A theory on why people no longer go to church and not because they hate God

One of the things that has bothered me about religion more than anything else, is the theory that if you pray hard enough God will grant you what you want, if, it is His will. It's sort of like if you don't get what you pray for you just didn't believe enough, or God is angry, or He is testing you, or you didn't deserve it. It makes God out to be some sort of magic lamp - just rub it the right way and magically you get what you want. Rub it wrong and look out! That's not what life is about and that's not what God is about either. Life is about living it to the fullest, about reaching out to others and, wait for it, being happy. You don't have to be a grinning fool and you don't have to like hardship, but notice good things in your life too. We don't always get what we want and there may not be a good reason for that. Why can't you have kids, so many folks have kids and don't even want them - so God must be angry or testing you. I don't think so. I think that there is a reason you can't get pregnant - perhaps it's medical, maybe psychological, maybe it isn't in the grand scheme of things. Maybe it's just not supposed to be. I think we shouldn't look toward God as a cure all for everything we want out of this life. I think we need to help ourselves and help others. I think we need to ask God for strength and knowledge. And then go out and get what we need for ourselves. If the tax people are giving you trouble go ask your MP or someone knowledgeable in these things to help you sort it out. You have to be active and help yourself. God is a source of strength, a source of serenity, He is an anchor and a sanctuary, but He is not a magic lamp.

God would not tell you that you are not one of His children. God would never do anything that would hurt your personal relationship with Him. The one thing God wants from us is our attention. If He has our attention He can teach us anything He wants to and take us anywhere you want to go. Very often God will hold up things He would love to give us for the simple reason they would distract us and pull our minds off Him. God personally teaches us through our human brain. He can easily plant thought that will lead you in the right direction. One of the hardest things we will ever do is keep our minds and our thoughts where God can get through us to teach us. The clatter and rattle of this world will walk us all straight into hell if we allow it to. That is probably the biggest problem we will ever have in our relationship with God and Jesus. Make free time where you don't have anything to do and just fold your hands in your lap and free your mind where God can take you where ever He wishes to. Ifr you do any praying make it in your thoughts. That is the strongest prayer you will ever pray. What need would God have to listen to our lying lips when it is so easy for Him to just take a look inside and see for Himself what is really going on? You can't con God with your thoughts but you can try to with your words. No matter what you say within your thoughts you still know the real truth. That's what God wants from us. The real truth, that's all He deals in. Don't be concerned about God testing you. He has no reason to test you about anything. He already knows the real truth about you. Art

People don't go to church anymore because either they just don't want to, they don't want to get up so early, or they're a little lazy, or they don't have the means to reach a church. I'm one of those people. I'm very serious about my faith now that i know Him and all He's done for me. I would LOVE to go to church! I don't have the means to get there. 1) I live far out of town 2) I can't drive (no license AND seat belt phobia!) 3) Public Transit doesn't come out this far. 4) None of my friends seem to be churchgoers, so I can't hitch a ride! The least I can do for Him is tell others of His word and what He wants, and read my Bible and talk to my religious fiance. Self-teach and learn. But I really wish I could go to church. They're so pretty and comfortable.

Wow, suspenseful, you sound down on yourself..G♥d does test us, but He never gives us more than our shoulders can handle. As for the feeling that it was your friends help that moved your husband? They were just at the end of it, I am sure your prayers were the foundation. As for being told to "get out" that is not G♥d..any who wants a relationship is not be turned away, all are welcome. So I am wondering, are you going to stop going to church because you feel that you are not one of His children?

God doesn't put burdons on us. He doesn't have to. This world we have built and mankind will put more on us than we can handle if we are not real careful. God is in the business of helping us to deal with our burdens, not putting them on us. Most peop[le don't understand it but God works on the barter system. If you are willing to give to Him then he is more than ready to give to you. Gode gives to us according to our standing with Him. The closer we are to Him the more He can give to us. Also, the closer we are to him the more he can protect us from this world and mankind. You are probably thinking you don't have anything you could give to God. We all have a lot more we can give God thanm we know. God made it possible for us to always have something we can offer Him in order to receive something we need. No matter who you are or where you are you can always fast. You can always give up your meals for a day or two and sit down and have a nice chat with God. People get upset because they pray sand nothing happens. Most often they are praying for something they want rather than something they really need. Our needs on this earth are actually very few and God knows what they are even before wqe need them. He also put them in place for us before we needed them. There is only one problem with this system. Everything has a price tag, even with God. If you are willing to pay the price it is there for you. Convincing God that you are indeed ready to pay his price may be a serious problem. Most people try to hold back something from God and you can't do that. If you give Him a little He will give you a little. That's the way it works. Most people stop going to church for the simple reason they don't find what they are looking for in church. Either the church is offering more than what they want or less. Most ofter it is less. Art

i can understand your feelings as i went through similar situations, but it is not true that God doesnt want you as His., not true in the slightest... I have no idea of your circumstances but is there no one you can go to in the church to discuss these things with., your pastor, who will be able to advise you better because he will be aware of your circumstances. sometimes when everything seems not to be happening it is happening., but we havent seen the results yet... my difficulties lasted for any years too, but my faith remained, and has been strengthened. so here's my prayer for you., That you would receive the comfort and peace and true knowing of how much God loves you through the Holy Spirit revelation, in the name of Jesus., that you would have a real breakthrough in your situations, and you would be filled with joy., in Jesus name amen. best wishes xxx

Every single one of us, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist ... whatever ... even those who do not believe in God (and even those who have committed the 'unforgivable' sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, though I don't know any of those) is a child of God. He simply does not and cannot deny that to anyone because He created us 'in his likeness' and the spirit of God is within every single one of us BECAUSE of that ... yes, even those who reject religion and what it teaches. It often seems that God doesn't answer our prayers ... but then sometimes our parents didn't get us that knife or that makeup for our birthday that we so passionately wanted! Prayer isn't about asking for benefits: God does know what we need and what we desire long before we think to ask for them. Prayer is about communication. Its as much about listening to what God has to tell us about our lives as it is about telling God about our problems and needs. Shouting (or whispering) our desires and requirements to an unresponsive and feared deity is what savages do. Jesus taught us to think of God as our Father and to be familiar with Him: Jesus himself addressed him as 'abba' which is 'dad', 'daddy' or 'papa' ... the name that we call our human father ... in modern terms. Most churches (I find) do not put enough emphasis on listening to what God has to say. They supply us (in the missal or prayer book) with pretty words to pray with but they don't teach us how to be still in our hearts so that we can actually hear Him speaking to us. Actually, if you remember back to childhood (yours or your children's), the best comfort we got from our parents was mostly wordless. If we trusted and loved our fathers and mothers, we poured out our fears and hurts and selfish anger tearfully to them and finally were calmed by their loving arms and soft, loving sounds (which may have been words but it was the tone rather than the meaning which mattered). I am very sorry to hear about your husband's ALS. That must certainly seem like a trial to you (but you say that he has finally been 'converted' and that, at least, must feel like an 'answer'). ALS, it seems, affects all the 'motor' functions, making the person very dependent on those who love them (or are paid) enough to care for them but it doesn't (as far as I know) make the person 'inside' any less capable of thinking and feeling and so of accepting God. Perhaps you can find a way of praying together so that, through a mixture of words and silence, you can both come to find harmony and peace in God.

Must be praying for things more for self than anything else. wehn I did for myself nothing haqppened but I can pray for others and mos are answered

It's strange how God answers prayers, at least to us. You may be having your check held up because it will come just in time for an expense you would not be able to cover if you got it now and spent it. Don't ever think that God doesn't answer your prayers but look at the way you are praying. I used to pray that God would do things for me or my loved ones and asked Him for stuff or that something would happen. When I started praying that He give me the strength and courage to live the life I was meant to, things started to happen. I don't think God tests us so much as He gives us the strength through our faith to overcome the adversities that evil and our own bad judgments throw at us.

The biggest reason I've seen for people leaving churches is their pastors are not equipped to teach them about God, how to pray, why to pray, etc. Too many people think God is a wishing well, & want this, want that, never stopping to consider to Whom they're speaking, or what His true character is. The other main reason is the will of one's self being considered a higher priority than God's. It must be enough to simply know that He loves us & knows us better than we CAN know ourselves. He knows what we need, & knows what we don't. Follow all His precepts, pray without ceasing, & you will discover that what YOU thought you needed turned out not to be the right thing for you. "All things are possible with God." The bible says God will never give you more than you can bear. These are solid Biblical truths, if you can accept them. Just remember, when God, Who knows all things, knows what you ask for would be bad for you, He says no. Is He testing you? Possibly, but know this: He usually only tests those whose faith is rugged enough to take it, & it sounds as if yours is skating on thin spiritual ice right now. It's not wrong to question God--far from it! But remember He is the Creator of every subatomic particle in all the universes, so approach Him with awe, deep respect, love, & with profound trust--because He deserves it. I could add a lot more, but to sum this up, eschew the trivial when talking to Him. Also, it's proper to thank Him before petitioning. Oh, & petitioning Him for needs is fine, including asking for help with money for practical things, but take care not to ask for mere desires. Maggiepie "The difference between the almost-right word & the right word is really a large matter; it's the difference between the lightning-bug & the lightning." ~Mark Twain

I don't mean to pry into your personal life as far as religion, but one would have to assume that you aren't as close to God as you should be. Sometimes things happen to us and we can't control what happens. When you give to God, he gives back. In other words, think of Job in the Bible. Reading that might help you in your struggles. He took everything away from Job and Job still stood firm. Even after it was all said and done, Job got back twice the amount of what he lost. In other words if lost one child he gained two more. If he lost 3 sheep he gained 6 when it was said and done. I know that this is a difficult time for you. We all always pray to be rich or to have more money. I learned that if I ask God to get me through the Week with out having to ask somebody for money then that is another week that I don't have to work harder at paying them back. i find when I do stuff for my church and listen to God in doing he returns the favor. i'm usually broke even with my food stamps and all though i don't have money on my pay pal account I still have $45 on my foodstamps. I took the church some things for vacation bible school last week, and because the church had snacks and supper each night it allowed me to save money in the end and have money for the end of the month which usually all i have is my wic when it comes to the last few days. You're looking at this with long term goals in mind with out trying to accomplish short term goals. Short term goals are more controllable than long term goals. A short term goal would be to teach your self on how you can save money or asking God to send someone your way so they can help you on this effort. There's a movie I think it's called Evan Almighty and he is given the powers that god has. He starts answering all the prayers that handed down every day. the first one he answered was to all the people that prayed they could win the lottery. Well it turned out that they won, but they only got like $16.00 when you break it down. Then he started answeringother prayers and he soon realized that it was the ones that went unheard through normal ears that needed to be answered the most. My point is we all have things we pray for or wish for. That doesn't mean that God isn't there. It just means that God decided to leave it as an "Unasnwered Prayer". Unanswered prayers are those that we pray day and night about but are never answered. Then when you look back on it you see that you were better off with it not being answered. i prayed that God show me what I was supposed to do with the church i was attending. He had me a plan and when i followed what he said he gave me an answer. Now, three almost four years later that prayer has been answered. Even though it wasn't done in my time, He still never forgot about me. There are things that one should be aware of and that is to never ask God for patience because patience is one thing that most of us humans don't have. I don't think that God would tell you are not one his children. I think that is the devil or demons of the devil that has gotten in there because you are at a bad time in your life with your husband and family. These demons try to knock us back a few feet before we ever get to the finish. Every time we stand up a few feet forward they are always looking for things to bestow up on us. I really think you should read the book of Job. Also, I know this response is long, but I hope I've enlightened you because it's hard to see the mountain top when you are down in the valley so low and you feel like you cant climb out. But trust me it does happen. It just doesn't happen when we want it to all the time.

Dear suspenseful, it is good to pray for us and for our near and dear ones. Try praying for those who have not yet come into this world. Ask God in prayer to give you strength to bear your pains and sufferings and see that those who have not yet come into this world do not have the same sufferings as us. I am sure this would help.

God not living in the church by the way. God live among us all. I do admit I hate going to church, and it's has been like more than 10 years I not putting my foot inside the church. The reason why is cause I hate the amount of time spent and also the administrative of the church kind of annoy me. Every face I looked within the administrative committee of the church, I see corruption. LOL! Anyway, just remind ourselves that do anything good everyday is what God's will for us on earth. Avoid doing bad stuff. That's all.

Sometimes it just easy to shut our self to GOD and blame him. Personally, GOD haven't disappointed me yet. I have what it needs in life even though sometimes I want more from GOD but I just make do with what I have. Just kept in mind, no matter what GOD is there with you just you cannot feel his presence yet. Remember how his disciples unable to recognise Jesus after he resurrected. We might have this type of situatuion where we unable recognise him. Don't let Jesus sleep inside us just like when his disciples let Jesus sleep at their ship during storm. Wake him up and seek help from him. It is adviseable to go to the priest and seek for consultation.

well God sees the big picture but we only see whats in front of us. there are reasons for things we go through.

i beg to disagree...you know what suspenseful our God will not give us burden that He knows we cannot conquer....yes! sometimes He tested us on how we handle problems and troubles in our life but the reason why He did that is because He wants us to get closer to Him..He wants us to have stronger faith with Him and not because you are not His child..People he consider not His children are those who dont believed in Him and those who does not consider Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord God and Savior..each and every one of us has our own burden to carry its up to us how to win it..there are reasons why things happened to our life..there is a purpose we may not know just now but in times we realized why those things happened to us... And it is true that sometimes our prayers for ourself was not being granted not because God did not listened to us but maybe because He wants to teach us to see other's situation despite of bad things that happened to us..you may not know in that way your prayers will be answered.. I you like check our church website Jesus Christ to God be the Glory this is our Church here in the philippines but we have global arms in different county..just check it you can ask for prayer request and counselling.beside nothing will loose right? just give it a try....always put to your mind that God loves us all...

You are definitely not alone in this thought. Many of us feel we have so many unanswered prayers. We often believe our faith / strength is being tested. I have been evaluating many unanswered prayers and not by choice and sometimes wonder how so many pray for the wrong reasons, while other prayers are so needed. Sorry that your prayers had not been answered, I sure hope that Blessings of many other sorts have since come your way!