Church community

[branamil]

You're in a cult and warping your children's minds. I feel bad for them. You're also implying the billions of people who don't believe in your version of jesus can't form communal bonds.

[Reiwa]

Originally Posted by unsunghero [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Ya my grandma’s church totally does

[Botten]

Originally Posted by Homesteaded [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

My wife and I finally found a church that we like. Officially joined it about a month ago. We all enjoy it. The kids are even seeming to be okay with it, they do have donuts though.

We go to church on Sunday, we also attend a small group during the week. This is roughly 10-15 adults, everyone brings the kids, everyone brings something to make a complete meal. Hosting rotates around the group. The wife and I haven't hosted yet but we hope to soon. After the meal, the kids go and watch a show while an older child, usually the preachers daughter watches them. For about an hour, the adults sit around and have what I'll call adult, in-depth conversations about all sorts of things usually around faith and the church but it's impacts stretch well beyond those two topics.

We are relatively new to the group and so far I've heard some very intimate things about these people that I've just started to get to know. It's hard for me to be as open as they are, I'm really jealous and I hope to get to that point soon. This week two of the members opened up to us about what I would call serious issues they are having or have had. It's so great to be around this level of conversation and honesty. It's been great to be apart of a community where it's not all judgement and angling. The group and the church feel like home. I'm sharing this because I think it's something that we as a society need more of. Open and honest, judgement free talk about our inner thoughts.

It's certainly not my idea but I firmly believe much of our societal woes are due to the complete abandoning of faith. Jesus lived. Jesus laid a groundwork for the good life. It's not easy, in fact it's harder to life that life than not.

Thoughts and Prayers

That welcoming family feeling under a false idol is call a cult.

Here's to someone reaching you and deprogramming you before it is too late.

[unsunghero]

Lest not forget that there are probably still more religious people than non on the planet. So there are still more “cultists” than non

Also

Churches do a LOT of positive things such as feeding and sheltering the homeless, the one I go to now is part of this huge foster program where members apply to foster kids who are in CPS custody. Stuff like that

[Homesteaded]

Originally Posted by unsunghero [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Going to Church is like going to work out, sometimes you really don’t feel like it and wonder what’s the point, but if you can force yourself to go, almost never will you leave thinking what a waste of time or feeling worse off for having went

I try to go every Sunday to a Lutheran church with my dad and grandma. It’s very traditional, everyone there is like 70+, it’s a dry sermon reading, hymns and communion. I would much prefer a contemporary Christian service, but this is what grandma prefers so it’s what we are doing with what time she has left

I personally am not big into the Bible as a modern guide for life. It’s an extremely old book written for an old time period and the more pastors try to cram it into real life the more mental gymnastics they seem to have to use. I’ve listened to many a service and thought “well that’s kind of stretch”. I also am not big into rituals like communion, and not to be too sac-religious but other humans throughout history have suffered fates worse than even Jesus….sometimes also as a sacrifice for others. So unless there was some spiritual suffering going on as well (maybe there was), Jesus is not the king of the physical suffering mountain. The realist in me cannot ignore this fact. Forgive me for saying it, Jesus

However, I want to believe in a higher power and maybe one day I’ll understand it better, maybe that won’t be until I die. I do agree that church communities are very wholesome, and it’s a great way to meet people either through Bible studies or singles groups or other kinds of meetups

Here is how the service goes at my Church.

Show up, sing two songs(no instruments) lead by four members of the church. Someone comes up and speaks about communion, sing a song. Someone comes up and shares prayer requests, sing a song. Kids to go Sunday School, Pastor comes up and preaches for maybe 30 minutes. Sing a song, gather outside at the park and talk to other members. Go off and enjoy the day feeling better than you did an hour earlier.

I get it, I was as anti-God as the next guy in my younger days. I searched high and low for "answers" I toyed with the idea that Free Will didn't exist. At the end of the day none of it really made me feel any better about much, the opposite, it made me feel worse. Ultimately all these questions and theories we all hold about why we are here, what happens when we die. We don't know for certain, we all have faith in some series of events that produced this life.

Another thing I do know is this, the life and lessons of Jesus, they are real, they do work. His teachings are about love. The Bible holds too many truths to be bogus. We all come up short and have work to do, that's alright. There is a way of living that doesn't require so much work. I'm certainly not there today, but I'm closer today than I was yesterday.

Carry on.

[Homesteaded]

Originally Posted by Evia [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This is awesome to read. Glad to hear that you've found yourself a community of like minded individuals. I've yearned to find something similar myself but it's sadly not commonplace to find a group of people willing to open up and truly connect with one another. Feels as if everything is divisive and confrontational that most people are afraid to be genuine or honest anymore and would rather just keep their heads down and themselves closed off and guarded. I'm guilty of doing this myself from time to time.

It really is beautiful. It takes a few people to just be honest and not afraid. We're just so wrapped up in crap. It's all crap and we all know it's crap, but it's our crap.

[Botten]

Originally Posted by unsunghero [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Lest not forget that there are probably still more religious people than non on the planet. So there are still more “cultists” than non

Also

Churches do a LOT of positive things such as feeding and sheltering the homeless, the one I go to now is part of this huge foster program where members apply to foster kids who are in CPS custody. Stuff like that

LoL
Did Christians kill pagans?

Of course they did, they used the point of a sword to convert people to their religion, they used torture and murder to force it.

Thomas Moore actually had people boiled alive for reading an English version of the bible.

The crusades, the Witchtrials, the Spanish inquisition all done in the name of their God.

Nine Crusades; the eight French Wars of Religion; the 17th century 30 years War between the German states, Poland, and Sweden; and the “Reconquista”, the “war” to drive Muslims out of Spain and Portugal.

So nineteen wars right there. For a stupid religion.

But but but man did that not Christianity. Christianity ain't a thing without its deranged believers. And there are some class acts. Homesteaded seek real mental health from a psychologist.

[unsunghero]

Originally Posted by Homesteaded [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Here is how the service goes at my Church.

Show up, sing two songs(no instruments) lead by four members of the church. Someone comes up and speaks about communion, sing a song. Someone comes up and shares prayer requests, sing a song. Kids to go Sunday School, Pastor comes up and preaches for maybe 30 minutes. Sing a song, gather outside at the park and talk to other members. Go off and enjoy the day feeling better than you did an hour earlier.

I get it, I was as anti-God as the next guy in my younger days. I searched high and low for "answers" I toyed with the idea that Free Will didn't exist. At the end of the day none of it really made me feel any better about much, the opposite, it made me feel worse. Ultimately all these questions and theories we all hold about why we are here, what happens when we die. We don't know for certain, we all have faith in some series of events that produced this life.

Another thing I do know is this, the life and lessons of Jesus, they are real, they do work. His teachings are about love. The Bible holds too many truths to be bogus. We all come up short and have work to do, that's alright. There is a way of living that doesn't require so much work. I'm certainly not there today, but I'm closer today than I was yesterday.

Carry on.

Oh ya I agree with all that. It’s just some stuff from the Bible, because it was written so long ago, is hard to apply to modern day

I do like the teachings of Jesus. I get hung up on “suffered for all of mankind’s sins” part, but it’s probably me being overly-analytical. I think, suffered how? Torture and crucifixion? That’s pretty brutal, but other humans have suffered far worse than that. Young children used to be a popular torture/sacrifice target in primitive cultures. So what’s particularly special about Jesus’s suffering?

I do think that without religion we are far more susceptible to give in to hedonism and nihilism. But atheists will still argue that you can be a humanist, and try to do good for others, without praying to a higher power. It’s a pretty decent argument, I lack a great retort for it

[Homesteaded]

Originally Posted by Botten [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

LoL
Did Christians kill pagans?

Of course they did, they used the point of a sword to convert people to their religion, they used torture and murder to force it.

Thomas Moore actually had people boiled alive for reading an English version of the bible.

The crusades, the Witchtrials, the Spanish inquisition all done in the name of their God.

Nine Crusades; the eight French Wars of Religion; the 17th century 30 years War between the German states, Poland, and Sweden; and the “Reconquista”, the “war” to drive Muslims out of Spain and Portugal.

So nineteen wars right there. For a stupid religion.

But but but man did that not Christianity. Christianity ain't a thing without its deranged believers. And there are some class acts. Homesteaded seek real mental health from a psychologist.

You know that those atrocities are not due to Religion, they are due to the inherent sinful nature of man(laid out in the Bible).

Nearly all atrocities done to man, are by man.

I'm not here to convert anyone, I'm here sharing my story because it has been effective for me. I'm convinced that our complete lack of community as laid out in the posts here on a daily basis are why society is in it's state. This P99 community is really a great study for exactly what I'm claiming. We all have this shared video game that struck a chord with us when we were young. We've bonded over that negatively and positively. We are yearning for it because it's effectively devoid in modern life. The world has been overrun with this mentality.

Nothing matters and everything is fine.

[unsunghero]

Originally Posted by Botten [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

LoL
Did Christians kill pagans?

Of course they did, they used the point of a sword to convert people to their religion, they used torture and murder to force it.

Thomas Moore actually had people boiled alive for reading an English version of the bible.

The crusades, the Witchtrials, the Spanish inquisition all done in the name of their God.

Nine Crusades; the eight French Wars of Religion; the 17th century 30 years War between the German states, Poland, and Sweden; and the “Reconquista”, the “war” to drive Muslims out of Spain and Portugal.

So nineteen wars right there. For a stupid religion.

But but but man did that not Christianity. Christianity ain't a thing without its deranged believers. And there are some class acts. Homesteaded seek real mental health from a psychologist.

I meant modern, you are speaking historically. And I think killing others in the name of your religion is a failing of man, not necessarily the religion