you to live a life to believe and not to worship, isn’t that breaking some kind of trust between you and the bibley?
Not all Christians believe that the Bible is the be all and end all of their belief.
Many Christians go to church not only to hear the words of their particular form of minister, but also to have at least one hour (if not a full day) a week focused strictly on spiritual matters.
Some Christians go to church to meet others who believe as they do, in order to make connections with people so they don’t feel so alone in the world. Yes, in some ways this does make church a social event for these people.
Some Christians go to church because it’s what they were taught was the right thing to do, and they’ve never really thought things through any further than that.
Jesus is also on record as having said “Wherever two or more of you are gathered in my name” is a place of worship (a “church” if you will).
Of course, others’ MMV. IANAC, but I’m friends with many.
IANAC, but:
Hebrews 10:24 & 25
24
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
I’m not sure where it says we are not suppose to.
This is not the case, though, and I don’t know where you got that idea. It may not be a Biblical requirement to have a church in order to believe in God, but it certainly is not a sin to do so. Technically, a church can be someone’s living room - it’s just a place for worshipers to gather communally and learn and help each other.
Wow, got that answer in stereo!
Wow, got that answer in stereo!
Let’s get that answer in quadrophonic!
I’m not even Christian and am only barely a Theist at all - so the Bible has little to do with it.
I go to church (Unitarian Universalist) for the community and an opportunity for reflection. We have interesting speakers come. My children get to go to Religious Education (which, in a Unitarian church is more a comparative religion course for kids than what most people think of as “Sunday School”).
Quadrophonic? That’s so 70s.
These days we do it in 5.1 surround sound by THX!
7.1 surround, thanks.
To meet chicks. Duh.
I go to church because I should go. It gives TheLadyLion and I a spiritual boost. We like worshipping with the rest of our congregation. I’ve become much more active in worship since I started going to this church, and particularly since TLL started going with me.
I go because it “recharges my spiritual batteries” – because I feel surrounded by a community of people who believe and love as I do, because the music uplifts me, because Jim and Lorraine preach sermons that vary in quality from merely very good to something that might be described as a cross between the best scholarly lecture you ever heard and MLK’s “I have a dream” speech or one of Churchill’s immortal WWII speeches. I go because I find participating in a community ritual that is meaningful to me to be a moving experience. I go to be fed by the Body and Blood of my Lord. I go to find the strength to do what I do here. I go because I repeatedly promise to “continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.” And I go because God never fails to answer the prayer we close each service with, with cjhoworth quoted to me in a Pit thread once when I was depressed:
Anybody who doesn’t get anything out of going to church should do one of three things: (1) Consider what you’re investing in it. If you don’t mean the prayers and don’t pay attention to the sermon, if communion is just getting a morsel of bread and a sip of wine or grape juice, then maybe you’re not putting enough of yourself into it. (2) If that’s not the problem but what’s being done is, change churches. Sadly, there are churches that have no desire or intent to be Christian communities, that are not interested in proclaiming the Good News and calling people to do what Jesus taught, that go through the motions with no evident serious meaning to what they do. If you’re going there, go somewhere else. (3) If none of this is the case, don’t go. You’re at a point in your life where what’s going on is not meaningful to you. Sometime later, it will be. For now, stay home and get some sleep, do a little volunteer work with your free time, or otherwise do something meaningful with your life. But don’t judge all churches by the one you stopped going to, or assume that who you are won’t change over the years – and go back to one that fits what you need when you feel the call to do so.
Nobody over the age of ten should go to church because they “have to” – it should be something that equips them to live their lives more meaningfully, or they shouldn’t be going there. (But don’t discount the value of persevering if it’s been that for you in the past and you’ve hit a “dry spell” – it’s worth going in exactly the same way it’s worth leaving the rain barrels out during a drought – sooner or later it’ll break, and you’ll want to be prepared when it does.
We have decided to stop going and thats it.
I have gone to churches for over 20 years and never found one where anyone wanted anything to do with me (or us).
Went to one for 4 years, only one person would speak to us in the church, much less have someone actually call me on the phone or see me socially. When I left, the couple who had been driving us there never called to see what happened.
Thats been my experienc ein every church.
They just don’t care.
I’ve found nicer people who want something to do with us who are communist-/atheists.
Says a lot.
No more church for us.
Well, Jesus himself didn’t seem to have a problem with organized religion, seeing as how he went to the synagogue regularly. You think Jesus was committing a sin by going to the temple?
As for the movie “Stigmata,” well, let’s just say it’s rarely a good idea to take anything you hear in a horror movie as fact.
Church is like a family; I guess I could be a hermit if I tried, but it’s nice to get together, better for me too, I think.
That’s really sad, vanilla. Did you volunteer within the church? Churches always encourage people to volunteer. That is a way to be an actual member. That is the best way to meet people.
Going to church isn’t about “people who want something to do with us”, although I agree that it makes it more of an experience when you can fellowship with other Christians.
Don’t you think that church is learning more about the Bible, God, and worshipping Him? That is why I go to church. I go to worship and to help in anyway I can. We should go to church not looking for what it can do for us, but what we can contibute to God and His followers.
You should go to worship and learn. Don’t worry about if anyone cares. God does, that is the most important.