[FireFly]

Originally Posted by jammies

You don't have one hour, once a week, to go to church? Or are your beliefs not really important enough to you to make that commitment? I submit that it is far more likely to be the latter.

To quote our good friend the Bible (Rev 3:14-19)
"You are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of My mouth. For you say 'I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.' You don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked."

This may come across as tangential to the discussion, but I don't think it is. What is frustrating for me, as an atheist, is that there are so many people who SAY they are Christians and believers, yet might as well be atheists for all the effect their belief has on their actions. Yet their vague affiliation encourages the evangelicals and nutbars into thinking we live in a Christian-dominated society that just needs to be shepherded back to the path of righteousness. Well, we don't - we live in society where secular values are triumphant, and "Christian" ideals are no more than a convenient veneer for the majority who don't care enough about what they believe to consider those beliefs objectively.

In a way, it reminds me of what used to happen back when missionaries first reached Japan. If your lord became a Christian, you would become one too, and if enough people in an area converted, you might decide to be a "rice Christian" - one who went along with the flow in order to reap the benefits of being part of the "club". After all, you might reason, does it really matter what I believe as long as it gets me ahead and doesn't really hurt anyone?

I see our society as having plenty of these club-members, willing to say they are Christians because they were born into membership and the dues aren't too high. Is that, however, how it should be? I think not, yet I think it will take a very long time before the "Atheist Club" gets the benefits of being the common person's default membership.

If only it was as simple as one hour. Firstly, the Bible says that congregating and discussing should be done but doesn't say that you have to go to church. Secondly, I've tried a number of churches in Calgary and none of them have felt right. It's important to go to a church that you like and feel at home in. As a non-denominational Christian, it's very hard to find one that feels right, and I haven't yet. Thirdly, I don't drive. So what's one hour for most people and maybe half an hour of travel is at least an hour and a half of travel as well as the hour long service. Doesnt' seem like much except when you work two jobs just to pay the bills and end up scheduled at least half the Sundays.

I don't have to go to church to be a Christian. Not going to church doesn't diminish my faith. I still am able to converse with Christians as I should to reaffirm my faith.