Getting into heaven isn't the only reason to attend church.
It's like people are only concerned with what the bare minimum is to appease God.
If he is a loving Father and friend why wouldn't a believer want to go to church?
Agreed. I believe the problem is that naturally everyone is a horrible person at their core. Thus everyone needs a new nature. While not absolutely necessary meetings could be helpful in developing this new good nature.
I think organization and too much interaction with other people makes people worse than they'd be isolated in really small groups (families) or alone.
Organized religion is just another thing that is intended to control masses of people.
Being spiritual is something good, however. It is the organization that is evil.
I think people with stable beliefs and convictions, who have a hardy outlook about life's challenges, tend to be able to cope with stress more than people who veer toward "dabbling" and experimentation. It's not just exclusive to the religiously devout, but there have been case studies that have shown religious people tend to have a longer lifespan than others. That's just a correlation, but it's food for thought.
Characteristics of the Hardy Personality
Commitment- sense of self, direction and place in life
Control- personal agency, internal locus of control
Challenge- looked at change as expected, and normal. A challenge to overcome but not a stressor
I'm a dabbler myself.
Higher levels of conscientiousness were significantly and positively related to longevity (r = .11, 95% confidence interval = .05-.17). Associations were strongest for the achievement (persistent, industrious) and order (organized, disciplined) facets of conscientiousness.
In related news, Js outlive Ps on the whole. In Big 5 terms, people who score higher on Conscienciousness live longer:
Some have made claims of the Conscientious living up to 30% longer, the bastards!
I think organization and too much interaction with other people makes people worse than they'd be isolated in really small groups (families) or alone.
Organized religion is just another thing that is intended to control masses of people.
Being spiritual is something good, however. It is the organization that is evil.
People still believe in hell? How cute.
Did you read Jen's warning against snarky comments in this thread? If you have something critical to add at least get off your high horse and engage in a proper conversation.
Actually, she warned about off-topic posts, but I'll let that one slide for now. I've already contributed something relevant to the conversation (which got dumped earlier with the other OT shit, even though it wasn't OT), but since I'm in a generous mood I'll go ahead and add my two cents again.
I think that it it takes a certain kind of self-righteousness to resent others for their church-going habits. Some folks attend only on Easter and Christmas? So what? Other than the possibility that your favorite pew gets taken, how does that affect you? There are only two possible reasons one might feel this kind of resentment:
(1) You feel that the holidays-only churchgoer is trivializing the religion; how can they just waltz in twice a year and pretend like they're real Christians when I've been here twice a week my entire life? It's akin to the feeling that the school tattle-tale gets when other kids get away with bending the rules. "How can they get away with it while I work so hard to stay in line?"
(2) You assume that the holidays-only churchgoer shows up to feel pious (like you do), but you don't think they deserve to feel pious because they haven't put in the hard work that you have by showing up to church twice a week for your entire life. It's akin to the feeling that the school over-achiever gets when the other kids ride the coattails of his hard work in group projects. "How can they get an A when I did all the work?"
People still believe in hell? How cute.
Did you read Jen's warning against snarky comments in this thread? If you have something critical to add at least get off your high horse and engage in a proper conversation.
I was raised as an atheist and became a Christian as a 19-year old so to me going to church only on holidays is baffling, just as calling yourself a Catholic (or whatever else) just because your family or your country happen to be Catholic. Where I come from almost everyone is an atheist so there doesn't tend to be much "cultural Christianity" there, you are either a strongly believing Christian or you are an atheist, there is not much in between because Communism/Socialism has eradicated most of the empty religiosity between the Second World War and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
This is pretty much my attitude too. It seems mostly more non-religious people in this thread who are so concerned about this.I personally don't really care if people show up only once or twice a year to church, if that's what they do then that's what they do, I just don't understand the mindset of doing something just because it's tradition but without actually believing what stands behind the tradition.
Usually if I attend non-Catholic churches, I don't take communion. Both out of respect towards their tradition and out of adherence to mine.
This is pretty much my attitude too. It seems mostly more non-religious people in this thread who are so concerned about this.
No, they're primarily about worship of God. Family and community are secondary to that, even if indespensible.The OT is something that used to bug me also. Then as I got older I learned what churches are primarily used for: community and family.
No, they're primarily about worship of God. Family and community are secondary to that, even if indespensible.