I haven't been to church in over 15 years (since I was a kid.)
It's Sunday now, and my local church has a session at 9:30, do you think I should go?
I see it as a was to drop the pessimistic attitude and start seeing the world in a different light.
Will church save me?
Are there any born again Christians here who can share their experiences with me?
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Catholic or orthodox church: no
Protestant church: yes
...
I'm born again but I haven't found a church yet. I'm curious to hear what people here have to say. If I may pose a question to piggyback on OP's topic, how to get past the awkwardness/cheesiness of church? The corny "Jesus is my best friend" talk, the bad music, the half-mumbled awkward singing, etc. I'm fully on board with Christianity but the "churchian" culture is kind of repellent.
Only go if you truly believe.
convert to orthodox
It's Anglican
This.
I don't, but I want to and I see this as the first step of redemption.
Might as well check it out if it's on your mind.
Anglican churches aren't really like what he described, though. Unless you're unlucky and the Anglican church in your area is a "new age" one.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
>Matthew 6:5-6
Go for community, don't expect salvation just because you enter a building.
How do I know if it's a new age one?
Community is a big reason why I am going.
Will I feel culturally alienated in an Orthodox church? I'm under the impression that Orthodox consists mostly of immigrant populations? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
bump
You'll know if you start cringing. A true Anglican service should be serious and demanding of respect.
If possible you could also look for a tridentine mass (the traditional latin mass) in a Catholic Church near you. They aren't terribly uncommon. For example, I live in NYC, and there are at least a half dozen in driving distance.
Thanks user, that's appealing except that I'm really not comfortable with the idea of going to confession. I think my idea would be a "serious" Anglican church as the poster above mentioned but that doesn't seem to exist in my city (LA).
Ideal, not idea.
>And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
>And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
>(Matthew 16:18-19)
Here, God is referring to the catholic church, not the Catholic church we have today, but the spiritual one. The word "catholic" means universal. For we all are all one in Christ. Please understand the difference.
At the current moment, there is a remnant of Spirit-filled Christians scattered throughout all the Christian denominations: Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, non-denominational. Many churches are not very Spiritually mature. Don't go there expecting to meet Jesus Christ or something, we are all sinners and have our faults.
I've seen and been to a few which cater towards young people, but even then, there's a risk they maybe more of a "meat market" (where young people simply go to hook up) than to really serve Jesus Christ in the Spirit. Very rare, would I find a church that really would hit close to the mark, a church full of Spirit-filled young adults and a great pastor, but even then they have faults. Even if a church is not perfect, try to join the young adult fellowship. Again, not all maybe truly saved. There are goats, even wolves, among the sheep.
I understand you want to grow your faith and you are looking for guidance. If you've never been water-baptised, then I would go and get water-baptised. It's a decision you have to make from the heart. You can also talk to the pastor of the church after service and be honest with him, let him know you're looking for a church of young adults, it may hurt him, but he's there to help you.
Most of all, pray about it. Repent of your sins, read your Bible cover-to-cover, and pray. God Bless.
Thanks for the reply.
I am not intending to go for a "meat market" I am already in a happy relationship.
I have been baptised.
You only go to confession if you're planning to take communion (the body and blood of christ) which you only take in the first place if you're catholic, so that's kind of a moot point.
If it helps your search for an Anglican church, the serious ones are called "high anglican" i believe, or "anglo-catholic."
National Socialism will save you.
Forget church.
Do something for your community. Paint yellow stars on a Jewish shop.
Absolutely go, but I wouldn't expect to have some wow experience at first. I wouldn't even expect you to want to return, but you should. Why? I think it's great that you are even questioning, and it really will change your perspective on things. I'd stay away from some contemporary service where a lot of it is catered towards feelings, but that may just be the kind of Christian that I am.
Maybe you'd be interested in apologetics? Listen to a couple of Ravi Zacharias podcasts, and he goes more into theory and logic on why to be Christian.
Thank you, yes I'm aware that you only take communion if you're actually Catholic -- I'm looking to go "all in," so want something where I'll be able to fully participate in the long run. Thanks for the clarification about Anglicanism. I am aware of an "anglo-catholic" church where I grew up on the east coast and it was perfect. Maybe I can find one similar around here. I'll search by that label.
Actually, why don't you try to find a local IHOP prayer room and go from there?
International (includes Australia)
ihopnetwork.com
U.S.
ihopnetwork.com
Good luck and God bless, brother.
Don't look for anything to "save" you, at least not in this life. Religion provides a much needed guide and sense of community though, which is important.
Evangelical protestant since birth. That cheesiness has always rubbed me the wrong way; unless you find a country church with the good ol' hymn singing and you'll find a good fire there, but it has it's deficits. There is no single perfect church group as it's a bunch of flawed people with different problems and motivations in life coming together for one thing; and that's Christ.
Although to echo 's point, after visiting an Orthodox church a long time ago, and the more I look into Orthodoxy, I'm strongly considering converting.
If anything. Get you a bible and maybe get you a book on church history.
Best of luck, God bless you.
It really depends on the "type" of Orthodox church you visit and the location. If it's a Russian/Greek church in a traditionally Russian/Greek area, then it will probably be more ethnically flavored. But those aren't the only two Orthodox churches. There's an Antiochian orthodox church a few towns over and they're majority convert.
You won't know til you just go; if you're anxious, contact the preist. That's what he's there for.
Like you I haven't been since I was a teenager and just the other day I was thinking about going back. You should go desu
Episcopalian is Anglican; but in the US right? Maybe look for that? IIRC Catholic and Orthodox won't take confessions of non-members as it's a sacrament. Although, I'm protestant so I could be very wrong.
Catholicism is the fullness of The Truth
Real Presence of The Eucharist
Apostalic Succession
Scripture & Tradition
I was in your position a few months ago. I'm not getting confirmed Catholic tomorrow.
Whoops. Now// getting confirmed.
You should too!
It's Saturday and 6:10 pm, you fucking idiot, your shill pasta is obvious.
Orthodoxy has all of those things as well.
It takes commitment to avoid that. I was about to give money to a street hobo just today and only at the last moment did I realize I was about to become a confirmed Catholic.
>It's Saturday and 6:10 pm, you fucking idiot, your shill pasta is obvious.
Not sure if trolling or not, but there are other countries with different time zones in the world.
I fucking hate the "let jeebus into your heart"
What the fuck does that mean?
1. People are flawed
2. Churches are filled with people
As long as you keep this in mind you should go. Your OWN relationship to the divine has the power to absolutely transform your life, just remember to focus on that instead of hoping other flawed people will surprise you.
ffs, you stupid burptist, the thread didn't began yet
Lel
Is the old testament worth reading? That's the boring section, right???
OP, you should watch this whole thing before going. I'm thinking of going but I'm still not into the whole LARP of God being physically or metaphysically real, I look at the Bible as more of a priceless cultural object.
The Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories: youtube.com
They are very interesting, I recommend doing something else though, by themselves they are a bit boring at times.
Pay especial attention to the Book of Numbers.
what's the misinterpreted verse?
I wish Christ-chan was my Sunday School teacher...
That's the best testament. New testament is for new age hippies.
>old testament
>fuck with god
>get drowned/get smitted with thunder/get sent to hell do not pass through go
>new testament
>fuck with god
>Jesus died for your sins so it's OK to be a tranny as long as you repent last minute.
HAHAHAHA FUCKING IDIOT
Pentateuch at large with it's mosaic code. Largely because it doesnt even apply nowadays. Such as Leviticus, Deuteronomy and so on. I personally like those actually in sense that they are essential for theology as rest of the Bible and you need them to understand several historical circumstances (For example, you may find it cruel, that Israelites had to exterminate several tribes and to understand reason of this, you must look at leviticus, where there are reasons described, such as child sacrifices, sacred prostitution and similar degeneracies), but if you are interested in mere history, its somewhat boring.
For beginners, you could stick with mere history, books of Samuel, kings, chronicles, Maccabees and so on. If you'll become more interested in theological aspects then you should delve into prophecies and law books
Eastern Orthodox seems like the best choice but there doesn't seem to be many of them in the US, and I hate the idea of confession.
It's going to be awkward and weird. No matter what, that feeling is temptation, it is a devil. Now I don't mean a literal devil or demon but the thoughts that afflict the human mind are precisely the demons spoken of by our forefathers.
In that aspect the greatest service you can do for your character and moral behavior is to overcome this restriction. If the urge of church, of community is tugging on your soul release yourself of the burden and do it. Go to church, do it like a thunderbolt. Continue searching until one that satisfies your heart is found, a church is better then no church, just as a friend is better then no friends.
I grew up in a moderate church, it cut the line between new-age, evangelical, and traditional. As I aged I found theological errors and other inaccuracies and converted to Catholicism. When I am home I still visit the church from my adolescence and I know they are true and faithful but I can not bring myself to believe something that is not the fullness of the truth. This is all to say once you begin to have a firm faith explore the truth for that is your ultimate duty.
It means something pretty close (but not completely) to "have a friendship with".
We can all kind of feel that the world is fucked up, and that we are fucked up, even if we don't admit it to ourselves we know shit isn't right.
That's because we were created to know God, but the relationship between humans and God broke down, so we are just kinda drifting around in the world like friendless orphans.
Jesus, being God's son basically said "yeah, some shit definitely went down, but I'm gonna settle up the tab and white the slate clean so humans and God can be friends again.
Humans try to add a lot of rules and shit to it all, but what it comes down to is this: imagine the things in your life that do truly give you a taste of being deeply fulfilled, even if it's only for a fleeting moment. God created you, and he knows what makes you tick, he knows the stuff that brings you TRUE happiness, even stuff you haven't even figured out for yourself yet.
Having a friendship with God means he can actually show you that stuff, and it opens a doorway to being more deeply satisfied and fulfilled.
just read about theosis
You should go, I would avoid Catholic though as praying to the saints is a form of paganism. I grew up in a slightly charismatic church and it's nice for entertainment value, but not too many traditions and doesn't feel very deep, just lots of effervescent emotions like the bubbles of a champagne bottle. The best church I've found is non denominational, but I might try Orthodoxy to see what it's about.
I think the most important quality is if it bears fruit or not. Do the people feel like they can do whatever they want and not be judged? Probably not a good church. Do the people put lots of effort to repent, deliver each other in prayer, and obey God's commandments? Probably a good church.
Every single cult/religion is a cancer to freedom.
>Encourage bandwagon behavior
>Narrows your general knowledge pool
>Incites hatred of non-believers..
>..Which eventually leads to violence
>Isolates the uneducated mind from opposing ideologies
>Requires your money to keep going
Some notable cults/religions :
>ISIS
>The Church
>ANTIFA
>Global Warming believers
>Liberals
So my question to you is this : what's missing from your life that you are desperate enough to seek going to a place where the educated and critical mind is not welcome?
Is it money? Religion only takes, but never gives.
Is it meaning? Religion will sell you THEIR idea of meaning.
What is it user?
>Every single cult/religion is a cancer to freedom.
You can argue anarchy is max freedom, but it really isn't because anybody can kill you while you're asleep or assault you with no consequences.
>I fucking hate the "let jeebus into your heart"
>What the fuck does that mean?
That the real deal leads to a life changing experience that involves strange sensations in the heart region and a sense of divine contact. That institutional (((religion))) doesn't have that, but teaches LARPing.
It is as though you never touched a single book that had a shread of truth in it.
Christianity, at the very least, aims and has always aimed to make man as free as he possibly can be. The greatest enslavers of mankind is non other then vice itself. Christianity aims to release you from the burden of error and wrong and free you to pursue goodness is every direction possible. This is precisely why Saints are so good in such vast and divergent directions.
If you were to argue that the likes of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, or Christ were enslavers, then I beg of you to enlighten me. Otherwise why don't you crawl back to your life of pleasure, try psychedelics though I am sure your search for meaning in a chasm of meaninglessness would run much more efficiently.
I did what you did last week, I was never baptized, but am glad i went to the service in my town. It gave me such calm and clarity.
Trust your gut, it is the lord at work.
I have had more spiritual thrill during mass then I ever had when I was a WWJD Protestant.
Should I go to church even if I don't believe in God? I was raised baptist and saved when I was teenager but stopped believing years ago, haven't been in around 10 years except maybe with family on holidays. I went through a hardcore atheist phase, where I actually hated the church and what religion did to people, but now my views have changed and I think religion plays a vital role in life. I'm just unsure if I can go back to full on belief knowing what I know now. But something is drawing me back to it, whether the social aspect or what.
Christianity is anti white
I understand, and thank you for your post but I have a question, how exactly do I start a friendship with God? Talk to me like I'm autistic, I want specifics, I'm getting close to that thanks to Jordan Peterson but I still can't stand the LARP, it doesn't have the intellectual background that jordan provides.
Remember the story of the prodigal son? It's pretty central that you can go back, even after you eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
You won't know whether or not you should if you don't try it and see.
In the UK you have a choice
>conservative new church full of Nigerians, packed every week
>Anglican church with a socially awkward young priest, tending to his flock of Mabel, Ethel and Esther.
Do not give false belief, do not go to Church for the sake of going to Church and tradition. Seek help, Christianity is for those who believe that Christ died for humanity's sins including yours, if you are not going to believe this then you are not saved. There are too many faux non believers who are okay with Christianity for society's benefits and traditionalism.
Read the ancients, Aristotle "Nicomachean Ethics", Plato "The Symposium". Then proceed to Augustine "Confessions". Once complete I would suggest Beothius "Consolation of Philosophy". My personal favorite is Chesterton's "Orthodoxy", "Heretics", "Everlasting Man", and if you want a light read you can at least try to complete and read "The Man Who Was Thursday".
I have come to the conclusion that Atheism is entirely logically and rationally impossible for me to ever believe. If you wanted another perspective, my girlfriend is also a former Atheist.
How can I stop being an atheist?
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)
Also, I like to think of being in church 7 days a week, except 1 day out of the week is consecrated, for example I take an Internet fast by shutting off all electronics, unplug the Internet, and spend time with family, reading the Bible, and resting.
>Then He said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
Shop around...I want a good sermon now and again, but not indoctrination...
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). God has already done all of the work. All you must do is receive, in faith, the salvation God offers (Ephesians 2:8-9). Fully trust in Jesus alone as the payment for your sins. Believe in Him, and you will not perish (John 3:16). God is offering you salvation as a gift. All you have to do is accept it. Jesus is the way of salvation (John 14:6).
Faith without works is dead. This is why you need to repent of your sins, start reading the Bible cover-to-cover in the Spirit, and pray, pray and pray. Seek and you will find.
>So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)
under rated and helpful response here
>How can I stop being an atheist?
Meditate; when your body and mind go into a dormant state, you realize that they are not all of your existence.
Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Flowing Streams Church is pretty good
spreaker.com
>do you think I should go?
No, it's a waste of time.
>Will church save me?
Of course not. God is not going to pay your bills. God is not going to watch you while you sleep. God is not going to help you find true love. God won't do a damn thing for you. He never has and He never will because He doesn't exist.
Do it. Go as old and traditional as possible. So catholic. Latin mass is beautiful. There is always hope
T. Ex protestant Anglican then apostate now roman catholic
Thanks anons. I had to step away from the computer to get some work done, but the replies are read and appreciated. God bless you all.
Who needs to go to church when you can get all your preaching from the internet?
youtube.com
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Only the catholic church will save you though. Anglicans aren't Catholic as they don't have apostolic succession. Also look at the fruits of their church with gay marriage and priests and women bishops n shieet. Also trannies get a special service to celebrate their sinful mental illness
this lad get it
Don't go to protestant churches. There's none of that new age faggotry in catholic mass. Only tradition and god
I just found an "Anglo-Catholic" Anglican church in my area that I'm going to try out. They do a traditional latin mass. 40 minute drive but seems worth it. I like aspects of the Catholic tradition but am not comfortable with the Vatican, Pope, confession, or the focus on Mary and the saints.
Well God is more than "Spirit", He is a real actual physical being, Father Son and Holy Ghost.
Being a Christian means living the life 24/7 and with the one day of Sabbath that is exalted as holy.
The comment I made initially is for those on Sup Forums who believe in the goodness and traditionalism of Xianity but yet lack believing in Xianity and all of it's core dogma and tenets. There's just no point if you're not going to take that final step to salvation, those unbelievers do not have saving grace and are doomed to hell unless they repent and believe. The time is now, whoever does not believe please seek help, a coworker a friend, a true Church and a true Christian who walks and talks the way God commanded. Too many cults and false teachers out there, the real ones will distinguish themselves from the scams.
Convert to Catholicism
youtube.com
every prottie should watch this vid
Do it. Convert. I say that as a roman catholic convert from church of england. You'll never look back
Roman or Constantinopolitan or oriental? Congrats!
THIS IS NOW A PAGAN THREAD--
>but am not comfortable with the Vatican, Pope, confession, or the focus on Mary and the saints.
Well you need more catechism lessons and theological education
Orthodoxy is catholicism so it was implied
How would someone who isn't familiar with the religion/customs be accepted? I once went to an independent Baptist Church and cool wouldn't describe the reception from others. It was downright aggressive as if I were an unwelcome interloper.
Why waste your time praying to a false god?
Works alone cannot guarantee salvation, that's where Jesus's sacrifice on the cross and God's infinite grace comes in. Because humanity is flawed with sin, the corrupt Roman Catholic Church does not believe this.
Confession is necessary for repentance and salvation. You'll learn to love it since you get to have your soul cleansed and be in gods grace again.
Go roman catholic then. Its the same church
Yes, I meant to affirm your comment. God bless.
>Works alone cannot guarantee salvation,
You know God's mind and his plan for salvation?
there is no such a thing as guarantee salvation
This.