"Take this hour to worship." « sponJaneous life

Monday, June 19, 2006

"Take this hour to worship."

At some point after the minister cracked the joke about "the beginning" being "the big inning," I tuned out the sermon and in between playing the dot game with Suzannah and Kwoh and being pelted in the back of the head with paper airplanes by Laura, who also made explosion noises, my mind settled once again on the matter of religion, particularly Christianity.

If god really loved me, he wouldn't have made me get up at the crack of dawn to sing in his house, which is carpeted with Swastikas. I kid you not -- next time you find yourself in the sanctuary of the FCPC take a gander at the green and yellow carpet. Although I'm not a huge fan of worship I kind of like churches. I'm not sure what it is ... It could be the acoustics or the pretty windows or the organ, but I enjoy being in churches, especially huge cathedrals. Other than for singing or looking at the cool chandeliers, why would anyone want to go to church? To hear a sermon? But why? The combination of bad stories or jokes and the minister's soporific voice just bores you to tears but you can't take a nap because pews are definitely not designed with comfort in mind. I cannot understand how anyone could, once a week, sit for an hour that seems as eternal as god apparently is and pretend to be holy and perfect. Maybe it's just me, but I can't see anyone actually ENJOYING church. In my mind people go because they were raised that way or they've done something bad and feel guilty or their life sucks and they're hoping that god will make it better. I even know of someone who goes to FCPC a lot right around musical auditions. Perhaps the most common reason that I can think of, however, is that people are afraid of what comes after death and spend their lives being good so they can be happy for the rest of their afterlives in heaven. This is fine, I suppose ... This idea of there being something after death, but I don't get the part about morals. I don't see why you have to be saintly during your life to enjoy the afterlife. The thing is, even church-goers are hardly holy. This belief that if you just go to church every week and confess your sins and pray, then you can do whatever you want all of the other days really throws me off. If you commit a crime, forget about apologizing to anyone about it but god, because you're afraid that you might no longer be accepted into heaven. Do what you have to do and then ask for forgiveness and everything will be ok. Whatever a person's reason for going to church is, I don't believe many go because they WANT to. It seems every person who goes is afraid of something; they don't go because they love god, they're afraid of him.

The only other reason I can think of for going to church is that is hones one's imagination. Which people are the ones who are guilty of something? Which ones are terrified of dying? Who is sucking up to not only god but also Mr. Cannon? What will become of the kids being baptised today? I was baptised as an infant and look how I turned out. I kind of wish I hadn't been baptised ... My mom was in one of her religious phases though. I wonder why she goes in and out of them. She was in one at the time of my birth and we went to church all of the time in my youth, then we stopped, then my friend made me go to church with her, and then my mother started again, dragging me to church every week, then every few weeks, then just Christmas and Easter, and then we stopped. She's currently in her "I'm returning to Jesus" phase, but as for me, I can't really return to something I never found nor do I think I'll ever find. My mom tells me that she prays for me. I don't know what to do about this.

Church has allowed me to perfect my daydreaming.

Posted at 6/19/2006 11:47:11 am by sponJaneous


	Stephen June 23, 2006 10:57 PM PDT And I thought I was the only one disturbed by FCPC's carpet... Anyways, I thought through the church issue week after week, Sunday after Sunday until I finally became one of those sinful sleeping people (my family's rationale has always been that church "provides one hour each week to think about people no matter what's going on in your life" -- I believe that if that's the motivaiton, there have to be better methods: community service, maybe?). I just found it so awkward to keep coming back to a place where I knew I didn't want to be with, as you said, people who didn't want to be there much more than I did. Especially the people who just dress up their family and go to church to look good in front of their peers. It's like a church service is a community picnic or something. I have so much respect for people with geniune faith, but people like that... It's just frustrating to me.


	Maria June 22, 2006 03:45 PM PDT I'm exploring religion this week too! It's so hard because this is one thing you know you'll never know the absolue answer to. I unlike the other two do not enjoy going to church though. lol


	Jessica June 19, 2006 07:03 PM PDT Church isn't necessary for Christianity, and neither are sermons. I think a lot of times people take religion and judge it based on the outward aspects like the songs and readings and whatever. But you couldn't, like you said, go to church once a week, do whatever the heck you feel for the other 6 days, and call yourself religious. It's much more a life philosophy...trying to be a better person and, when you do make mistakes, actually regretting it. I don't know. Each to his own. But I like going to church!!


	Catherine June 19, 2006 02:40 PM PDT I've actually been thinking a lot about this very topic. I really don't understand why one must go to church to be seen as a "good christian". Isn't all about your faith && good stuff like that? How does an hour of sitting on a wooden bench for a little over an hour, once a week make God love you more than someone that just stays at home && sleeps in? I could go more into depth but I don't feel like ranting in just a comment...basically it's just nice to know someone else is questioning similar things

Leave a Comment: