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And may I wish you a Merry Christmas?

Not once during 2007 did I attend a regularly scheduled church, mosque, or temple service. Did I miss anything that could not be found elsewhere - ?

Holden, I would say that you may have very well missed out on communal fellowship with people of similar faith journey's. How sad to forsake the fellowship with others in such a manner.

The question that bears upon me regarding this is how do you feel and/or justify this in the larger scheme of things? What prevents you from attending scheduled services?

Shalom

holden,
that is a legitimate queston. too many (spiritually) hungry people who attended a church, mosque or synagogue expecting to find something different (from what the world was offering) and fulfilling, were greatly disappointed, in that they didn't find the church (the people) much different. Christians are called to be separate from the world and to be consecrated which should preclude them to a different standard of living.
holden it is not the church (building) which should entice people to come in but it should be the people of God whose daily lives demonstrate Christ's teachings. unless you are draw by the Spirit of God and convicted of your separation from God and then take the required action (repentance and acceptance of Christ as Savior), all the church going is futile.
i know that some say they cannot see, touch, hear or feel God, therefore He does not exist - these same ones cannot see electricity, air, light, heat, cold or gravity, yet they enjoy each of those.
scripture(s) addressed those who choose not to believe...............

"2 I want you to remember and understand what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.
3 First, I want to remind you that in the last days there will be scoffers who will laugh at the truth and do every evil thing they desire. 4 This will be their argument: "Jesus promised to come back, did he? Then where is he? Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly the same since the world was first created."
5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth up from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the world with a mighty flood. 7 And God has also commanded that the heavens and the earth will be consumed by fire on the day of judgment, when ungodly people will perish.
8 But you must not forget, dear friends, that a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent."
so holden it is for your sake that the judgement is postponed in hope that when the Spirit of God draws you that you would repond appropriately. Merry Christmas or whatever you might call this holiday.

like holden, I have not stepped foot in a church, temple or mosque in recent years. and I don't feel like I'm missing much. church is nice, yes - I loved church, when I was a child. I got to sing songs - see my friends - learn what to think. lovely. but then I became a man, and I put away childish things.

sure, human beings all need to feel "communal fellowship". if we're not hermits, we get that - from our families, acquaintances and friends. we don't need to shuffle off to a big building once a week, to be lectured on a load of prehistoric bunk about how to behave and what to believe, in order to be complete human beings.

I know the church (temple/mosque) fills a psychological need for a lot of people. I just hope, as we emerge into the 21st century, we can find other ways to meet that need - without relying on institutionalized wish-fulfillment, unquestioned faith in authority, and silly superstition.

now quote some scripture at me, why don't you?

Merry Christmas!

This seems like an appropriate time and forum for holiday wishes -

I mean since God is the Santa Clause for adults -

edan,
i posted a reply to your dec. 27 11:12 and 11:40 pm comments but apparently it was yanked off ( but this isn't the first time this has happened, fyi nancy once said she never censors our posts but she does enable some feature which can block our posts when she deems them offensive or combative - this very well may be one of those posts !?)

holden,
i agree that God is santa for adults (and anyone for that matter) - for He did give us the greatest gift......Jesus Christ !

Hey Buz. I'm just getting back -- but I never censor. There's a feature on the software that automatically excludes 'offensive' comments, but I haven't figured out what method is used; can't figure out why comments didn't make it. If people tell me something didn't post, I'll search for it and enable it -- which is what I'm going to do right now UPDATE: the spam filter has caught so much that it only goes back a couple of days. I apologize and will from this point on check the 'jumk' mail filter daily.

Also, thanks Doug for wishing me a Merry Christmas. My greenting to you and everyone else was more inclusive because it covered such a long period (and all that was going on).

Thanks!

"church is nice, yes - I loved church, when I was a child. I got to sing songs - see my friends - learn what to think. lovely. but then I became a man, and I put away childish things." Englishdan

Interesting that you should quote St. Paul from I Corinthians 13 - that exquisite chapter on divine love; which most sensitive and intelligent people across the ages have admitted to be one of the pinnacles of spiritual perception and maturity. I'll just let that perk and speak for itself.

As to your (and others") critiques of the Church; I must agree that it is in need of a great theological and perceptive shakedown - which God seems to be accomplishing by various means. I can think of nothing more impotent and irrelevant that religion - i.e. "religionism" - that superficial glaze of pseudo-spirituality that largely misses the real point of the NT revelation.

I don't say that all churches are bogged down in it, or that everyone in "religious" churches is either. But the whirr of annual religious routine numbs people's minds and souls to the reality and power of the Kingdom of God. Jesus spent his entire ministry trying to pry the legalistic religious types of his day from their religious cages.

There is actually a lot going on right now to effect a second great Reformation that will trim the fat and dead wood off the Church's witness in todays world. It is a tall order, but God is able; and the end result will be a Bride that is prepared for her divine Husband - ad Kingdom oriented Body of Christ on earth that faithfully preaches the Good News and lives it out vitally, truly and lovingly.

"Not once during 2007 did I attend a regularly scheduled church, mosque, or temple service. Did I miss anything that could not be found elsewhere - ?" Holden

Yes, indeed you did, my friend: you missed the joyous Presence of God in the midst of His people - the spiritual Temple where He displays His glory. We are NOT talking about the monotonous grind of empty religious routine that masquerades as true worship, and fellowship. Admittedly, you would probably have a rather difficult time today finding a church that enters into that awesome reality every Sunday -or whenever it gathers. But it IS out there. Just seek - and ye shall find.

Jesus said: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The key phrase is IN MY NAME. You will not find true worship, or the real Presence, except where Jesus' Name is honored and spoken in a context of true faith and sound doctrine.

nikos,
i would say you have made a great start for '08 (making resolutions) in defending the faith. i stand firmly shoulder to shoulder with you in your endeavour. we have some theology/dogma differences but we both firmly believe that Christ is the only answer to what ails this world. we agree that God is calling mankind to repentance and that there is only one way to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ, who grants us "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

here is a link which you might find interesting
http://www.theschoolofchrist.org/articles/cult.html

hey nancy,
fair enough, you don't actually enable the feature but software does. hope you had a nice time away - happy new year !

Buz,
Thanks for the sympatico and encouragement. I thank God for your faithful witness, and your willingness to uphold the Faith in cyberspace among the occasional fiery darts hurled your way. May we both press on to the prize in faith and boldness.