Bible Question:
First of all, I do not mean to offend anyone, I am just curious as to other outlooks on this topic. I am a 20 year old man who Beleives firmly in God and in the Savior Jesus Christ. I pray daily and am doing all that I can to develop a relationship with god. I do not however, attend church on a regular basis. My experience and outlook on the church, has led me to beleive that quite often, the church in my opinion tends to lead people away from a true beleif in God. Too many times in church I've felt like someone else's beleifs are being forced upon me in place of being inspired to develop my own beleifs through the truth of the bible and to find what god truly wants me to do with my life. I've always thought that the church should be a place where you can go to worship God in your own way and a place to go where you can learn through sharing with the experiences and outlooks of others, yet in most churches I've attended, perspectives that don't agree with the pastors are completely shunned on. I guess I only wish that church was a more free enviroment and that I could attend it without feeling like I have to beleive word by word the interpretation of the bible that someone else has instead of developing my own interpretation. What I want to know is does anybody else feel this way, and does it seem wrong to anyone but me to replace doing what you feel god wants with going to church every week and doing what the church says? I welcome all views from either end of the perspective as I am an open mind and want to truly learn from the beleifs of others. |
Bible Answer: Hi, I read all the responses and replies to your letter and found them interesting. I also have experienced a simular belief in the past. I now fully enjoy going to church. My wife and I also decided to commit ourselves with passion for Christ Jesus. We hold a bible study group at our house on Tuesday nights. At this group we often have up to ten people attend. We are openly able to speak, comment, discuss, etc, all of our thoughts, ideas, insites etc, in this group. We work from study notes (which are the notes used by the Pastors at our church) and the bible. Through this process I learnt much and gained a greater understanding into the fullness of living in Christ. This type of study group may help you to express you ideas etc. Anyway in the following paragraphs I talk about 'the church'. I hope it will help you relate to what it means to live in Christ. It is all about God, and not us! What is 'the church' all about? It was important to me to find out what the full meaning of 'the church' was. I used to believe the church was the building we met in, and thought the church was something seperate to myself, however through the bible study group we found that the church is in fact the body of Christ,(Ephesians 1:22-23). From the Greek word 'ekklesia',(church) means literally the 'gathering together of those called by God to live for and serve Him', hence our saying that 'church is all about God and people', so without people the church does not exist. Our group agreed that the church is about being a part of 'the church family' so as to work together to serve God and impact the community/ nations around us. Like a body, each part has a job to do so as to fuction to its fullest. If the body is missing parts(a foot, an arm, a leg)it cannot function to its full potential. How to build a healthy church, Ephesians 4: 1-16. Our group found that the church is not about 'one' or 'I' it is all about glorifying God. The church is not mankinds idea, it is God's plan, 2 Samuel 7:13, Matthew 16:18-19, Ephesians 2: 19-22. God also loves his church, Ephesians 5: 27. Yes the church is a great place to be in the presense of God, through praise and worship, however there is more to it than to be a 'feelgood church'. It is all about God, not the self. The church needs to grow and to be 'an ownership church'so as to serve God out in the world. The church is about team work and leadership skills. Everyone is said to have a 'calling'(1 Samuel 3: 1-21)and every one has 'giftings'(1 Corinthians 12: 1-31), these are wasted if they not used. Oh, on response to one reply that I read which stated: "I have listened to not less than 3000 sermons. But, to my consternation, I discover I cannot remember a single one of them" I say "WOW" In the last ten years of my marriage, there were some 3650 days, my wife has cooked around 10950 meals. I cannot remember all of them either, however I now that I had eaten them and they provided nutrition and nourishment for my body. Going to church and hearing the sermons provides nutrition and nourishment for my spiritual needs. Did that make sense. I hope this was not to boring or long. regards Ricardo |