Reading through, it’s not why I go to church, but it’s certainly a benefit. Having a spiritual home is a very nice thing. I’ve had church people watch my kids when I went to the hospital. They’ll hold parties for you. When someone dies, they know what to say and how to say it (well, usually), when Dad died, the freezer was filled for months-church people know how to grieve with you because it’s just something that has been done so long in their communities. They know how to let you have your sadness, but direct it toward joy. They visit with you in the hospital and a good pastor know when to leave and when to stay. I’m convinced all of the best funeral services are for church members. Pastors are professional eulogists and when they actually know the person, it can become extremely moving and a good pastor knows how to move emotions correctly. Having a pretty venue for a wedding is pretty sweet as well. That’s what my daughter likes best about our church. 
You could say the same thing about a lot of things from political gatherings to car dealerships. You aren’t wrong but you aren’t maybe as right as you were 40 years back. These days many of the major denominations are more about what we have in common than what makes us different. The ELCA is in “full communion” (we share pastors, members, and missions) with several other Protestant denominations and even do a lot on the local level with everyone from the Roman Catholics to the local Jewish Temples. As we sometimes put it, we allow the space for God to speak to each heart in a language they will understand. Mileage various, Christian or whatever faith, but not to the extremes I saw in my school days.
United Methodist here. We’re in Full Communion with you. Go ELCA!
As you said though, most mainline Protestants don’t think they are the ‘right’ one. I think our stance is that we are one path among many to God. We like our path, else we wouldn’t be on it, but that doesn’t mean that we’re the only one. I’m sure ELCA is similar along with most of the other Mainlines. My personal mission in life is to inform the world that Catholics and Evangelicals are not the only churches in the world.
Cohen is shipwrecked on a desert island for several years. When rescued, he shows his rescuers all the things he has built to make his life comfortable – a hut, a waterwheel, storehouses, tools and even art. The most impressive element is his synagogue – a finely formed building of driftwood and bamboo, with carved doors, pews, candelabra and an ark made from an old chest of drawers. Inside, he proudly displays a Torah scroll he made himself, scratching the Hebrew letters with charcoal, on parchment made from bark.
As the rescuers express admiration for his hard work, artistry and obvious devotion to his faith, he leads them past what appears to be a second, much bigger and even more beautiful synagogue. They goggle with surprise.
“Why did you build a second synagogue? Why on earth would you need two?”
“Oh, yes,” he responds. “That is the synagogue I wouldn’t attend even if you paid me.”
In our family, attending church on Sunday was what you did. I announced I was an atheist in my teens and stopped going, which was quite a big deal at the time. Now I’m in my 50s and everyone’s mellow about it, not because they’ve got this enlightened live-and-let-live attitude, but because they’ve decided I’m not really an atheist - they’re non-believers about my non-belief. :rolleyes:
To be fair, they do seem to enjoy the sermons, singing, and socializing. But nowhere more than Ky does attending church seem more about confirming you’re a good person, rather than encouraging good behavior. You hear some truly vile beliefs spouted by the God-fearing here, especially around election time.
There is a time for fire and brimstone. But if it is every Sunday it is time to find a new church.
I go to a Unitarian church. Our minister is agnostic. So it has very little to do with worshipping God or obligation.
I go because our minister is an excellent speaker. She can put whatever the sermon is about into terms that make you think, inform you, and leave you feeling hopeful and like maybe you are a better person at the end of it. And she does so in an entertaining fashion. Its like going to the gym for my humanity - some stretching, a little exercise, and some balance training, and a little fun and social interaction for good measure.
I go because I teach Sunday school - usually second and third graders. I enjoy the kids, I enjoy the time I spend with them, and I enjoy doing for them what the minister does for me - make them think a little about what it means to be a good person - what do words like “fair” mean. How you “respect” to someone - even someone you don’t like.
(Oh, our choir is EXCELLENT, when we don’t have exceptional guest musicians, and our church has a fantastic art gallery that features different artists each month).
Back before football (any kind thereof) and movies got invented, church was the biggest show in town and favored speakers could have fandoms to rival any modern star. There have been cases of riots and fights over “my preacher is better than your preacher” (and I don’t mean different Churches!).
One reason (among many) that I go to church is to study God’s word (the Bible) with others who take it seriously. If for example, I raised the question here of "what does 1 John 2:4 mean? how should we understand and apply it?), I would be likely to get cynical answers and mockery. At church, I can ask and sit down with others who are also eager to understand scripture, to explore its nuances and working to apply it to their lives. This exercise strengthens my understanding and my faith and enables me to follow my savior and God more closely.
1 John 2:4 = Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
Worship together, enjoying interactions with others, social life (for many Americans, it might comprise up to half or more of their social life,) hearing sermons, church activities, all kinds of reasons.
The people I know who attend church attend church because their church told them to attend church, and they’re obedient sorts. Why they’re obedient varies, but in all cases, as best I can tell, the reason for their attendance is because they’re obeying the instructions of the church.
If any of them has found the experience of being there to be, itself, worthy of attendance, they haven’t mentioned it.
Probably worth noting that I’m talking about Mormons here, and specifically mormons in the pacific northwest where religion in general is reportedly more staid and placid than in some other places. Those meetings are boring.
I do. Just about every Sunday. I believe in God and want to worship said God. I believe that God wants us to be in community with each other. So Church allows me to be in fellowship with other Christians (I have made quite a few very good friends through Church), and allows us to worship God together, and along the way learn something about God or ourselves (or both).
As I look around the world it seems to me that religion is one of the greatest forces for evil in the world. I haven’t been to a religious service since the 1995 bat mitzvah of my niece. Before that, I cannot recall. But I have a good friend who raised as a Baptist, then tried the Quakers before fetching up with the Unitarians where he goes basically for the social experience and because he is comfortable being an agnostic with them. I don’t understand it myself, but at least they are a truly tolerant sect.
It is a way of Networking. Belong to a church and they will help you get a job, etc.
It can be entertainment. Some churches really rock the hymns. Some sermons are very good.
It’s community involvement. Politics.
Its a social club, with dinners, and even dances, etc. Meet people, interact. Maybe meet a possible mate.
That being said, I dont currently go to church.
Is one of your blood relatives a Cyclops?
? :dubious: Why not just sleep in in their beds instead of going to the chapel, if sleep’s what they want? (BTW, are military personnel required to do military stuff on Sunday mornings or afternoons just like any other week day?)
Chris was missing an eye. Catfishing accident, and it doesn’t involve a fish hook or a knife. There are many stories about Chris. I wish they were just stories, but I’m reasonably certain his life is the kernel of most of the less complimentary Southern stereotypes.
The Twit didn’t specify, but this is more of a Basic Training phenomenon. You’re out of the rack at 4:30 no matter what your Sunday plans are, so you can go to church and sleep, or stay at garrison and dig holes or whatever.
SOURCE - I did mis-remember though. This applies only to soldiers in basic training.
I went to church every Sunday when I was growing up. I was in the choir, and we got paid.
Also was treasurer of the youth group. We would sponsor dances with live music, and use the money to go to a retreat at the Jersey Shore, where we would stay out all night drinking beer.
Have always been an atheist. No church since then except for weddings and funerals.
When I still went to church (which was until I was seventeen), it was for those reasons:
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It was a duty, a thing you just DID. I was raised in a Catholic family, so sunday church was inevitable and not renegotiable for a child.
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It was a regular social event. The children met their folks, the grown ups met their folks, there was some chit-chat before entering church, and there was always great palaver at the crowded churchyard after mass, but mostly by women and kids, because the men were already off to the pubs with the next one a mere 50 meters away from the church.
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It often was an impressive celebration, especially on high holidays like Christmas and Easter. I didn’t care for the sermons, those were mostly boring, scripture readings were ok as long as I didn’t already know the passage. I’ve also never cared for the transubstantiation, never believed in it. But the best things were the organ and the singing. And a packed church on a Christmas midnight mass, everybody in their best clothes, in a splendidly decorated church with lights and candles everywhere, the organ playing and the choir singing, is one of my favorite childhood memories.
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A second duty, as an altar boy. I was an altar boy from age 9 to 17, though I had lost the little bit of faith I ever had about the time I was twelve, I didn’t leave that duty until much later, because of the communal aspect of it.