church

Yes, the Priest will tell you you must go to Church, and it's not that your prayers at home are not answered, but because the Church cannot collect money from you if you are not attending. So you see its not about God, or even about Religion, but about Money. Organized Religion is the Biggest Richest Business on Earth bar non. God and Jesus take Second and Third place after MONEY.

The atmosphere of the church is calm and the prayers there creates a very much positive energy around it.So its good to visit the church.But if one cannot go there one can pray from home.God is omnipresent.and it is believed God resides in our heart too.When we do acts ok kindness towards our fellowbeings we become closer to God!No amount of chanting hyms or church going will bring us closer to heaven if we ignore our fellow beings.So the gateway to heaven is not through church or temples or mosque but through the deeds we do.True prayers are when we see God in the needy people and help them ,I believe.

I do not believe that we have to go to a "church" to eter heaven when we die. I believe that if we live by the Bible, and follow the way of God, that is what will get us into heaven. We do not always go to church, but we do believe nad we do our best to live by the Bible. God is everywhere, and we can pray and worship God from everywhere, I do not feel that you have to be a church member for God to listen, or to open your heart to Him.

Whoever said that you will go to hell for not attending the church regularly is really ignorant in the Word of God. He is being "Religious" not "Spiritual" and as for me, you will never find any Bible verse written that you will go to hell or be condemned if you don't go to church. You see, we are the "church", God's spirit resides in His true followers and for you to miss church is not the basis of your salvation. It is true that we have to make Sabbath day Holy and it is one of the ten commandments of God. But if you are in your home and meditate on God's word, didn't do any work and made it Holy, i don't think that you have sinned against God about that. People depend their faith on such building or place of worship but they did not understand what the purpose of going to church means. We go to church for the fellowship of the saints, hear God's message and all, but that doesn't mean that if you miss going to church you are disobeying God. You can minister to your love ones at home, share God's word on Sabbath day if you miss going to church but this is not disobedience.

God is everywhere, therefore a "church" can be anywhere at all. The bible does mention something about it being better for us to congregate with other worshippers to worship Christ. However... it's definitely not a rule. And a basic question which you have to ask is that if you attend a church, how sure can you be that everyone at that place is there for the same reason you are? Simply to praise God? You can't. Therefore it lessens the impact of the whole issue in regards to congregating with similar minded people. There's absolutely no reason at all why you can't have a one on one relationship with God, and consider that relationship in itself as a "church" of sorts. If someone tells you that you'll go to hell for not attending a church, then I believe that their faith is mis-informed. A physical building can never house God, therefore "church" is wherever you make it.

Absolutely not! The first thing you need to ask someone when they give you a statement like this is: "Where is that in the Bible." Chances are they will quote from the New Testament to not forsake the gathering of yourselves together. I notice that you mentioned the Sabbath day from the Old Testament. That was kept on Saturday and most Christians go on Sunday. Also, if you check out that commandment in the Old Testament, it was supposed to be a day of rest. So where does this leave us? I like to put my trust in God. First of all, if you want to attend a church, why not ask God to show you if you should attend a Church and if so, which one. You may have to wait for the answer but if you are patient, there will be an answer. In the meantime, keep your head in the Bible, your relationship with God in prayer, and don't forget to help your fellow man. If you want to obey the command to forsake not the gathering of yourselves together in the meantime, contact other Christians and pray, study, and talk about God any time you want. There are wonderful web sites to listen to different sermons from different churches and television is a good source too. If you are new at this, you will need someone to talk to about what you are learning. I usually ask God to help me to follow anything I'm learning as it follows Christ. That is what the Apostle Paul did. Now my question is, if you use the above philosophy about church attendance, what happens to those who can't attend because of illness, not having a church in their area, or a person who has been imprisoned because of their beliefs. Are they all going to hell too?

Hello Mylot, I hope I can shed some light on your discussion of Church. Going to Church does not guarentee anyone heaven, and not going to Church is what's going to send someone to Hell. Of course, I don't know what your reason(s) of not going to Church, and you say you worship and pray in your home, and that is great. However, according to God's Word in the new testement, "we are not to forsake ourselves assembly from the saints". What that means is, we are strength in unity, and in faith. Going to Church, means we are gathering in God's house to give him praise and worhip only him. So when we come to God's house with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we come in unity for only him, our creator, king, and God. And this is also our way for us to show our obedience to God's Word. But God looks on the heart, while people look on the outward appearance. So it is important for us to check our motives and attitudes on a regular bases to see if what we are doing is pleasing to God. There is also a scripture about being glad when we come into the house of God. About your last question,no it doesn't mean that your prayers won't be answered because you don't go to Church, but it maybe that God wants you to be obedience to his word by bringing your prayers to his house every now and then. I hope that I have encourage you in some way. from Mylot, ccdiane

Church attendence isn't going to save you or not save you. Salvation is based on a faith-based relationship with Jesus Christ. Church attendence is important though because it unifies you with other believers and is intended to help you strengthen your faith. The Bible says not to "forsake the assembly of yourselves together" but the only thing that will determine and one way ticket to hell is failure to believe in Christ. I think you should attend church at an actual church simply because you are actively going somewhere with the purpose of worship and study. You can indeed worship anywhere at anytime, but I personally feel that there is something special about church attendance.

I feel if you are christian you don't have to go to church just to not go tell if he is a loving god he will not care where you are. And you will not go to hell because of that. I feel most people go to church to socialize or just to gossip about something I use to go church but they made me feel like I was benath them and not accepted I stoped being a christian and became a wiccian I know it sounds weird to you but I felt they were more accepting and they go arround bad mouthing someone elses religon they except everyone and you don't have to go to meetings or anything to not go to hell. I have been in and out of all religons most are cofusing to except wicca. and not its not devil worsgip.

Many people are going to church just for the sake of making other people believe that they are church goers and they are religious. Others believe that by just going to church,they will be saved. Going to church is not an ordinary thing to do. In going to church,you must be sincere. Going to church sincerely will make your spiritual grow.

you know what? God don't have religion and he's everywhere.

WOW! If it was only that easy. I doubt that just going to church will keep us from going to heaven. Im pretty certain that we will be judged by our our hearts and actions while here on earth. I do not believe that there is an actual hell like most people. I myself have been told that I will go to hell just because of my belief. But I prefer to worship a merciful God, not a God who wants me to burn for eternity. Thats would be the same as God saying "worship me or go to hell". The God of my understanding does not use blackmail to make us worship him.

This is a tough question, I believe that you should go to church, do you have to in order to go to heaven, no but going to church will help you in your life with Christ and help you to grown in your walk with him. Church is not just for sinners and those that are not saved, it is a way for you to grow in your walk and increase your knowledge of Christ. yes you can read and study the bible on your own at home, but sometimes it helps to have the insight of others. As we do not all "see" the same things in the scripture. are you going to hell, well I have no idea, that is not my place to know, only you and Christ know where you stand in your walk with him.

billgatexp, I'm so sorry to hear that you do not know why you are going to church? NO, going to church does not guarantee you a plane ticket to heaven! The 4th Commandment: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' You are right! But what about the other 9 Commandments? Are you aware that there are 10? You worship in a church and pray in your house, you mean. I am sure your parish church can help you to clarify things for you. NO praying at home does not mean that your prayers will not be answered. God bless you.

This question reminds me of a little song I learned WAY back when I attended Sunday School at my family's church. The church is not a house, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is the people. I've moved on quite a bit from them, spiritually, but just have to say that anyone who is threatening you with hell is hardly being Christian. Did Jesus go to temple all the time when he was wandering about teaching?

Going to church is good but it doesn't guarantee that we will go to heaven. I am an Orthodox Christian. I believe that fasting, prayer, reading the bible and good works help each and every one of us to become better individuals. My priest constantly reminds us to go to confession regularly. I personally I haven't done this yet. This is an error of mine. I enjoy helping others and I go to church every Sunday or at least I try to. God is truly awesome and he is very fair, loving and kind. I hope that each and every one of you goes to heaven. God created each and everyone of us for his purposes. I'm not a worthy person but I will do my best to become worthy in God's eyes.

*shrugs* If there is a hell, and I'm going there, then I guess I will be in good company. With all the smokers, swearers, people that don't go to church, people that don't dress right, men with long hair, women with short hair, people that don't go to the doctor enough, people that are too fat, people that are too skinny... you name it we all have a reason to be there. I guess I will meet you there and we can PARTY!

No. Church is not a requirement in my opinion. It is believing in God and living a decent life.