marks, Do you think God loves Noah or Justin or myself and others like us any less for not going to church ? As stated, we still pray , just not in a church. Also do you think church goers think of us any less? Just curious as to your thoughts on the questions.
Jimco, i know the question was not directed at me but i thought I would share this tidbit (a large reason of why my beliefs are what they are)
My mothers side of the family are devout catholics to say the least(grandparents attend mass daily and are very involved in the church). My family attends church 90% of the time on saturday evenings and goes to dinner afterwards, one particular evening after mass we went to eat with my gparents and roughly 10-15 other members if the church. As conversation began one of the members made a remark i will never forget, " did you see what Mrs. X was wearing, you think she would take more than a minute to get dressed before mass", this was followed by more snide and rude comments by others. The woman they were referring to was someone I hold very close to my heart, she is a true saint....she has 12 children(most i am good friends with) and works her tail off daylight to dark 6-7 days a week just to keep the lights on, she has more or less fostered other "troubled" youth her entire life, (including myself in a rough patch of my life) never turning a childs friend in need away. To say they are below the poverty line is an understatement. The belitteling comments continued and angered me to the point that i snapped in front of every single one of em, by the time i left they each knew exactly what I thought about their "catholic" holier than thou ways and how big of hypocrits i thought each and everyone of them were. My own grandfather called later that evening in tears apologizing for their words......that day was the last time I attended their version of "church"..........stills blows my mind to this day that these people consider themselves in higher regard than others who are less fortunate due to their looks!
Sorry i'll get off my soapbox, that incident was over 2 years ago and still frustrates me, after that i decided that my "church" would be where i personally felt closest to my Lord, not in some fancy building surrounded by people whom i did not care for.
This is something I hear about alot when it comes to church. .......This person from church offended me....I'm quitting church....This church didn't visit xxxx in the hospital....I quit church..........This church member gossiped about me......I quit church. I hear it having to do with church more often than with any other topic.
It doesn't make sense to me. When another hog hunter hunts unethically or bad mouths your dogs do you quit hog hunting? Of course not. That is ridiculous. There are bad apples in every bunch. The church is full of them just like hog hunting. Sometimes a whole congregation may have even lost their way. I'm certainly not condoning their actions but you have to be confident enough in yourself and your relationship with God to overlook them. If you aren't happy with someone in your congregation then call them out , ignore them or seek out another one that will build you up instead of tear you down. There have been several guys on this thread say 'I used to go to church but xxxxx happened and now I quit.' I bet most of you same guys will back me up if I tell another new member on here they have to have thick skin if they are to last on this forum. The devil is one sneaky son of a gun and what better way to get you out than to attack you from within. We have several where I attend that like to wonder into other peoples business and insert their worthless opinions. They are easy to spot and I just ignore them. I just laugh most of the time.
I'm getting a little soapboxy too. haha
