Everybody have his reason. I'm a Hindu, 7 years ago, My sister was staying in Mumbai. near her home, there was 1 Catholic Church. For 7 days, I was in Mumbai. Daily I went to Church for meditation and sit there 3-4 hours. I want to stay near God sometime, Praying to God and It was very nice experience for me. I did meditation in Temples, Church, Mosque etc. by my definition, these are beautiful places, where all humans are equal. why we must go to these places ? everybody have different reasons, before blaming these places, we must find out, what are reasons we decided to go there ? 1 More experience,5 years ago, near my home 'Ganesha' Temple. I go there for meditation. 1 neighbor youngster saw that. He asked me, why you go to that temple everyday ? did you found any good girl for marriage there ? I answered, I go to temple to see god, not girls. for marriage, there are many matrimonial sources. 1st. time, when i decided to pray, I thought, I pray to god for cure from my disease. but, I felt like, somebody put hands on my mouth and I can't pray that.somebody from inside myself was scolding me. Will you pray for yourself only, How selfish you are. I understood my mistake and after that, I prayed for health, peace and prosperity of every human in this world. In Sanskrit, there are some wordings . Sarvetra Sukhinah Santu, Sarve Santu Niramayah ( Every human must get health and prosperity ) Sarve Bhadrani Pashyantu, Ma kashchid Dukhmapnudbhave (Every human must get peace) when i want to pray, I chant these words, I like this wordings, because, in these wording nothing about God. all about humans. what i want, others must get that too. so at last, what i want to say is, everybody have his reasons to go Church, Temple etc. better we find, what reason we have to go there ?
If anybody have Question, To see God, why we need Temple, Church, Mosque etc. answer is, In our house, we are father,Husband, brother, son etc. of somebody. In office, we are servant, employer of somebody. we play different roles at different places. Temple, Mosque, Church etc. are the places, where we all are only humans, all same inside. From Beggar to Billionaire all are same there. these are the places, where we must go to close gap in between all differences like Gender, Relation, Position etc. if some people goes there for Politics,Pride,Money, Controversy etc. It's their sick mindset. ignore them.
It doesn't make them more religious. It's just so people can hear about God, but sadly most people go to church just to check it off their list of things they feel they need to do, but they aren't even saved or live for God 7 days a week.
For me, the church is the congregation of people with the same faith. As stated in the Bible, the church is a house of prayer where some people find solace for their problems. It may not make people more religious than those who do not go to church but going to church adds to their faith. And with being saved, no one can say who will be saved unless someone from the beyond would come back and tell us what to expect.
Yes, some people do find solace there and is a place to find someone to advise and help, and I do think they need to exist for that reason. What I find is that people do hide behind the fact they attend church regularly in a bid to feel better about their misdeeds. That's not everyone, but there are a sector that feel that going to church wipes away their sin and excuses any questionable behavior. In that way churches are still symbolic, of forgiveness, but as you say, if you are forgiven and then continue to do the same thing and ask for forgiveness every week, what is the point? The church is being used as an excuse then to do bad things.
I think some sections of people will use going to church for reasons that aren't necessarily what its supposed to mean. Going for forgiveness but carrying on living their life and not changing, and going for social reasons rather than religious beliefs, being just two of them.
I think church can help you be a better person or at least more in tuned with what is happening in the community. I don't go to church now, because the one I like is too far away. I have attended church fairly often in the past. and I like it. I don't think church is out dated. but ways to modernize the church to appeal to modern people is something that many churches have done, and done successfully. One thing I like here is a church that is lakeside in the summer, it is small and informal...but it starts so early I am not usually up then lol.
It all depends on if you really want to follow Christ or not. For you are God's creation and He paid a dear price for you to be alive today. And to get to know him how better than to read His written word... The Bible. There are so many more ways to do that today even for the busiest of us, there are apps and e-mail services such as youversion.com/ which has a daily verse that can be so prescient for your personal thoughts, concerns and issues you will be in awe, it also has reading plans which are easy informative. There is also this one which will send you an e-mail each day with a small verse from scripture and a short commentary which I am certain will bring you closer to the Creator and in turn will change your life for the absolute better.... thegospeldaily.com/ Once you have spent some time with the Bible and with heartfelt prayer you will know which church you should be part of.
I still go to Church but I don't force my beliefs on anyone. I still go because I have a strong faith not only in my own religion but in humanity as well. My philosophy is kindness but my religion is Roman Catholic. People are people, whether you go to church or not does not equate that you're good. You are good because of the choices you make, because of the generosity of your heart and thoughtfulness of your soul but if it just so happens that your church makes you a better person so why in the world would that make you stop going? We are all entitled to our beliefs.
I'm an atheist; part of the reason is that my mother instilled a sense of skepticism about religion in and of itself, but even as a kid I was questioning the things I saw around me--mainly the idea that going to church automatically made someone "good", and that someone who did NOT attend church as somehow morally inferior, or simply an inferior human being. Meanwhile I'm noticing that people who went to church every Sunday could be just as nasty and profane as anyone else, while we--who never went--were doing alright. I will say that every once in a while I'll pop into Times Square church here in NYC, to soak up the vibes and hear a good and inspirational sermon now and again.
