I'm finished with religion and church

Even though we can't meet together in person we are having fellowship online. God will never leave us nor forsake us.

Yeah, the Bible's pretty clear about not forsaking the gathering of ourselves. I think the encouragement to become a lone wolf here is appalling. C'mon folks, what do the scriptures say about this? They never advocate doing what @MaryM spoke about.

Of course, if an individual congregation is preaching something that is heretical, you leave. But, you then find another that isn't. Satan loves it when we break off on our own. We become like a wildebeest no longer in the protection of the herd, and we become easy prey.

Giving up on church in general because of what church orgs did hundreds of years ago is absurd. God wants us in regular fellowship with one another, and that includes corporate worship. And, unless you have health problems of some sort, screw the online thing. Do it in person.

Mary M I agree being rid of religion!! However not with the Church!! As the disciples roamed after Jesus rose from the dead, they were supported by Churches!! (Eph 3:8-10) The point here dear sister is not for you to preach!! BUT!!!! as verse 10 states to bring wisdom from your very life to help others in the Church follow in your fine example!

I fully understand that Church today is in very sad shape in most cases, and we as true believers bear our light through our Jesus in us to support others as well as be supported. So, I only ask that you consider this. If we forsake the Church then we also forsake others who could be helped by a much-needed kind word from you as one example, or just be there to help encourage others in the Church.

while that is true, we cannot ignore that some churches can be negative and not always do the right thing.

as a matter of fact, there was a guy with the screen name " phoneman" who openly said his church in ky. " did not tolerate dirty sinners, and would quickly tell people to leave and not come back till they got their act together".

of course, that may or may not be true, but if it is, it would be easy to see why that would give someone a negative opinion of church.

History has its scars but much of the persecution was done under the Roman Catholic Church after the Great Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church's attempt to counter reform led to who would control Europe.

It is sad that much blood took place but in one sense war is often the by product to combat evil. If the RCC had took back control who knows where the church would be today.

As for evangelism well we are commanded Biblically to do this and if others are in error we are Biblocally to teach truth.

My prayer for alll who believe. Thank you...Be blessed in all manner.

Catholics aren't Christians, first of all, so there's that. They follow what the pope tells them to do. Not that Protestants did everything right either. That's for God to judge and sort out. Not you. You love peace, so you're against Armageddon? King David was known for being a war hero. Great to love peace, but there is a time for everything and sometimes peace can't be kept and war is the only choice.

I believe someone already shared the verse about that.

Do you ever read the Bible? Why would you not want to share the Good News you have with other people?



Life jackets are everywhere, would you help someone you saw drowning or just say "hey life jackets are everywhere, should've bought one"


The Bible tells YOU to share the Good News. I bet if you find a good restaurant, a good clothing store, a good recipe you share it.


No pressure huh? Well I'll tell you this, social media is gonna pressure them. Other kids at school are gonna pressure them. Teachers with agendas are gonna pressure him. TV is gonna pressure them. Pick which you prefer.

I think it is still important to form friendships and fellowship with other Christians, have discussions, etc.

The church (as in the local church, congregation, etc.) isn't "perfect". Nowadays I feel churches are politically aligned more or less. People also want to find a church where the pastor, everyone else, etc. agrees with their views. Also, we are not getting the "full picture" on doctrines, viewpoints, etc. through church due to the different denominations; we are being told the denomination's doctrines. So, going to church alone isn't enough we have to read and figure out things on our own.

I also do not believe in arguing with or pressuring nonbelievers, trying to convince atheists, etc. Knocking on doors can be dangerous. The least stressful form of evangelism is probably inviting people to your church. Just be open to talk about Jesus when the opportunity comes.

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

'Bingo'.............Well said. Thank you for sharing. Truth shall be away from those caught up in the dilemma of the digital wireless world.
Our 'awakening' shall be few in number...here in the now.
And within the 'power of the air'...shall be found the only eternal spiritual realm of Christ our Lord God.
Darkness of many souls cannot and will not have the capacity to grasp the reality of...here in the now.
Christ in us...in spirit and truth.
No more...No less!
I leave it there.

We all understand if MaryM feels hurt, we have grace for that... but "hurt" is not enough to make a point of view correct.


To forsake church fellowship because of something a few people did, hundreds of years ago, in one particular place...
in logical terms, is an absurdity.

We don't make any other decisions this way.
- Are we going to give up bread, because a baker in the Bible once did evil?
- Are we going to give up eating vegetable, and meat, because some farmers and ranchers in the past got angry and killed each other?
- Are we going to stop using currency, because it's been used to do evil?
- Are we going to give up our phones and computers, because the companies who make them have done wickedness?
- Are we going to stop speaking, because speech has been used in the past to hurt people?

We don't make any other decisions this way, and it's just silly.
When we're feeling hurt, or confused, we ALL say things that aren't purely rational... we all do this.
But when we do this (and we're all guilty) we need to rethink things... we need to come back to a better understanding.


MaryM,
- We all understand if you feel hurt, or angry, or confused. We all understand that. God has grace for that, and so do his children. We understand.
- But we still cannot ignore clear scriptural teaching, clear logic, and the entirety of history... all because of emotions.
- If the posts already given are not enough to convince you of a different perspective, please let me know, and I'll lay things out more clearly point by point: there are logical problems, theological problems, and historical problems. I'll be happy to sort them out, point by point, and lay things our very carefully.

God Bless
.

Hey no fair!

You can't just go stealing my thoughts, even if you did use different examples. That's called plague... Playger... That's called being a stinky doo doo head copycat!

I am of course kidding. You actually took the time to explain the thought, and very well.

Shocked and dismayed could maybe be added to your list; that is how I felt when I first learned of the
"church" history as a newly minted Christian. Yes, it was a different place and time, and no doubt I would
have been put to the stake for my views, beliefs, and behaviours both before and after my conversion had
I lived then. Even had I been alive as a young woman during Biblical times among the Hebrews/Israelis as
my kinfolk, I likely would have been put to death. This leaves me with an immeasurable sense of gratitude
to be alive in today's day and age, despite the insanity going on in our present times. Let us look too at:

Christians started the first places of higher learning (universities), founded many hospitals, run numerous
charity organizations, and all manner of endeavours are carried out by Christians making valiant efforts to
reduce the suffering in the world. I see a lot of value in that. They have made myriad contributions to human
progress in a broad and diverse range of fields, both historically and in modern times, including science and
technology, medicine, fine arts and architecture, politics, literature, music, philanthropy, philosophy, ethics,
humanism, theatre, and business. Many have won a Nobel prize. @MaryM So Christian history is not all bad.

Being a woman has probably never been easier than today granted you live in the industrialized world. Same goes for men.

Yet our rights are nothing we can for granted. Christianity has been tainted by corrupted people, and still is, but their power is presently being limited. Let’s pray that things will stay that way.

It's so easy in the modern world to be a woman...
that even men can do it.


.

Yet there is a rising number of women who want to become men🤨

As far as I'm concerned... that's just setting the bar really low for yourself.
: )
.

Which reminds me, on Swedish television (svt.se), they’ve got a series that is criticizing transgender activists, transkriget (roughly translates to the transgender war).

I’m gonna pretend I didn’t get your point.😉

These people are pretending to be something they are not. They need to face reality that they are what genitals they were born with. Their DNA is either a male or female.