Obsessed with Church

[shazeep]

english is a very easy language to be misunderstood in

[good samaritan]

Have you ever considered the people you could of helped when opting out of church. I do think the service style set up of our gatherings can become ritualistic and empty, but they don't have to be. You get what you put in to it. If you come to church to have the Lord to knock you out of the pew and into some supernatural experience then it probably will never happen. If you come to rejoice with others about the God of your salvation, to be taught and admonished from the scripture, to receive christian fellowship with other believers on the same journey as yourself then that would be reason for me to go.

I was forced to go to church as a child by a parent who had very little fruit of the Spirit. I could tell some horror stories, but I feel it would not edify anything. I backslid as a young teen with a chip on my shoulder that everyone in church are hypocrites. I felt like you, that a person is o.k. all by there self. The only thing is it didn't go that well for me. I filled the place of church fellowship with friends who were not christian. Gradually things got worse. I went from being active in the church to drinking and doing drugs with friends. Needless to say I almost lost my life spiritually and naturally.

I have come to realize that church attendance is necessary not because of an attendance record, but because it is who I am. I am a part of the church. I am fastened together with other imperfect humans like myself that receive encouragement and strength through our fellowship and exhortation every time I go. I even get some strengthening on this forum by debating and reading debates. The dialogue we have here will strengthen our walk with God if we will let it. We should have dialogue in the church as well.

A thing I do see in the church is there is hypocrisy in it many times. We draw out a cookie cutter walk with God that everyone must be. Many times people conform to things without personal convictions of their own. They become part of the machine, but their fear of ever standing out causes them to not function as a part of the body that they are designed to be in the body.

We should never live our lives out of traditions of men, but we should develop our own personal convictions that are built upon the scriptures and the Holy Ghost's direction. The question of when is it o.k. to miss church is not a black and white answer for me. It is a salvation issue for a person to loose their desire for body connection. Shall the hand say to the foot I have no need of you. It doesn't work that way. If you are saying that you have all the ingredients of the church rolled up into one person yourself you are incorrect. We need one another.

Give a local church fellowship another chance I will be praying for you Allstate. I don't doubt your sincerity or your love for God. You obviously have given this subject much thought and that shows that it is important to you. Part of the church is missing when you withhold your part from its fellowship.

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by shazeep

um, what?

If the local assembly is the Body of Christ (it is)...

Is that better?

[aegsm76]

Originally Posted by allstate1

does not help with my question

Only because you chose to ignore it, in my opinion.

It is clear that the Bible expects us to worship together.

If you are avoiding that, then you are disobeying it.

Now, I am not one of those who believes that you MUST attend church every time the doors are open to be saved, but it should not be avoided.

"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by allstate1

I disagree with your last statement. ""The Church" and church and what it has become today are two different things!! And please understand I am using my own experience and observation. Also on the flip side of that you believe ones love for God should equate to a love for a church. This I don't believe.

In some case, maybe, but not all. So that's moot.

[consapente89]

Originally Posted by allstate1

I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe he died for our sins. I believe we receive the Holy Ghost. I believe God is every where ,all knowing etc. etc. I believe the Spirit (Holy Ghost) goes with us every where we go its IN us. I do not believe you have to go to a church and get "refilled" . I don't believe the Spirit just dwells in a building. I don't believe we should try to hold him in the 4 walls of said building. I don't believe as a Spirit filled believer that worship has to be done in what we call a church service. I don't believe the forsake not the assembling scripture makes a 3 times a week service attendance a doctrine. I believe if you are Spirit filled you should be able to go more than a week without the "church service". I don't believe one should have to be faithful to one local assembly.

I pray in the Holy Ghost at home everyday,read my Bible and walk with Jesus. The Holy Ghost is vibrant in my life in a daily basis. I also go to church every time there is service and usually an hour before the service starts to seek God for the service. If you have no desire to be a part of a local assembly and faithfully support a man of God and a local church then you dont have the Holy Ghost.

[Esaias]

I wouldn't say he (?) doesn't have the Spirit. I think there is more to the story than has been said. And probably doesn't need to be said on an open forum, at that.

[votivesoul]

When is it okay to miss a church service?

When you as a man, under the headship of Christ, with Him, make the decision to not go.

Or,

When you, as a woman, if you are married, under the headship of your husband, make the decision with your husband to not go, as Christ leads him.

This isn't so hard to comprehend. We are free, but let us not use our freedom as a cloke of maliciousness.

It is very easy to get burned, and so, burned out, by a church or local assembly that isn't bearing fruit, just going through the motions, has no burden, and etc.

There are God-ordained times of wilderness, where God in Christ Jesus will take disciples out of the ministry and out of the place of comfort, to go and rest.

Jesus took His students to the wilderness as a place to relax and be refreshed. You might be finding yourself in a similar situation.

You may not need anyone, but does someone need you?

Are you evangelizing? Are you, without a local assembly, still a part of the Body, or have you been cut off or cut yourself off?

Blood is the means whereby the human body heals itself. Any part of the human body that becomes detached, i.e. disembodied, through amputation, accident, or an act of violence, loses its connection to the bloodstream, and so, eventually dies, and rots away.

Being a part of the Body of Christ is no different. The Blood of Jesus flows through His Body. Being separated, i.e. disembodied, means His Healing Blood isn't flowing to the lost member. That lost member is going to die and rot away.

Whatever your gripe with people and the church as it currently exists, don't let those things dissuade you from being an active member and participant in what God is doing on the earth through His collective.

God can heal all wounds, friend.

[allstate1]

Originally Posted by consapente89

I pray in the Holy Ghost at home everyday,read my Bible and walk with Jesus. The Holy Ghost is vibrant in my life in a daily basis. I also go to church every time there is service and usually an hour before the service starts to seek God for the service. If you have no desire to be a part of a local assembly and faithfully support a man of God and a local church then you dont have the Holy Ghost.

This is the mindset that I am talking about. Especially the last sentence. Why do I have to choose one assembly or one man of God?

[shazeep]

because, as we can witness, the body of Christ has been defined for us

Originally Posted by Esaias

If the local assembly is the Body of Christ (it is)...

Is that better?

no, it is worse, without meaning to be. This sets up a false sense of salvation, and an "us" and a "them," that i don't believe Christ intended. Yes, there are surely some members of the body of Christ at any local assembly, don't get me wrong; but we have usurped the definition of "church" when we have to go somewhere to experience it. The body of Christ becomes those members approved by men, that agree with us in their beliefs; anyone who believes differently is "lost," and needs help.

As Allstate reflects, our communities have been systematically shattered, and we are a nation of strangers now. Our false "standard of living" allows us to function alone, and lack of community makes this preferable for many. While engaging with a local congregation can certainly alleviate some of this pain, imo it too often becomes a substitute for real fruit, which our current, failed church model often encourages.

i don't mean to say that going to "church" is bad; i go to church. Specifically to interact with people who would prolly not agree with this post, and thank God for them. But i would examine this "i'm going to church, where the 'saved' people are, to demonstrate my love for God; because actually serving God is a huge pain."

It is as much a ship in a harbor as Allstate's retreat, in many regards. And don't get me wrong, i'm the worst of us prolly; i go to "church," or i isolate; but neither of these is a ship at sea, where we are told to be. You are not serving God by hanging out with a bunch of people reinforcing the same inbred ideas that brought you to this mental state, hearing the foundation laid over and over, and singing songs about how awesome things will be someday, imo.