Why I don't go to church

[SocialRetahd]

I'll keep this short and sweet. I can't be around all the hypocritical sinners who use "forgiveness" as a way to play ignorant and continue to live a life of sin and remain holy all at the same time.

I can't stand the double life. Please stop going to church so I can.

Thanks. :wink:

 

[LA-girl]

Hi Socialretahd!

First of all if you attend a church mainly because of the people and the social life you are guaranteed to get disappointed. Because no matter how religious or christian people call themselves, they will always just remain human.

This is not to say that following Jesus can not lead to dramatic changes in peoples lives, but you will sadly never be able to find a church cleansed of hypocrites. Even among Jesus own deciples there was a hypocrite, or a deceiver namely Judas.

This being said I would be the first to understand your situation, because although I have been a believer most of my life, I rarely used to attend a church. And I have, like you, always had these issues with socalled christian people. Weird, I know as I can be called one myself. And believe me if it had not been for a strong conviction I had last year, after years of serious backsliding, that God wanted me to not only attend a church, but on top of all switch denomination, I would still be very reluctant to step into any church. Even though I find that there are quite few hypocrites in the church I attend now, it is still a struggle many times. Luckily I have also found that it brings a lot of blessings as well, and those times where I feel most pessimistic about going, often turns out to be the ones I end up finding most valuable. Also keep in mind that Jesus never promised that the christian life would be a walk on roses, he even said that the christians would in this life be faced with tribulation. So if you are in for an easy ride, the christian life is not it. But if you decide to follow him, wherever he is and wherever he goes, He has promised to help you, guide you and comfort you. To have a personal experience with God and seing how much he cares about you and love you, not to mention the reward in the end, far surpasses the present and temporary sacrifices we make for him. That is at least how I try to look at it.

I can't stand the double life. Please stop going to church so I can.

Hmm...whether you would term me a hypocrite or not will only be speculation for my part. But I'm not sure it would make a great impact if I stopped going for your sake as you probably do not live in my area to start with. And yeah, Jesus told us to love and help our neighbour, but I think this would be to stretch it a tad too far in my opinion! :lol:

Best of luck and God bless!

 

[Amiyumi]

I don't go to church, (I can't get out the door) but you don't have to go if you don't want to. You can pray at home, god is everywhere and will always listen.

And yeah, religious people are hypocritical, in alot of things. But people aren't infalable. How many people do you know that are? Are you? Some people go to try and make themselves better people, to be close to god, even if they don't it's not your place to judge people and it's not theirs to judge you. Let them do what they want, thats between them and god, same as your actions are between you and him. Why should they have anything to do with you going to church? Nothing, so forget them.

 

[beglobal]

its true, there a lots of people who live in sin and at the same time keep on going to church and asking for forgiveness each sunday...
there are also or¿thers that do deserve going to church and do deserve forgiveness... and there are others like me, I aint a saint, I do commit sin but I dont ask for forgiveness, I just go ti church to visit God, and to listen to his word...

 

[Amiyumi]

Forgiveness is telling god you are sorry, that you feel remorse for what you have done. You can still confess, but you wont be forgiven unless you are actually sorry, relised you've done wrong. And you should try not to do it again.

If you're not sorry, then although you get absolution, it's not really forgiveness. So forget people who do that, if they think they're being forgiven then they're waisting their time.

p.s. beglobal, just because you don't ask for forgiveness, god will know if you are a good person or not and what you are sorry for.

I sin too, but so long as you try an be a good person, and don't go out your way to hurt.

Social Retahd...theres things i still haven't asked for forgiveness for, I just feel like the preist will judge me, even though he won't see me, and that hes defenetley heard worse. It's a stupid, simple thing, but god knows i'm sorry. But never worry about other people, they're not worth worrying about. =)

 

[LA-girl]

...theres things i still haven't asked for forgiveness for, I just feel like the preist will judge me, even though he won't see me, and that hes defenetley heard worse. It's a stupid, simple thing, but god knows i'm sorry.

I really do not understand the point of confessing any sin to a priest. A priest is human, just like we are. Why would we ask a man to forgive our sins, when the only one who can and will is God? As far as I am concerned our sins are between us and God and nobody elses business. If you are sorry for your sins and ask God to forgive you, you are 100 % forgiven.

 

[Amiyumi]

I just meant with going into a confessional... you're right. I shouldn't feel like I have to confess to a man, if I'm sorry for what I done I won't have to, god will know. =)

 

[LA-girl]

I stumbled (!) upon this video-clip yesterday on Youtube and as the title shows, it should fit very well into this thread. Seems like there is a Youtube clip for just about any situation... :wink:

Hypocrites in the Church

 

[shyandnumb]

Each person has their own way to communicate with God rather it is in natural environment, at home, or at a church. I like to communicate with God in nature (praying outside) or at home. Because, I would be forced to empty my sins over a crowd of people who overshadow their prayers over mine in a church surrounding. That seems too traditional for my taste. Nature provides the perfect private moment, especially forests or near water.

 

[SocialRetahd]

Nature provides the perfect private moment, especially forests or near water.

ha ha, if I can find one that hasn't become a subdivision yet.

 

[shyandnumb]

Nature provides the perfect private moment, especially forests or near water.

ha ha, if I can find one that hasn't become a subdivision yet.

:lol: Don't forget about the electric and radio waves in the environment through the air. I heard caves are the best solution for that problem.

 

[Fighter86]

When I was a young child, I looked forward to going to church. Actually, I even wanted to get myself baptized but my mother refused because she thought I was too young to appreciate the meaning, responsibilities and implications of baptism (she herself was already a baptized Christian at that time though). She turned out to be right. As I grew older, I found myself drifting further and further away from Christ, and I do believe what SocialRetatd posted to be true, not to cause any offense to anyone here who believes in Christ . From what I've observed, very few people, young people especially, are real Christians although they claim to be. They do things and behave in ways that are definitely not in accordance to what the Bible speaks off. Its not because of these people that I've stopped going to church though, they are but a part of it.

 

[Horatio]

Leaving the church was the best thing I ever did in my life. Church wasn't the direct cause of my SP but as long as I was there I could never recover from it.

Church is filled with contradictions and attracts two kinds of people... those who are weak and those who like to manipulate the weak.

By cutting myself free from church I took the first step towards where I am today and I'm loving it.

The religion we see being practised in churches today isn't even real christianity, despite what people who go say it is actually a recently invented religion called churchianity.

 

[Fighter86]

The religion we see being practised in churches today isn't even real christianity, despite what people who go say it is actually a recently invented religion called churchianity.

Yes, I think so.

 

[Sacrament]

Try some Essential Oils.

 

[Jegan]

Try some Essential Oils.

lol

 

[kyle]

I'll keep this short and sweet. I can't be around all the hypocritical sinners who use "forgiveness" as a way to play ignorant and continue to live a life of sin and remain holy all at the same time.

I can't stand the double life. Please stop going to church so I can.

Thanks. :wink:

I'd rather be around sinners than someone who is drowning in shameless self-pity.

 

[SocialRetahd]

I'll keep this short and sweet. I can't be around all the hypocritical sinners who use "forgiveness" as a way to play ignorant and continue to live a life of sin and remain holy all at the same time.

I can't stand the double life. Please stop going to church so I can.

Thanks. :wink:

I'd rather be around sinners than someone who is drowning in shameless self-pity.

Haven't you noticed that the majority of people at church are either 80+, guilt ridden scumbags, or people who were given a bad hand and decide to prepare for the next life?

You are a great example - admitting to paying for prostitutes.

I'm stick of this best of both worlds none-sense. But I don't really care cause I'm not going 20 feet near a church anytime soon.

 

[kyle]

I'll keep this short and sweet. I can't be around all the hypocritical sinners who use "forgiveness" as a way to play ignorant and continue to live a life of sin and remain holy all at the same time.

I can't stand the double life. Please stop going to church so I can.

Thanks. :wink:

I'd rather be around sinners than someone who is drowning in shameless self-pity.

Haven't you noticed that the majority of people at church are either 80+, guilt ridden scumbags, or people who were given a bad hand and decide to prepare for the next life?

You are a great example - admitting to paying for prostitutes.

I'm stick of this best of both worlds none-sense. But I don't really care cause I'm not going 20 feet near a church anytime soon.

Why would you go near a church? You are doing so well in life, after all.

 

[ooSOULCRYoo]

yeah, I agree that Christians are hypocrites. But if you believed in God, you would understand why Christians are that way. Although I believe in God, I don't go to church because I hate pretending to be holy.