I stopped going to church 8 months ago

[texasfiddler]

I have redirected my giving to Biden, 8 Democratic US Senate candidates and three swing state Democratic Parties. It feels really good. The ELCA Lutheran church isn’t a fundamentalist church. However, I believe my money is better served in this endeavor.

[RussBLib]

1. I stopped going about 55 years ago

seems like yesterday.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Beat Me By 5+ Years

1970. Well, that's a lie.
To make families happy we married in church, and we went to all 4 parents' funerals.
Not sure those count as "going" to church.

[Voltaire2]

2. I never started

[Towlie]

3. Why were you going in the first place?

You must have had a reason for going. What changed? Why is that reason no longer valid?

[texasfiddler]

11. Hypocrisy

My beef isn’t with the ELCA. They are actually a pretty progressive Church. I have had enough with the silence. I can’t stand to be around Trumpers. I haven’t become an agnostic or atheist, I think The teachings of Jesus are being ignored. In a lot of ways atheists and agnostics are more empathetic like Jesus taught. The more important thing is I’m able to give a lot more money to elect Democrats without hurting my budget. That was my main point.

[LAS14]

12. "I have had enough with the silence."

Silence is a problem. I've made a couple of stabs at trying to combat it. It's not that the non-fundamentalist church bodies don't speak out. It's that their voice is not covered. The link below is to an action taken by the ELCA. I started another thread, which I can no longer find, where I invited people to post good things done by main stream churches. There's tons to report, of course, as you probably know. But it sure is hard to break through the silence.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212363216

[texasfiddler]

13. If you notice I posted in that discussion

[Backseat Driver]

4. Question: Has the pastor or congregation even missed you yet?

My experiences with Lutheran pastors and their sheep, ECLA and Missouri Synod alike: They will only miss your money and are unconcerned in manifesting the Lord's commandments to actually serve the Lord!

1) Asked to intervene in a family situation, one told me that I was too angry for spiritual intervention!

2) My FIL's pastor, called LD to ask if FIL could send his usual big check (When he could no longer stay by himself, we needed to move and find him appropriate care - no one helped then either) Pastor went on saying that the landscaping and roses were suffering from FILs lack of attention. Meanwhile, no one in the congregation had bothered to check on him at home or what yard services he might required since becoming terminally ill.

3) Out of work and desperate to get back to work to save our home, pay the utilities, and feed our kids, a member of the large congregation we attended stopped by to ask us to "try" their congregation. When hearing a polite story of our plight, he literally backed down the driveway after saying he'd "pray for us."

Damn hypocrites! Three strikes and out - I haven't attended services since; perhaps there are ones that practice what they preach. My relationship with the Lord is now personal. Where two or three are gathered together, they take far more than they give of themselves to those that suffer.

[texasfiddler]

7. Yes

[msongs]

5. god can print its own money since it seems to have a massive need for it nt

[jberryhill]

6. I quit going to church around the same time God did

Once I realized God wasn't showing up, I figured there was no reason for me to.

[Goodheart]

8. I remember the day I stopped believing

About 12 years old...

I asked myself "Is there really a God?"

And then I answered myself:

"If there were I'm sure I'd already know it."

So, I no longer believed.

And then all of religion started looking ludicrous to me.

Those robes and rituals inside of Catholic churches? Well, they have to dress and act that way because there's no substance behind the show. It's a facade, it's a ruse, a distraction from the truth.

[Blue_true]

10. Religion exists because many people need something to believe in, something that they

can't control. Without that, life becomes meaningless for many people. I am a warm Deist, I believe the face of God is in nature around me and that there is a intelligent design for that. I don't need to be in a church to feel whole.

[keithbvadu2]

14. Televangelists want attendance.

Last edited Fri Apr 17, 2020, 07:08 PM - Edit history (1)

From previous discussions:

Televangelists want attendance.

Attendance means cash flow.

Jeffress, Pence, Robertson and their ilk are afraid that after a few months of missing church, people will find out it doesn't make any difference.