Church Attendance Way Down

In my 20s, 30s and most of my 40s I was a faithful churchgoer. I finally quit going because I could only stand to hear the same teachings on the same Bible verses so many times. I still have my faith, but church became too repetitious. Into my 50s the preaching sounded silly anymore.

Not that I'll never go to church again. I show up for family events, but as I sit there, I realize why I no longer go regularly. I would never tell anyone what they should do with their faith though. If you still enjoy church then go by all means.

My mother was 70 before she called it quits. She had had it when the pastor asked everyone to pray for a certain team to win the Super Bowl, he wasn't kidding. My pastor spent a whole Sunday morning gushing over the local school winning state finals. People from all over the county went to that church. Guy was an idiot. We're supposed to respect the leadership, I just can't anymore.
 

Judycat said:
She had had it when the pastor asked everyone to pray for a certain team to win the Super Bowl, he wasn't kidding.
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I went to the First Baptist Church in Winter Haven Florida for a while after my divorce ostensibly to help me through my "time of trouble" but really because someone at work said church would be a good place to meet women (it wasn't, at least not for me). Anyway, come election time they passed out voting guides to tell you who to vote for. Interestingly enough all the recommended candidates were of the same political persuasion. And their positions seemed to me to be quite the opposite of what Jesus taught. But then what would a heathen like myself know about that?
 
PVC said:
@Liberty = You said you're not a member of his church, so this below is just for the sake of debate.

Osteen's house is worth $10m, I'm sure paid for from donations to his church. You don't think he should have bought a ''modest'' house of say $1m and used the other $9m to help his parishioners and others in need?

If you bothered to read the Snopes article, they're a fact checking website, their article gave both sides of the story (not biased fake news). They even published photos taken by average people (not reporters), are you saying those photos are lying?
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Ok, first of all, I don't tend to penalize anyone for living well. Its not my job to say how much they should or should not spend on whatever they choose to spend it on. That's between them and their conscience.

Secondly, the Snoops article gave the flooding issue a "mixture" rating if you so noted on their official rating category, not a thumbs down. so like "who cares" at this point. Its paper under the kiddie sand...lol.
 
Although it doesn't really bother me much when billionaires live extravagant lifestyles, I find it obscene when people who live by donations and charities live those lifestyles. Here are the top 10 pastors who make the most money, #1 Kenneth Copeland is by some accounts worth $300-$750m. Obviously most of the donations is not going to the needy. AND, they obviously don't believe in an afterlife where they'll be accountable. Pity the gullible people who donate to them.

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/net-worth-richest-pastors-will-blow-your-mind.html/
 
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Butterfly said:
I don't think any of the apostles lived in a $10 million dollar house. I do believe Jesus said something along the lines that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.
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Butterfly said:
I don't think any of the apostles lived in a $10 million dollar house. I do believe Jesus said something along the lines that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.
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Could be, but I read somewhere that John the Divine's estate was valued during the depression and would have been worth a quarter million dollars. I guess it depends of whether you possess the riches or the riches possess you. Maybe that's the definition of a "rich man and the camel going through the narrow passageway - the camel has to be unloaded to get through.

I do know what you mean, about pastors and priests getting rich off of stupid people that put money in padre's plate, though...lol. I've thought about this issue a lot, but also don't believe poverty is in and of itself a virtue, either. Maybe the happy medium is the way to go..."the laborer is worthy of his or her hire?"
 
Liberty said:
I do know what you mean, about pastors and priests getting rich off of stupid people that put money in padre's plate, though...lol. I've thought about this issue a lot, but also don't believe poverty is in and of itself a virtue, either.
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I agree, being poor by choice is dumb. I think people can be wealthy and still be good people, treat others well and help those they can help.
Added: Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are two of the richest men in the world and they both give a lot of money to charities.

I had an aunt in Italy who wasn't very bright, she and her kids went without food a lot, she used to come visit my mother begging for food some days. YET, she went every single morning to church and put money into the plate. My mother tried to reason with her but to no avail.
 
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PVC said:
I agree, being poor by choice is dumb. I think people can be wealthy and still be good people, treat others well and help those they can help.

I had an aunt in Italy who wasn't very bright, she and her kids went without food a lot, she used to come visit my mother begging for food some days. YET, she went every single morning to church and put money into the plate. My mother tried to reason with her but to no avail.
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That sounds like her "elevator didn't go to the top floor"...lol.
 
Judycat said:
She had had it when the pastor asked everyone to pray for a certain team to win the Super Bowl, he wasn't kidding.
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When I was a little kid I once prayed my heart out for the Dodgers to win a game I was watching. I can still remember repeating over and over "help them win it, help them win it" But they lost. Maybe that's why I'm an Atheist today.
 
Trade said:
When I was a little kid I once prayed my heart out for the Dodgers to win a game I was watching. I can still remember repeating over and over "help them win it, help them win it" But they lost. Maybe that's why I'm an Atheist today.
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I feel your pain, Trade. That very thing happened to me just a few days ago...
 
StarSong said:
I feel your pain, Trade. That very thing happened to me just a few days ago...
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Its like that Stones' song "You don't always get what you want", huh...lol.

With that said, have you ever prayed for something and didn't get it and then found out later it was great that you "didn't get what you thought you knew you really wanted?"
 
I once had a mother-in-law who insisted on sending part of her pitifully small monthly income to Billy Graham 'because he lived in a little old log cabin in the woods'.

Graham was worth millions at the time and the little log cabin was the huge house constructed from bits and pieces of old log cabins scattered about the south that had been carefully de-constructed and re-assembled in the Graham house.

Of course, MIL was out of pocket money before the month's end but we saw that she wanted for nothing. Sending Billy money was a small price if it made her feel good about herself.
 
gennie said:
I once had a mother-in-law who insisted on sending part of her pitifully small monthly income to Billy Graham 'because he lived in a little old log cabin in the woods'.

Graham was worth millions at the time and the little log cabin was the huge house constructed from bits and pieces of old log cabins scattered about the south that had been carefully de-constructed and re-assembled in the Graham house.

Of course, MIL was out of pocket money before the month's end but we saw that she wanted for nothing. Sending Billy money was a small price if it made her feel good about herself.
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According to the article I posted above, Graham was worth $25m in February 2018 when he died at age 99. His son is also worth $25m.
 
gennie said:
I once had a mother-in-law who insisted on sending part of her pitifully small monthly income to Billy Graham 'because he lived in a little old log cabin in the woods'.

Graham was worth millions at the time and the little log cabin was the huge house constructed from bits and pieces of old log cabins scattered about the south that had been carefully de-constructed and re-assembled in the Graham house.

Of course, MIL was out of pocket money before the month's end but we saw that she wanted for nothing. Sending Billy money was a small price if it made her feel good about herself.
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They do prey [pun intended] on people that for some reason feel a need to give, and those that also for some reason, need a crutch.

I have no use for any of them........hell their church/religious status even gets them into the pockets of tax payers.......by virtue of them paying very little to no tax at all.....costing the rest of us more.....disgusting !
 
rgp said:
They do prey [pun intended] on people that for some reason feel a need to give, and those that also for some reason, need a crutch.

I have no use for any of them........hell their church/religious status even gets them into the pockets of tax payers.......by virtue of them paying very little to no tax at all.....costing the rest of us more.....disgusting !
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Not only that, but they're also not supposed to be involved in politics and they do that anyway, not only vocally but with donations.
 
rgp said:
They do prey [pun intended] on people that for some reason feel a need to give, and those that also for some reason, need a crutch.

I have no use for any of them........hell their church/religious status even gets them into the pockets of tax payers.......by virtue of them paying very little to no tax at all.....costing the rest of us more.....disgusting !
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Did you hear about the Jewish fellow that moved into a small town and opened a business that became very successful? One day the tax man came in and told him his taxes were quadrupling.

The tax guy took out a map and showed him how he was on one of the four main commercial corners of the town, and the other three were occupied by: The Catholic Church and business offices, The Presbyterian Church, and the Morman Church so that meant that he had to pay taxes for the whole commercial areas. He sighed, slipped on a Yamaka and then slammed his Torah down on the counter, declaring "Get thine hand off my alter, already."
 
I stopped attending church when the hypocrisy of it all became unbearable. Being told that if people don't believe exactly as each religion dictates they'll be damned. Love everyone, but bear in mind that God truly doesn't because, after all, if they believed differently they'd be damned. What kind of love is that???

Endlessly being asked for money, and pressed to invite friends/neighbors/warm bodies to come to church absolutely wore me down. I was the church treasurer for many years, and I'm here to tell you that the owners of the shingle outside (in that case the United Methodist Church and its formidable hierarchy) made sure they took care of themselves and their own. The flock and outsider came in a very distant third and fourth.

When I've been back for funerals or weddings it doesn't take ten minutes to remember why I left.
 
I used to have a penpal who told me that I MUST go to church or I would end up in hell. I told him that if there is a heaven I will surely go there because I am basically a good person and harmed no one. He told me that didn't matter whether I was a good person or a bad person, what mattered was whether I attended church. Grrrr!
 
Trade said:
When I was a little kid I once prayed my heart out for the Dodgers to win a game I was watching. I can still remember repeating over and over "help them win it, help them win it" But they lost. Maybe that's why I'm an Atheist today.
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Your story reminded me of this.
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