People are Leaving their Churches in Droves Today

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Gee, time to lose friends. :D

Realization that there is no God. No Heaven. No Hell. No supernatural. There is just this fleeting moment. Christianity is full of contradictions. "Free will" is the excuse for everything, as though a good just God would allow terrible things to happen. Babies with cancer, war, natural disasters. We're simply part of a cycle. Too many people talk about Christian beliefs, but practice something else.
 

JustDave said:
I read recently that most of the people who have been leaving the church recently, are still searching for something spiritual. But whatever they are looking for was not provided by churches. It's just a claim. No data was included. Apparently outright atheism is gaining popularity, but still a small minority. I tend to believe the claim is true. Society is becoming more divided on issues, but churches seem to be slower in keeping up with the changing values.
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Trouble is too many churches have kept up with changing values, in some respects. Worship in large super churches is turning into entertainment and the hushed expectation of experiencing the transcendental seems to be a thing of the past! Again, in many but not all churches!
 
Rose65 said:
I left my church and I won't go back. The reason is small minded people, their cliques, their superior smug attitudes, the way they drove away anyone who remotely threatened their way of doing things. A small group ran all things and strutted around full of their own power. They made everyone else feel inferior and somehow not worthy. Over and over again they froze out younger folks who were enthusiastic Christians. I watched all this as an ordinary member of the already tiny congregation. I watched the arguments, the pain they caused. My anger simmered privately.

The covid crisis provided the perfect excuse to stay away.

I am a committed Christian, I can pray and read my Bible perfectly well on my own or with like minded friends. I expect the local church will close soon, they are all old and dying off. This is what happens if change and new blood is rejected, growth stunted.
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I agree with everything except for "change is rejected!" If you mean change of heart, I am with you, @Rose65! But change of worship? I love the way things were, without worship teams, and projectors and hyped up emotions! A simple searching and experiencing of God in a receptive atmosphere ... that's my ideal way of worship!
 
Many churches are trying to appeal to young people by having an entertainment-focused service rather than a preachy one. That may make it unappealing to the older parishoners. I went to one that didn't have a pulpit or lectern - it was a stage and they left instruments set up on it. The service was mostly singing which they put the words to on monitors and the songs seemed to go on forever. I thought they were ending one and then they just stared over. One woman got up and laid face-down in the church aisle. That was enough for me.

Don't get me going on the place were they spoke in tongues (which wasn't true tongues).
 
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debodun said:
Many churches are trying to appeal to young people by having and entertainment-focused service rather than a preachy one. That may make it unappealing to the older parishoners. I went to one that didn't have a pulpit or lectern - it was a stage and they left instruments set up on it. The service was mostly singing which they put the words to on monitors and the songs seemed to go on forever. I thought they were ending one and then they just stared over. One woman got up and laid face-down in the church aisle. That was enough for me.

Don't get me going on the place were they spoke in tongues (which wasn't true tongues).
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A church like the one you describe is the only one within 20 miles of me. Because of that I haven't been able to attend church for years!
 
Donald Neil Walsch and his books starting with " Conversations with God" has some interesting comments to make from a down and out radio journo and out on his luck he became a millionaire no doubt - I think I got up to book 6 once and all very plausible reading?
 
When I went to church I enjoyed going to church. I quit going, because after over 30 years, it became repetitive. For example, how many teachings on the Good Samaritan does one need? Surely our Lord didn't want us to constantly be taught. Sooner or later you have to go out and live your faith. I left when it was time and am not sorry I did. I am still a believer and church is still the same.
 
The word translated "church" in the English Bible is ekklesia. This word is the Greek words kaleo (to call), with the prefix ek (out). Thus, the word means "the called out ones." However, the English word "church" does not come from ekklesia but from the word kuriakon, which means "dedicated to the Lord." same way either way? - but it was never once a building just a gathering often in a home - it's been glorified ; sanctified ; imortilized and sanitized maybe - Cathedrals are often beautiful buildings - some of them burn down very quickly as the wood is old but what are they really representing anymore and who is paying the rent and repair bills??
 
I believe that there is a creative intelligence behind our universe. IOW, a God

For several years I checked out other churches. Most were too political for my tastes, both on the right and the left. At one church I learned that all the bad stuff in the world was caused by people of my race and gender. At another, I had to wear a goofy badge to show I was new. Another had a aerospace engineer who lectured us on evolution. I suppose they thought biology majors and anthropologists should design airplanes. Etc. etc.etc.
 
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I left organized religion when I was a college student struggling to get an education and pay for it and become an adult. I was attending a Baptist church at the time. The pastor there told us to commit to a specific amount to contribute to his church even if we didn't have it. He said, "God would give it to us." :oops: Worse, the project the money was for was to bring the gospel to Ireland! o_O Like IRELAND of St. Patrick fame who had been Christian for millenia? So I left because I felt the church was ripping off parishioners.
 
chic said:
I left organized religion when I was a college student struggling to get an education and pay for it and become an adult. I was attending a Baptist church at the time. The pastor there told us to commit to a specific amount to contribute to his church even if we didn't have it. He said, "God would give it to us." :oops: Worse, the project the money was for was to bring the gospel to Ireland! o_O Like IRELAND of St. Patrick fame who had been Christian for millenia? So I left because I felt the church was ripping off parishioners.
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Wrong Gospel. Some Baptists often have problems with those Papist Catholics.
 
Many Christian churches have less to do with following and preaching the actual words and deeds of Jesus, but rather pursue a power and money driven political agenda, which is clearly counter to Christ's teachings. They should have their 501(c)(3) tax exempt status yanked.

There's that, plus many congregations are cliquish and petty....just don't need that in my life.
 

People are Leaving their Churches in Droves Today​





2 Thessalonians 2:1-3

King James Version

​

2 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;


I don't attend church much
But
I do at times
It's refreshing
Sure, there's hypocrites, pharisees, and fault finders
No matter
They're sinners......like me
Where else should sinners go?
It's what praying is all about
 
One of my chapters in my book is about indoctrination. I went to a Catholic Parochial school for thirteen years of my life. During those thirteen years, I studied the Baltimore catechism every first hour of the morning. As I went through my young adulthood, the indoctrination continued at college, in mass sermons, Bible studies and other religious organizations. We were never allowed to question any of it because it was a sin to do so.

Recently, I noticed that my religious friends of different religions can quote the Bible verbatim because they study it all the time. I call that indoctrination. You are starting to see that also in public schools today where students are becoming indoctrinated in culture and pronoun language changes, and genderism.

Indoctrination is also a cult thing. We’ve seen that many times in our lifetime, like the Jamestown cult, and the Texas cult that was destroyed by the FBI.

Recently I found a good quote that explains how indoctrination works.

“Some things are believed because they are demonstrably true. But many other things are believed simply because they have been asserted repeatedly—and repetition has been accepted as a substitute for evidence.” Thomas Sowell

Think about it.
 
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Nathan said:
Many Christian churches have less to do with following and preaching the actual words and deeds of Jesus, but rather pursue a power and money driven political agenda, which is clearly counter to Christ's teachings. They should have their 501(c)(3) tax exempt status yanked.

There's that, plus many congregations are cliquish and petty....just don't need that in my life.
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That’s so true. Many people leave because of the power and demand for more money.
 
After our kids grew up and started their own lives, we sort of drifted away from regular church attendance. Nothing to do with "believing" or "not believing". We had no difficulty with the parishioners or either of the 3 or 4 pastors that we encountered. I grew up in a Congregational Church and when meeting my wife, who was a Baptist, we were married and attended her church.

I suppose that we're still Baptist or as our pastor used to say, in humor, "Home Baptists". My church experience has been nothing but pleasant and I have no ill feelings towards anything and anyone connected with either faith, or any other faith that I know of.
 
DaveA said:
After our kids grew up and started their own lives, we sort of drifted away from regular church attendance. Nothing to do with "believing" or "not believing". We had no difficulty with the parishioners or either of the 3 or 4 pastors that we encountered. I grew up in a Congregational Church and when meeting my wife, who was a Baptist, we were married and attended her church.

I suppose that we're still Baptist or as our pastor used to say, in humor, "Home Baptists". My church experience has been nothing but pleasant and I have no ill feelings towards anything and anyone connected with either faith, or any other faith that I know of.
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That’s a common reason that I have heard. “We just drifted away.”
 
Gary O' said:
I don't attend church much
But
I do at times
It's refreshing
Click to expand...
I posted something on this a few times
Here it is again;


Didn’t happen today, yet still....it made me happy today

It’ll make me happy tomorrow if I think about it


A while back, wife and I went to church

It’s refreshing, sometimes, to attend a church

Sometimes

Anyway, there was a song service
I don’t sing
Can’t
Tried
It’s not considered singing
So, there I was, mouthing the words.

A few rows back, a middle aged gentleman was singing his heart out.
A tenor, I believe.
I also believe he was a butcher by trade.
Cause he was doin’ a job of it on that song.
His voice, his voice literally hurt my good ear.

Seems there were several stanzas to that hymn.
He got louder with each one.
At the last of the chorus to the last stanza I looked back...

Had to

There he was, tears streaming down his face.


The sun coming thru the ornate window did not shine on him.

Yet,

His face....beamed

He wasn’t a good looking guy

He literally wrecked the hymn


I’ve seen a lot of beauty
A lot
In nature, mostly

But this

Was the most beautiful thing

I have ever seen

There are blessings in church
No matter the clientele
If you keep your eyes on Him
 
Judycat said:
When I went to church I enjoyed going to church. I quit going, because after over 30 years, it became repetitive. For example, how many teachings on the Good Samaritan does one need? Surely our Lord didn't want us to constantly be taught. Sooner or later you have to go out and live your faith. I left when it was time and am not sorry I did. I am still a believer and church is still the same.
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Thank you for sharing that.
 
Gary O' said:
I posted something on this a few times
Here it is again;


Didn’t happen today, yet still....it made me happy today

It’ll make me happy tomorrow if I think about it

Beautiful story, Gary O. Thanks for sharing that.


A while back, wife and I went to church

It’s refreshing, sometimes, to attend a church

Sometimes

Anyway, there was a song service
I don’t sing
Can’t
Tried
It’s not considered singing
So, there I was, mouthing the words.

A few rows back, a middle aged gentleman was singing his heart out.
A tenor, I believe.
I also believe he was a butcher by trade.
Cause he was doin’ a job of it on that song.
His voice, his voice literally hurt my good ear.

Seems there were several stanzas to that hymn.
He got louder with each one.
At the last of the chorus to the last stanza I looked back...

Had to

There he was, tears streaming down his face.


The sun coming thru the ornate window did not shine on him.

Yet,

His face....beamed

He wasn’t a good looking guy

He literally wrecked the hymn


I’ve seen a lot of beauty
A lot
In nature, mostly

But this

Was the most beautiful thing

I have ever seen

There are blessings in church
No matter the clientele
If you keep your eyes on Him
Click to expand...
 
Dubee said:
One of my chapters in my book is about indoctrination. I went to a Catholic Parochial school for thirteen years of my life. During those thirteen years, I studied the Baltimore catechism every first hour of the morning. As I went through my young adulthood, the indoctrination continued at college, in mass sermons, Bible studies and other religious organizations. We were never allowed to question any of it because it was a sin to do so.

Recently, I noticed that my religious friends of different religions can quote the Bible verbatim because they study it all the time. I call that indoctrination. You are starting to see that also in public schools today where students are becoming indoctrinated in culture and pronoun language changes, and genderism.

Indoctrination is also a cult thing. We’ve seen that many times in our lifetime, like the Jamestown cult, and the Texas cult that was destroyed by the FBI.

Recently I found a good quote that explains how indoctrination works.

“Some things are believed because they are demonstrably true. But many other things are believed simply because they have been asserted repeatedly—and repetition has been accepted as a substitute for evidence.” Thomas Sowell

Think about it.
Click to expand...
This is why I value my conversion experience so much! I had never gone to church, had never been exposed to Christian teaching, except for an hour each week in school where I made fun of it, making an enemy of the Parson! Every time we had to attend the compulsory Sunday services on board our destroyer, I would look at all the bowed heads in prayer and think: what a bunch of fools!

Even when I prayed for the first time in my life (actually the second time, come to think of it. I did pray as a nine year old, please God give me a bike and didn't get one! LOL) "God if you're there, please help me," I really wasn't expecting anything ... and found myself in pure light, feeling a joy and love I had never experienced before!

I count on that Love when I feel weak and full of doubt!
 
Brookswood said:
I believe that there is a creative intelligence behind our universe. IOW, a God.

After my divorce people in my church would approach me and ask about my wife who had taken off and gone to another church. Tell her we are thinking of her. When will she be back? Does she need anything? Etc. etc. etc….. Not a one asked me if I needed anything. Not a one offered a sympathetic ear to me.

I hadn’t realized that the church custom on getting divorced was to drag my body out to the sidewalk and as they walked away say “If you survive, come on back.”

So I left.

For several years I checked out other churches. Most were too political for my tastes, both on the right and the left. At one church I learned that all the bad stuff in the world was caused by people of my race and gender. At another, I had to wear a goofy badge to show I was new. Another had a aerospace engineer who lectured us on evolution. I suppose they thought biology majors and anthropologists should design airplanes. Etc. etc.etc.
Click to expand...

Yes, bad experiences like that are a big turnoff. So sorry that happened to you.
 
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