Is Church attendence required to be a christian who is living right before God?

[Thelt]

Discuss

[spud]

I would say no...however, I think he wants us to be with other believers and I know he wants us to worship him. I suppose if your disciplined enough you can worship on your own, but I doubt most people do.

[vpkozel]

Bar. Chuch. I'm Epsicopalian - they are the same thing.

[Thelt]

I know lots of christian people who stopped attending due to various reasons such as a pastor leaving or something. I do not attend regularly any more either. I guess I really should but most churches I have visited did not do much for me.

[hasbeen99]

Depends on how one defines "living right before God". I don't believe church attendance is necessary for salvation from judgment, but I do believe that not connecting with a group of believers leaves a significant void in one's spiritual life. And I'm not talking about just showing up in a pew every Sunday -- I'm talking about getting connected. Getting to know people, and allowing them to get to know you. Serving together, and serving each other.

[Miss tery]

Bulldoze some Palestine homes. Or talk junk about the office hussy. As long as you go to church you are pure. Oops, forgot, those heathen Jews do not accept Jesus as the son of god, so they will burn in hell too. My bad.

[mathmajors]

In my mind, one goes to church for support, education, and to worship. Not because it is required.

[Miss tery]

In my mind, one goes to church for support, education, and to worship. Not because it is required.
Don't forget also to avoid being gossiped about, and to gather material to gossip about for the next week.

Oh yeah, and also to be/look at the hotties. Church garb is getting risque in the spring & summer as I jog by the churches.

[spud]

Don't forget also to avoid being gossiped about, and to gather material to gossip about for the next week.

Oh yeah, and also to be/look at the hotties. Church garb is getting risque in the spring & summer as I jog by the churches.


You obviously need to check out some other churches. We are casual at ours, don't care how anyone dresses. We support each other, not gossip about each other. But we all know we aren't perfect.
I go to worship and also for support. It's a struggle to live a Christian life, but as I get older I'm glad I've let the petty stuff go.

[mathmajors]

I could care less about gossip. I go to contribute.

I might be going on mission to Kentucky later this summer. That will be cool.

[Guest]

I got out of the car at Target the other day. My boys were playing gameboy. I told them to turn them off and let's go. I stand outside the car for a couple seconds and they are still playing. I looked in the car and said "GET OUT OF THE DAMN CAR!" As I turned around there was one of the singers at the church I attend. He was standing right behind me. I said hello and moved on. I can't imagine the gossip that has been spread by now. Anyway, I'm going tomorrow, so we will see.

[ECILAM]

I got out of the car at Target the other day. My boys were playing gameboy. I told them to turn them off and let's go. I stand outside the car for a couple seconds and they are still playing. I looked in the car and said "GET OUT OF THE DAMN CAR!" As I turned around there was one of the singers at the church I attend. He was standing right behind me. I said hello and moved on. I can't imagine the gossip that has been spread by now. Anyway, I'm going tomorrow, so we will see.

I don't have kids, but I relate to that. That's part of why I got out of it. Who you are out of church should be the same person you are in daily life. For me it was utterly unnatural and I felt like a hypocritical jackass.

[Guest]

exactly

my wife cussed my dog, me and the kids then got in the car for church this morning. I dropped her and the boys off at the front door and kept driving. she called me and wanted to know what was going on....I'm not going to church after a morning like that I told her....I'd rather mow the lawn and hit the golf ball....done with the lawn....now I'm going to hit the golf ball.

[Village Idiot]

If anybody ever finds a perfect church, I'd sure like to hear about it.


..and btw, I go to worship God. Sure some folks are gonna gossip. People everywhere gossip, imagine that? I'm not really gonna worry too much what some folks say or think about me, thats not gonna keep me away from God. We all have our weak points, not one of us is perfect. I truly think that some folks that have been raised in a certain church for generations begin to think its THEIR church. They dont want a preacher stepping on their toes or shedding light upon their sin. They want a "feel good" sermon and want to leave feeling good about theirselves even though their hearts are as black as coal. Heck, I know thats the case......they're no closer to God than the Scribes and Pharissee's of Jesus' time.

[mathmajors]

I truly think that some folks that have been raised in a certain church for generations begin to think its THEIR church. They dont want a preacher stepping on their toes or shedding light upon their sin.
Our preacher this morning said it was a lot easier starting a church from scratch: preacher, janitor, administrator, youth director, sunday school coordinator, and all the other things you have to do than it is to come to a well-established church and change the thinking or redirect the church in some way.

[twentybelow0]

If anybody ever finds a church, I'd sure like to hear about it.

http://www.wbcc.net/ You can download the sermons and the matching worksheets. I like the preacher, he keeps it simple. His sermons are based on a theme usually lasting 4-6 weeks, and they deal a lot with God in your everyday life. I don't like the music though, I was raised Baptist so I'm partial to the older songs.

[Ice Man]

I don't understand how people can say they are Christian and not go to church. If you are a believer then you will want to go to church to worship and give glory to God.

As far as christians being hypocritics, newsflash, we are all humans. Christians are held at a higher level of accountability than non-christians.

[spud]

I could care less about gossip. I go to contribute.

I might be going on mission to Kentucky later this summer. That will be cool.

Good answer.

[Thelt]

It seems like the pastors are either hardcore drill sergeant types or they are weak and do not really stand for anything. Neither of those options does a whole lot for me.

[hasbeen99]

Bulldoze some Palestine homes. Or talk junk about the office hussy. As long as you go to church you are pure. Oops, forgot, those heathen Jews do not accept Jesus as the son of god, so they will burn in hell too. My bad.

Completely off topic and inflammatory. Regressing back to old habits, Tery?

[hasbeen99]

Don't forget also to avoid being gossiped about, and to gather material to gossip about for the next week.

Some, not all. My mother's side of the family certainly falls into that category. My wife and I do not, nor do our friends.


Oh yeah, and also to be/look at the hotties. Church garb is getting risque in the spring & summer as I jog by the churches.

This has definitely become an issue that needs to be addressed, and I'd like to have a discussion about it. But not at the expense of hijacking Thelt's thread.

[hasbeen99]

I don't understand how people can say they are Christian and not go to church. If you are a believer then you will want to go to church to worship and give glory to God.

As far as christians being hypocritics, newsflash, we are all humans. Christians are held at a higher level of accountability than non-christians.

In my experience, not wanting to go to church wasn't about not wanting to be close to God. It had everything to do with not wanting to be around Christians.

[spud]

In my experience, not wanting to go to church wasn't about not wanting to be close to God. It had everything to do with not wanting to be around Christians.


I think your right about that. Those are the true hypocritics. They like to say they won't go because of the gossip or whatever. They don't go because they don't want to be convicted.

[hasbeen99]

I think your right about that. Those are the true hypocritics. They like to say they won't go because of the gossip or whatever. They don't go because they don't want to be convicted.

I can see how that might seem like the real answer for most people, but in my case it wasn't. Once I found a church with real, honest, and accepting people, I was more than willing to allow God to point out my flaws. But wasn't about to let some pompous jerk who's just as messed up as me do it, especially not in a condescending manner.

[muff_spelunker]

I don't understand how people can say they are Christian and not go to church. If you are a believer then you will want to go to church to worship and give glory to God.

What about the little old ladies that stay home and watch the preacher on tv and follow along with her Bible book? You can give glory to God anywhere. A church is not necessary.

I stopped going to church many moons ago because, as someone else pointed out in their post, I felt like a total hypocrite. I tried as hard as I could to be a good Christian, but knew in my soul that I was gay. According to what the preacher man was saying, God hated me. No matter how exemplary my behavior may have been otherwise (and I was squeaky clean), I was condemned to hell. I soon realized I wasn't the only hypocrite in the church either. I've attended several different churches and found them mostly to be filled with the same people, just different faces.

[spud]

What about the little old ladies that stay home and watch the preacher on tv and follow along with her Bible book? You can give glory to God anywhere. A church is not necessary.

I stopped going to church many moons ago because, as someone else pointed out in their post, I felt like a total hypocrite. I tried as hard as I could to be a good Christian, but knew in my soul that I was gay. According to what the preacher man was saying, God hated me. No matter how exemplary my behavior may have been otherwise (and I was squeaky clean), I was condemned to hell. I soon realized I wasn't the only hypocrite in the church either. I've attended several different churches and found them mostly to be filled with the same people, just different faces.

I'm sorry someone made you feel like God hated you. That is very sad to me. I hope some day you'll find a more loving church.

[hasbeen99]

According to what the preacher man was saying, God hated me. No matter how exemplary my behavior may have been otherwise (and I was squeaky clean), I was condemned to hell.

I'm getting really %$#! tired of hearing about crap like this. :mad:

Muff, what that man told you is not true. It's not Biblical. It's part of somebody's hate-monger, self-absorbed agenda. God, I wish clergy would start reading their Bibles more and start listening to their denominations less.

[Thelt]

God loves everyone. God does not hate gays. Saying that homosexuality is a sin is not the same thing as saying that God hates gays. Are you sure you caught the difference in that?

[hasbeen99]

I wrote an article on the purpose of church in the 21st century a couple of years ago. If anyone's interested, here's the link:

http://www.clovishills.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13