What do you hate about church?

Lara said:
What Do I Hate about the Church?

The only problem with the church is that it's a gathering of imperfect people seeking different things...some good, some bad, some are givers some are self-serving, some are still seeking their way, some have found their way and want to rejoice and fellowship with others, some are there to help others, some are there to use others.

I don't do hate...except that God hates sin (so do I). He loves the sinner though (so do I). He never gives up hope that they will genuinely seek forgiveness and turn from sin whenever it presents itself. Sin is everywhere including in the churches.

We all sin (so do I)...some more than others, some worse than others. Some are sorry and ask forgiveness. God forgives the genuine repentant sinner no matter how great the sin...but Only if the one asking forgiveness means it and it shows. And that ticks some people off.
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Can you define sin though? If only God is omniscient then maybe He alone has the right to judge anything at all? This has always confused me.
 
I enjoy church services and I love to hear the music and choir singing.
The small country church I attend is over 200 years old with the cemetery on one side
and in the back.
My husband and youngest son are buried there and I take flowers to their resting places.
They are resting in peace in quiet well kept grounds with trees and ornamental shrubs.
 
Lilac said:
I don't hate anything about the church.

This question is for our members living in Europe. Is there still a church tax that you have to pay? I remember hearing about it years ago from my uncle in Germany. Not sure if it's still a thing or not. Here, we have no tax & the money comes from the parishioners to the church for support.
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Church Tax?..never heard of it...maybe in the middle ages
 
I grew up going to Church, and have attended services in a few different denominations. My point is I'm no stranger to Churches or religion. But I stopped going years ago when I realized that it was more a social outing as opposed to a worship outing. And the church had its cliques, almost like high school.

I guess I'm a "closet Christian" as is my wife, and we are OK with that.

To answer the question though, I don't "hate" anything about the Church. But I despise the many "Mega Churches" that spend millions (yes, millions) on operating budgets which are geared to glorifying themselves (think Olsteen) and the premises. It just seems so wrong to have so much money contained within the Church rather than spread out helping those in need - and there are so many.

I've always thought since childhood that Church was where you went to worship your God, and not the building or the guy standing up there doing all the talking.
 
Lilac said:
I don't hate anything about the church.

This question is for our members living in Europe. Is there still a church tax that you have to pay? I remember hearing about it years ago from my uncle in Germany. Not sure if it's still a thing or not. Here, we have no tax & the money comes from the parishioners to the church for support.
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There is no church tax in Australia either. That is a feature of countries with an established religion. In US and Australia there is a constitutional requirement of separation of church and state.

My church is small in numbers. Many of us are elderly and we can no longer afford a full time minister from our budget. We have lay preachers 2 to 3 times a month and as a congregation we are fully capable of functioning without full time ministry.

I love this community for not "teaching the Bible as if heaven is a football game. Or a basketball game. Or a race with blue ribbons to be won at the end."

Although we are mostly elderly, we are most certainly not stuck in the past. Our pulpit is open to men and women of all ages and we follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, where everyone is welcome at the table. He is the rebellious example that we seek to emulate.

If only we were always as brave as he was, but we reach out to people who are not welcomed by some other churches. We dialogue with people of all faiths and all are safe to take part in the child care centre, join the gardening club and the knitting group. The local indigenous people know we are supportive of their cause. There is a rainbow banner hung high on the building with the words "You are welcome" printed in big black letters.
 
I no longer go to church - but I dont think OP's experience is the same in all churches.

The one I used to go to did have informal services (as well as their traditional Sunday morning one) and people could ask questions ,raise points etc
and if you hated a particular song you could say so
and there were women ministers too.
 
Gossips? Racists? People buying their way into heaven? LOL What churches are you all attending? If you're basing your views on televangelists, they aren't real, anymore than the reality show housewives represent the rest of us.

I like going to church, most of the people at my church are very warm and friendly and I've never heard a word of gossip from any of them, or a racist or homophobic remark. I used to "pledge" a certain amount of money, but these days I just give cash as the spirit moves me, so as far as my pastor or the treasurer knows I could not be giving anything at all -- and they're still nice to me. As for racists, my Methodist and Presbyterian church I grew up in were very active in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's and the pastors of the Episcopalian/Lutheran church I attend now preach against racism and anti-gay bigotry all the time.

So I liked church when I was able to go, I usually can't handle it physically these days.

Re. the OP I never liked the sports-sermons and repetitive singing either. I don't mind that I can't ask questions during the sermon, it's a lecture format, not an open classroom. The question and discussion format is present in all my Sunday school classes. I've had three women ministers and only really liked one of the three -- that's about par for me and male ministers.

I think it's a matter of finding the sort of church you like. I always shop around when I go to a new town until I find one with the traditional music I like and the sort of intelligent preacher I like.
 
Raven said:
I enjoy church services and I love to hear the music and choir singing.
The small country church I attend is over 200 years old with the cemetery on one side
and in the back.
My husband and youngest son are buried there and I take flowers to their resting places.
They are resting in peace in quiet well kept grounds with trees and ornamental shrubs.
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Amen sister Amen to that!
 
Why would I hate church? I'm an atheist but even that's certainly no reason to hate church or those who choose to attend.

Sounds like a gas lighting question to me.
 
Attending church on a regular basis is not for everyone. Many prefer to just be spiritual without the confines that a church organization may have. I know many people who love church. I personally am not a church goer and see no reason to hate anything about a practice that may give people comfort.
 
I don't hate church or religion in general because for some it provides comfort. For my mother as she was in her final days, religion kept her grounded and hopeful.

For me, it's a longer story. I attended a fundamental Baptist high school. We had chapel every Wednesday with visiting preachers who would preach "fire and brimstone" and talk about how rock music, dancing and women wearing pants was a sin and we were all going to Hell. They then held an invitation at the end for everyone to come up and repent, with the "repentant" music and all. I was always resentful that they would hold out for every last student to walk up front.

I and one of my friends always stayed in my seat. It was like if they didn't get every last person to go up they'd failed. The preacher's son was always in the principal's office for drugs, and the principal (who had a wife) was later found to be gay.

I then went to Church of Christ where they interpreted the Bible back to its' original meaning, which meant that women were subservient and only men could be elders. They didn't believe in musical instruments when singing and insisted people be baptized in water if they were to be saved.

I used to ask if theirs was the only religion through which someone could be saved, what would happen to people in other continents who'd never heard their gospel? I also asked how someone who was infirm and could not go into water could be saved. I never received any answers. It was like a cult. I haven't set foot in a church since then, and religion isn't for me.

I believe in a higher power, but I also know that I am the one responsible for my path in life and need to take responsibility for it.
 
The preacher is boring and the music is too loud. It becomes repitious and there is no graduation day unless you decide to stop going, and if you do, you are shunned as one of the heathen again because you've fallen away. Don't get me started on church splits where over half the congregation walks out to make its own church.
 
CinnamonSugar said:
The title of this thread saddens me... why be negative? I'm not saying church is perfect but there are some very good things.
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I couldn't agree more. As my wife and I have aged, we no longer attend services. We attended when younger and our children all attended Sunday School. A small country church, it's always (to us) been a quiet haven with hymns that we've enjoyed since childhood. Our family is a mixture of church-goers and as the minister puts it, "Home Baptists". LOL
 
The church in Phoenix had many years of the leaders indulging in wife swapping among other things. After they were busted many of them left but the choir director stayed so we got to see her every Sunday pretending to be so perfect. I tried, I really did, but she was a total distraction for me so I left which really turned out help me grow in many more spiritual ways which is not embraced by the "church". Peace comes from within and following your own moral compass, in my opinion.
 
I hate the Catholic Church. Women should be allowed to be priests. Male priests should be allowed to be married if they want. If the Catholic Church would come out of the 14th Century, there wouldn't be a shortage of priests, and there would be a lot less sex scandals. There are so many small town around New York that have lost their local Catholic church because of a shortage of priests. The one in my town and across the street from me, closed down in 2010. The same year another Catholic church in a nearby town also closed down. I'm not Catholic but a I was a groundskeeper for the Catholic church, St. Patrick's. I saw how the Catholics in town were devastated when they lost their church.
 


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