god...church...life

Oh yes I know a lot of these people. You are probably just surprise because you live in a Catholic world. But for other people religion is not everything. I wouldn't be surprise to meet people who don't believe in anything at all. As you know being spiritual is totally different from being religious. People who goes to church may not be spiritual at all. They may be just going there but not totally understanding it. As a Christian I have learned that I can pray wherever I am. I can worship God even if I am at the jeepneys, walking, or even jogging. I don't have to go to church to do that. But as Catholic teachings are different, you are more compelled to go to church. So you go as part of your obligation but inside it, you have to ask yourself "what do you do inside the church". I had been a Catholic before so I already saw the difference. In Europe, most people there do not practice their religion. Some just believe in God, pray on their own, but never goes to church at all. At the beginning I was a little surprise about this too but I saw the point. Knowing God and your relationship with him shouldn't be dictated with any religion or churches. It is something personal. You can definitely worship Him and Praise Him even if you are inside the bathroom.

I was born in a Religious family that attended church regularly. I too went to church every Sunday , taught Sunday school and sang in the choir.As time went on I began to question my religious beliefs, even though I continued to love God. I believed that science and religion should go hand in hand so that one could prove the other. When they did not, and could not, I quit the Church and never went back. That was 60 years ago, and I believe I did the right thing!

Some interesting thoughts here. Because in reality, I think there are a lot of people out there who are like this. Maybe because at one time they were hurt in a church, so they feel it is Better to just believe and Love god while feeling that a church is not the answer. In reality, there is nothing you can do to change this, but Prayer and maybe one day someone inviting them, and they then find out wanting to attend a church is not too bad. When you try to change this any other way it can leave resentment and hurt feelings which is not good.

Not all believers in God attend church. Muslims believe in God as well but attend mosques. There are many denominations to christianity and many religions that all worship the 1 god differently. Religion is designed by man so it it possible to believe in God, pray to him daily, have faith that he'll provide and work things out in life. Maybe this guy had a few bad experience with some church's that caused him tofeel the way that he does.

He is not the first person to express this opinion. I run into people all the time saying that they believe in God but just don't want to attend church. Ok here is my reasoning with the whole thing, yes church can be difficult because it takes getting up to get there, meeting other "christians" who are never going to be perfect but people "think" they should be, and of course tithings. It means commitment to be there eventually. My reasoning as to why you should attend is to get Godly support when you are in the world and need to make decisions. If you just say you believe in God but don't read the Bible then you are starting to be your own god. If you read the Bible it says to not stop meeting with other Christians Hebrews 10:25. There are different churchs out there so they need to pray that God directs him to a place he will feel at home. Again no church is perfect.

Loving God and hating the Church is impossible. God teaches us to love everyone, so, hating the church is against the doctrines of God. Now, I have a friend that also says that he believes in God, but he doesn't go to any church. He was a catholic, but then he left that church because he said that churches are places where the priests are paid for preaching. So, he thinks that people is stupid because they give their money to the priests. I've tried to tell him that giving some money back to God is what God requires from us, but he don't want to hear about churches.

Yes. It most certainly is possible. In fact, it is much more common than you think. People often confuse religion with spirituality. These things are not one in the same. Regardless of your epistemological or religious beliefs, there is one fact which is undeniable: Church was created by man. You do not need a church to worship, to pray, to do good deeds, or to be a good person. I don't think that anything "happened" to him to make him "hate the church". I don't believe he hates the church at all. You said that he said that he doesn't believe in the teachings of the church and believes that it is an institution which uses God. I don't see any implication of hatred, just disagreement. I have to say that I do agree with him. I don't know where you are from or what the churches look like where you are, but here they look mighty expensive. Can God not be worshiped in a less-expensive building? To take it a step further, can He not be worshiped outside? I wonder if that money could be better spent feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, etc. The church speaks of giving and selflessness, but to what extent is this actually being done? Also, just because someone attends church every week does not mean that they even really understand the religion, yet someone who has never attended church may know a religion intimately.

Hi jordq7! There are a of people that have turned from the church to pursue their own study of their religion. They usually read the same material and believe the same things..it's the organized part of it that they turn away from. There have been so many people that have taken advantage of the devoted. He may have been one of them or he may have just seen a lot of it.

Yes, I think you need to talk with this man more. He might just be able to show you a view you haven't been able to see. God isn't what religion has been teaching you.