Does it mean I am bad?

Hmmm..I think you have a contradiction in your words. You say you believe in God and the truth of His words in the Bible but you don't believe in churches or religions? What I mean to say is that...isn't it mandated by God to have a church and a religion to all of those who follows His teachings? He said unto Peter that upon the rock He will build His church and gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This is just one of the passages that God himself has a church.~~

If you are not connected to a true religion, then what moral standards are you following? Yes, you can read the bible whenever you like but the question is how you will grasp the meaning of moral standards set by the bible. You will need the help of those people appointed by God to preach and help you clear all these things out. If you will rely on your own understanding, the tendency is to have your own way of understanding the moral standards in the Bible.. which many people are doing right now. They do it the way they understand it and they follow what is generally acceptable to many.. can we rely on that? things acceptable in human eyes today do not necessarily mean it is the high moral standards set by the Bible. I guess what you need is to find a true religion and wait no time to get in that organization.. there are only two, fake and true, we must take only one side and not in between. Let your bible help you find the true religion. when you find it your morality for sure will not deteriorate.

That is what Buddhism practices, as I would recall do correct me if I'm mistaken. Anyhow, there's nothing wrong with this. However, believing is not enough, there are a lot of things we need to understand and be 'reminded' about. Life has its way of letting people think that what they're doing is good but could be bad in its real sense, and vice versa. I know nobody can force you to do something that you don't want to do. But if I were you, I would still go to the Sacraments or Bible sharings or talks. Just to be sure that you're on the right path. It's difficult to interpret the Bible on your own, not only difficult but also dangerous. Religion and us is like a son/daughter and a parent. The young adult (son or daughter) might think that he/she is doing well or is living the perfect life, but there will be times when our parents would tell us otherwise. Another would be a situation where no matter how old we are, we will need the advise of our parents. We may think we don't need them, but when they're gone, we'd always find ourselves saying "I wish my mom/dad or both, were still alive, they'd know what to tell me." People may say whatever they want about religion. But we all know that there will come a time when we need to go back to it. It's just pride telling us that religion is overrated. So, go on ahead. There's nothing wrong with what you're thinking. Just remember that Religion will be there to welcome you back any time, without looking into your weakness but just with open arms. Have a great MyLot experience ahead!

avery, we agnostics (and Deists) and atheists have been telling people for centuries that you can be a perfectly good, moral, compassionate person even if you don't believe in God at all, let alone the (expletive deleted) religious organisations. You can also be an evil bast*rd and go to church religiously every Sunday. Just be careful to take the Bible with a truckload of salt. Lash

Hmmm, I don't think so. Being in a religion doesn't mean you are a good person. Being a person who is good and responsible morally is okay as long as you still being good. If you know what I mean.

From my point of view an individual has his rights to decide whether to be religious or not.. it is one s perception .. what i feel is that to show your faith towards God you must respect the people around you .. should not involve in evil works and you must be good to every one around you.. help the poor to show your faith towards God.. respect the elders. n be kind to the people around you.. and all these activities does not require you to go to the church .. so you are not doing anything bad

Not at all. I've been out of church for 12 or 13 years and I'm closer to the Lord than ever before. Not going to church doesn't mean you quit reading the Bible and praying, unless you only do those things in church! Let God guide you. Pray and listen for an answer. If He wants you to go to a church, He will show you. You will have doubts. Don't be afraid of them, but take them to God and He will guide you. Someone once said that going to church makes you a Christian the same way as going into a garage makes you a car.

Our live is a kind of mixture of feelings. These comes and goes and finally we will stick to what we think is right. I think it is good to believe in God who loves us most and the all powerful and all kind Person who gave his own Son to save us. I think God teaches what to love others and says that Love is all that the Law demands. I think we should love others and help others and have Faith in God.

If you still believe in the Bible and God I don't see why you would want to be anti-church or religion. Can't you just be indifferent to them? Not for them or against them?

No I don't think it makes you a bad person at all. It makes you an individual who can make up your own mind in what to believe in. Nothing at all wrong with that! As for myself, although I've been raised Catholic, I'm not a part of it or any other denomination. I feel that every religion has it's own way of doing things and as long as God/Jesus is the center of our praise, who cares how it's done! God is good! He wants us to be good too! Nothing at all wrong with that!

You and i are trying to think alike, i guess. See i am a catholic, have been all my life as my parents are catholics. The thing is there are ways in the catholic church that i do not like, i even told my husband that why can't we have no religion at all. We can still believe in Christ but not follow a formal sector right? i believe it is possible as i am doing that right now, i am not hurting anyone, i am not stepping on anyone, i do follow what Christ want too.. and i also read the bible just that i do not follow some ways in the church. There are times when i do not want to fill up that religion portion in forms.

I don't think you are bad and no..your morality will not deteriorate. The thing is that it might actually help you become more spiritual. It might give you a closer relationship with God. The thing that I have seen is that people have taken religion and its rules and made them to fit whatever point they were in their lives or for financial/power benefits. That is not, in my opinion, how it was meant to be.

Not necessary , take it as a sabbath from church haha.There are many NOT bad people that i know that are not attending any religion function and yet they are mentally sound and stable.There are not evil people just minding their own business and not hurting others.I also know people who attend religiong function like church , but are having affairs and being bad.Attending religion function does not mean u r good or evil.It is wat your do that counts.

No honey you are not bad. As long as you believe in God and dont do bad things, you are fine. Dont let those nutty religious fanatics scare you- they are just trying to impose their beliefs on you. I too dont go to church but thats bcuz Im a Hindu. yet I was in a christian school for 13 years so I do believe in Jesus and the Virgin Mary and in times of need seek and recieve their support. God bless you!

no your not bad, if this is truly what you feel then go for it, church is religious but you are still spiritual believing in God and that is the important thing.

Hi averygirl, Of course you are not being bad, more and more people are giving up on church and religion every day.Going to church has nothing to do with morality, in fact you may find yourself a better person. I am spiritual but certainly not religious and would never want to be thought of as religious. I have a good friend who reads his Bible and prays every day, he is a good Christian but does not attend any church. I have been reading the Bible for sixty years but unlike my friend, I do not take it literally. Do what you believe is best as it is your life. Blessings.

I am not a member of any church or religion. I am pretty much against organized religion for lots of reasons. I still believe in God, read the Bible, and even have discussions and bible lessons with my kids. I think the point is to lead a Godly life, and a good wholesome life, not what church you go to.

No, I don't think you're bad. I think you're ready to claim the sense of freedom that you have when you don't conform to a specific religion. It's called stepping outside the box. It's like taking the training wheels off your bike so you can show yourself and others that you are completely capable of making great choices even when you don't go to church. Whether or not your morality would deteriorate is within you. If you make positive, healthy choices for yourself you can still live a spiritual life even if you step away from religion. Hang on to your spirituality and what you carry in your heart and you'll be just fine.

I don't believe your morality would slowly deteriorate if you had a good nature to begin with. It depends on why you are good. Is it in your nature and part of your personality to do good, or have you only tried being good because before you were scared of some character who's going to punish you if you're bad? Now that that character is no longer part of your life, you will have to be good out of your own free will, not out of fear or superstition. But yes, it can be done. I know many wonderful people who don't need the fearful teachings of religion to force them to be good.