I generally try to avoid folks on the street preaching conversion to their religion. But when I do pay attention to them, I notice that without fail their argument goes something like this: “Jesus is your personal savior, therefor you should going the First Evangelical Church on Main Street.” or “Allah is great, therefore you should come to my conservative Shia mosque.”
It makes me wonder–what makes people choose a sect? I understand that some people genuinely believe that a Diety speaks to them and are watching out for them; general theism, or even adherence to a specific religion, I understand. But I simply don’t get how people can choose, with absolute certainty, a certain group of people with having the ‘correct’ interpretation of the broad tenets of that religion.
So please, share your stories. Once you found Jesus, what made you become a Baptist/Evangelical/Catholic as opposed to any other Christian sect? Why are you a Conservative/Reform/Hassidic Jew? Why are you Shia or Sunni?
One request: please don’t turn this into a debate about doctrine. I want to know your *personal *experiences, not what biblical scholars say. And full disclosure, I am an Atheist and unlikely to change; while I genuinely want to hear your stories, I am asking out of intellectual curiosity and not out of desire for spiritual guidance.
I am always amazed at the intellectual curiosity of the Dope. I’ll check back next week to see what was said. I don’t have an answer having no sect of any kind.
I’m Episcopalian. I was born a Lutheran. As with many denominations Lutherans come in different flavors, and the group I was raised in, LC-MS, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, is quite conservative. For example, women are not officially voting members of the congregations, and only men can be pastors. Scripture is fairly literally interpreted.
As I grew towards adulthood this made me, a woman, uncomfortable. For a number of reasons I switched to another branch of Lutherans, the ELCA, Evangelical LUtheran Church in America. Women are ordained, they can vote and speak in church, and so on. Because of problems in my own congregation, and not the church overall I looked for another church home and hooked up with the Episcopal Church. I’d had contact with it before, both in the military and here in town. Overseas I could not get to my own denomination and the Episcopal was so similar. Here in town the two local Episcopal congregations, especially one, were prominent in facing down Fred Phelps and his infamous Westboro Baptist Church. The bishop of the diocese of Kansas, William Smalley, (he’s since retired) even helped hold signs against the WBC when they picketed.
So when I was looking for a new church home and took classes I liked what the rector said “Being Episcopalian means you don’t have to check your brains at the door.” I’ve been happy here for almost twelve years now, have taught Sunday School, served as a lector and chalist, and am a member of the women’s group that does service around the church as needed.
As for choosing any Christian sect one over the other all I can say is that while dogma, rituals, or even the hymns that are sung aren’t the most important thing. That is all extras. If the word of God is truly preached then that’s what’s important, the rest is window dressing that either suits an individual or it doesn’t. No one denomination is better or worse than another.
I think it’s largely because they believe in what they are familiar with. If you grew up in a certain sect – family & friends belong – that is what seems most sensible to you. Everything else is heretical.
Your sect is axiomatic; others must be justified, but rarely can be, in your mind.
Doesn’t cover all situations, of course – sometimes people search for meaning, and the first one that seems to “click” becomes the object of their devotion.
If there is any doubt, confirmation bias is very much at work here.
Joke: One priest says to another, “Let’s talk sects.”
Only as an intellectual aside, Christopher Hitchens would take issue with this statement. He says there is no such thing as a “Christian (or Lutheran) child,” as the act of being born does not confer or transfer any religion upon the new organism. It is the teaching of the Lutheran parents that makes a child a Lutheran worshiper.
I was born into an Anglican home, although my parents were raised in the Methodist Church and only ended up at this particular Anglican church when they were looking for a new place to worship after the Methodist Church they were attending closed its doors.
I came to faith as a teenager in the youth group of the church, but it was on the Evangelical/Charismatic wing of the Anglican Church and I belonged to a Baptist Society at University which then morphed into aligning itself with a so-called “New Covenant” (Independent, Charismatic) local church over time.
I married a Methodist who joined the above Anglican church with me, and when we moved to London we ended up in another Evangelical/Charismatic style Anglican church there. Upon moving home, we went back to the first Anglican church, but much had changed in our lives and in the church (probably more the former than the latter) and we didn’t feel comfortable there (to be honest, we’d lost our daughter - stillborn at 37 weeks - a few months before and were struggling with church and God and the whole shebang), so left church completely for a while.
Now we attend a local church similar to the “New Covenant” one mentioned above. Why there? The style of worship is one we enjoy & our daughter settled at the kids group almost immediately - at the time, that was enough. Now we have made friends who have supported us through our grief and got involved in leading and serving, and will probably stay for ever - there are a couple of “doctrinal” issues that we are not completely comfortable with (the role of women being one, the practice - or lack thereof - of the gifts of the Holy Spirit), but it is not enough to move us (at the moment).
The range of Christian churches available in Spain is quite limited; when I was little, the official choices were Catholic, Catholic, or Catholic (there were a few people of other religions, but they were rare and you were unlikely to find them outside the largest cities). In the US I was as likely to attend Mass at an Episcopalian church as at a Catholic one, but I found out that I don’t find the Communion-less “prayer meetings” of other denominations satisfying - the ones I attended with friends felt like “decaf Mass”, with a heavy dash of pastor worship in the cases of the microchurches.
The Catholic Church is a lot wider in the stances available within it than non-Catholics usually think and being part of it has made a range of local worship centers available in every location where I’ve lived without changing denominations - much less getting baptised several times…
Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend my sect to anyone directly. If you really like emotional stuff, maybe. But, in general, I’d just invite you and let you decide for yourself, being sure to warn you that some things will seem strange at first, but to try to come in with an open mind.
I’m fully aware that the Assemblies of God aren’t for everyone. I personally just think it’s a nice compromise between the super charismatic and the highly structural.
This thread title is “Request for Witnessing,” which is something we expressly feel belongs in Great Debates. However, despite that thread title, the OP seems to be asking for story-form explanations about why people believe as they do. Which is fine for IMHO. However, if we cross the line into witnessing for any particular faith and/or concerted efforts at conversion, we will be squarely in GD territory, which will necessitate a thread move.
I was raised Methodist but converted to the Episcopal church when I got married. My ex-wife was raised Catholic and wanted to get out so it seemed like a good compromise. We eventually got divorced but still belong to the same Episcopal church. I like it mainly because of the congregation and (female) priest but I hear that most Episcopal churches are pretty good for people like us. It teaches broad Christian values along with a fair bit of biblical history plus a lot of socializing with thinking people. They don’t push anything down your throat. I am happy that we made that switch even though I liked the Methodist church just fine and I like that my daughters have a church but not one that focuses heavily on invented doctrine.
I was raised Southern Baptist. Very hellfire and brimstone and “spare the rod spoil the child”. After my “good Christian” uncle left me with scars on my back and legs from not sparing the rod, I went without a spiritual home for many years. I was a seeker for a few years in my early 20s and finally decided I’m just not Christian.
Most churches I attended, in one way or another, taught that women are second class citizens. I simply could not have any faith in a doctirine which told me I was not as good as a man.
I’m a Pagan, sole practionier. Since I still live in the Deep South, I know very few other Pagans. It works for me. My beliefs are very much grounded in personal responsibility and reverence for nature.
I am from the Deep South and I know that churches like that exist but it certainly isn’t all of them. Southern Baptist churches lean towards traditional sex roles but Methodist churches are common in the South as well and they are extremely moderate and have a lot of female pastors. That applies even to the smallest towns.
Episcopal churches are very sex egalitarian and can be found in almost any locale of any notable size. I have been to bunches of different Christian churches with friends and family members all the way from the fundamentalist Assembly of God to Catholic services. There is a big difference in them in doctrine but it mostly gets reflected in the atmosphere and congregation. If you wanted to find a church that accepted people like you, they do exist. Some Unitarian churches are barely Christian by some definitions and highly tolerant and Episcopalians aren’t that far from that but it runs the spectrum which is basically the root explanation for the OP.
Not all of us do. I’m a universalist because it feels the best to me; not condeming people to hell, for example, seems the most like the God I find in the bible. I’m not utterly convinced that it’s the “correct” interpretation of scripture, though. And I’m not really worried about it either, given I believe in relativistic inclusivism rather than any type of exclusivism.
I think I’m Conservadox. After my beloved maternal grandma died (I was about 15 then), I found myself examining my life, my faith and my Jewish identity. I decided that I wasn’t being observant enough, but that full on Orthodoxy was not for me. I found Orthodox Judaism too rigid, too sexist and had a few other problems. But, I felt the need to learn more about Judaism and to follow more of its laws and practice more of its rituals.
I try to not place too much importance on what brand of Judaism another Jew follows. I belong to a group called Weird Jews on LiveJournal. I fit in there pretty well.
I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (“Mormons”). I was an atheist until a few years ago, and then I had an experience that caused me to begin attending a local fundamentalist-type church, but I never felt completely at home with the doctrine there. The final straw was when I brought my mom there for Easter service and half the sermon was basically saying that if you weren’t a right-winger, you weren’t really living a Christian life. Shortly after that, some LDS missionaries came to my neighborhood and I talked to them as research for a book I am writing with a Mormon character in it, and I found that their doctrinal explanations made much more sense to me on many fronts. I love my church – there is a real togetherness and sense of helpfulness in my congregation, and the doctrine makes me feel uplifted and hopeful.
Episcopalian here - I was born in the church, and have been happy with it ever since. What I see as determining who chooses a particular church is past experience, personality and needs.
Anglican theology is upheld by three elements: Scripture, Tradition and Reason. Anglicanism (and to an extent Presbyterianism and Methodism) tends to attract introspective people who want to examine their faith and grow spiritually. Those more attracted to the United Church of Christ (Disciples of Christ) or the Southern Baptist church are more likely to want an answer that they can act on or get reassurance from, rather than wasting time discussing endless iterations ad nauseum. Various denominations have personalities like people do, and whether or not someone is attracted to a church is in part a function of how well they “get along” with that denimonation.
About a quarter of the people in my parish are “refugees,” people who came to my church because they got tired of being beat over the head with “You are a sinner and just one step from Eternal Damnation - what are you doing to get right with God?” We have one couple who came from an Eastern Orthodox church because they got tired of being hamstrung with Orthodox traditions that were becoming irrelevant to modern life. My church offered something comfortable that they were looking for, and that happens a fair amount of the time in every denomination. People want to feel comfortable and wanted as they live their spiritual lives. Sometimes they run away from unpleasant past experiences, other times they run toward something that looks familiar.
Illustrative joke #1: What happens when you mention the word “Evangelism” in a room full of Episcopalians? They put down their martinis and Bloodys and leave. Illustrative joke #2: What do you call a grown up Southern Baptist? An Episcopalian. People change as they grow and mature, and what may have made them feel comfortable, addressed their needs and made sense in one part of their life may not do so later on. The breadth of theologies, philosophies and practices throughout the Christian world, from Eastern to Roman to Protestant to Old World (e.g., Coptic, Armenian) appeals and works for a very wide range of personalities, perhaps more so than Judaism or Islam, IMHO. There is much more of a shopper mentality now than before when it comes to finding a church home: does it meet my spiritual, emotional and social needs?