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I quit church

markathome said:
A long time ago, me & my wife use to love to get in the car on Sunday morning and just head either N,S,E, or W out into the wide blue yonder till we found a church to attend. Might start doing that again.
Most Church's I have attended first wants you to be saved(Again) & then baptized(Again) so you can become a member.
If memory serves me correctly we have done that process 2-3 time over the past 30+ years, its required to drive bus & I would require the same of others who wants the job. I really miss doing that job, it was most rewarding fun I've had in my life!

After we moved some 5-6 years ago to the boonies we attended a new church for the first time yesterday.
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Tell us if you liked it and why.
:)
 
There was 2 services, contemporary or traditional so we hit up the contemporary service since I really dont like dressing up.
Loved the music and sermon was on 1 Corinthians 5.
I felt like crying when I heard the music & felt like throwing up hands screaming out loud but I have to be strong and remain silent since its a southern baptist church & they might start trying to do an exorcism on me. :lol

We liked the place.
 
wondering said:
Two comments:

You shouldn't have to have a strong personality go get all g in a church. Not everyone has one. Some feel oppressed and just leave. Anyway, a pastor can't win . Too much and he oppresses, too little and he ignores.

The other thing is:
How could you go to a Calvinist church if you aren't one?
His sermons never touch on this?
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Yeah... sometimes he says some calvinist doctrine...hence why I don't go to sanctuary services often. Most in the pew don't know half of what I know so they don't hear it.

But a church doesn't center on a pastor. It's the people centering on Jesus. The pastor is supposed to work for me and Jesus...not the other way around. I'm there for my friends. I'm not there for the pastor or his staff... unless there's a problem.
I know that it often doesn't look that way and obviously sometimes it's exactly the way it looks.

But I am known at my very large church for a lot of things. So the admin has learned to tolerate me. They don't like me...but I'm unconcerned about it.

I'm a zealot with far more faith and knowledge than they have. On the effort scale I'm way beyond their abilities. They have tried often to do stuff to make me "unpopular" with the average membership and failed miserably every time.

I have my own agenda given to me by God. It just happens to coincide with theirs often. Sometimes it doesn't. And the day may come that we part ways.
But I'll go to another.
 
wondering said:
Sorry Free, but I feel YOU are vastly underestimating that "silly" rule.

Telling a Christian person, especially one who is apparently a prayer warrior (and we certainly need those) that they may not participate in a prayer group because they are not a memeber of the church is clearly a method of blackmail.

Is the church adapting worldly methods to "convince" persons to become members? What, then, makes us different from the world?
I thought churches were supposed to invite everyone and anyone. I'm certainly not a member of that church the O.P. is addressing. Would I also not be welcomed? I probably would be because I'd be a potential customer. Is that all we are? Customers? In the case that I would be invited, then my belief that the request amounts to blackmail would be correct.

When I became a member of the Nazarene church, I had to sing a form stating that I agreed with the doctrine. When I was Catholic I had to agree with all the doctrine AND dogma.

What if I don't? Should I be dishonest and still sign?

§There's the church.
And there's the Church.

As long as we're members of the Church, I think we're OK with God, and maybe we shouldn't feel so guilty about not attending church...although I do think it's a good idea. But not when you come home feeling upset. Church (small c) is supposed to make us feel good and close to God. As opposed to how the world makes us feel all week long.
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I think you misunderstood what I was saying.
 
God says we are already members of one body.

He also defines the way the members of the body are to interact with One Another, but we disregard that as something that could never be.

The Christians still want it to be defined by the structure of the service, which God says very little about. What he does say in I Corinthians is something else Christians ignore because it involves more than one speaker and is under less control than we would like. There could be conflict! It could be dramatic! You know, those things that God already said it would be.

So the Christians sit in the same place every week for a while, possibly years if they don't get bothered, figuring they are doing their bit by being a Christian for a couple hours a week. Paying the staff to be the only actual Christians since they feel like they don't have time for that. Not even knowing the names of the one anothers God gave the majority of instruction about. Having less integrity than the unbelievers around them who tend to spend their time in what they actually believe in. Wondering why the Christians are not seen as credible and are losing the culture wars. Somehow nlaming the others who did not do attend enough should even they become aware of these problems.

If church attendance counts, which it doesn't. If local church membership (or partnership or any of the other synonyms) was God's thing, which it isn't. Even if these things were true, would the attendance and membership of such a Laodicean Church be counted as the "adequate" such Christians strive for?
 
JohnDB said:
Yeah... sometimes he says some calvinist doctrine...hence why I don't go to sanctuary services often. Most in the pew don't know half of what I know so they don't hear it.

But a church doesn't center on a pastor. It's the people centering on Jesus. The pastor is supposed to work for me and Jesus...not the other way around. I'm there for my friends. I'm not there for the pastor or his staff... unless there's a problem.
I know that it often doesn't look that way and obviously sometimes it's exactly the way it looks.

But I am known at my very large church for a lot of things. So the admin has learned to tolerate me. They don't like me...but I'm unconcerned about it.

I'm a zealot with far more faith and knowledge than they have. On the effort scale I'm way beyond their abilities. They have tried often to do stuff to make me "unpopular" with the average membership and failed miserably every time.

I have my own agenda given to me by God. It just happens to coincide with theirs often. Sometimes it doesn't. And the day may come that we part ways.
But I'll go to another.
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Your reply is amusing!
I go to a church here every now and then. You know...the only one available to me.
One time he said there's no hell. Some DID hear that. It was good news to many.
Another time he said everybody has the Holy Spirit, even atheists, only He's sleeping and inactive.
I won't go to that particular church anymore.
Some of my friends still go even though they don't like what they hear.
As you stated, some don't even understand what's being said !
We're in a mess. Where does this unbilical stuff come from.
Could there be more than one Bible.?
More than one Jesus?
 
wondering said:
What did I misunderstand?
Why is it so important to be a signed member of a church ?
Isn't it enough that I go to be with my brethren every week.?
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Do you think co-habitation (living common-law) and sex before marriage are okay? Why or why not?
 
Allen Wynne said:
We'll let Willie T strong arm people to join.
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The pastor himself can help do that too:
images
 
Free said:
Do you think co-habitation (living common-law) and sex before marriage are okay? Why or why not?
Click to expand...
If you want to use this example, how about some Scripture to back up membership.
Without it you are just sharing a very poor analogy.
 
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