Church Membership

[StoneThrower]

All,

I am very interested in whether you are a member of the church you are attending. Please answer the poll, and in you reply post state whether you are Catholic, Protestant, or what ever you may be, and the church you either attend or attend and are a member of.

This poll could be very insightful and open up some good conversation

[Railroad]

Some of us (Member of church but don't attend regularly) have handicapped spouses and other issues which keep us separated. And I can assure you, TV doesn't fill the hole. Only God can do that. I miss my church family a lot. I'm a minister and have no church, and I'm a church member who can't attend, but I'm a caregiver who's always there. A different meaning for purgatory.

[goughrmak]

Protestant, and I attend Leonardtown Baptist. I have the MOST AMAZING church family.

[retiredweaxman]

What about an entry for those of us that do not go to church but read the forums to try and learn as much as we can before we commit to certain church/religion?

Sure, we could read from sources on line, experiment with churches before we commit, etc..but what better place to learn about religions and churches than from an online forum of actual people that attend?

[Zguy28]

Originally Posted by goughrmak

Protestant, and I attend Leonardtown Baptist. I have the MOST AMAZING church family.

Indeed we do.

I am a member of LBC as well.

[StoneThrower]

Originally Posted by Railroad

Some of us (Member of church but don't attend regularly) have handicapped spouses and other issues which keep us separated. And I can assure you, TV doesn't fill the hole. Only God can do that. I miss my church family a lot. I'm a minister and have no church, and I'm a church member who can't attend, but I'm a caregiver who's always there. A different meaning for purgatory.

"A different meaning for purgatory."
Sorry purgatory doest exsist, except in the minds of RC's.

[StoneThrower]

Originally Posted by retiredweaxman

What about an entry for those of us that do not go to church but read the forums to try and learn as much as we can before we commit to certain church/religion?

Sure, we could read from sources on line, experiment with churches before we commit, etc..but what better place to learn about religions and churches than from an online forum of actual people that attend?

I understand the logic, but it maybe flawed. Evaluating a whole body of believers based on one persons comments is not a fair assessment of the body, but only one members take on things. You may see someone in here that is dogmatic and opinionated fighting for truth, but what you dont see is how they love and the things done in secret to express that love to individuals they serve. You wont see the joy that comes from hanging out with others that they know love the Lord and how excited they get.

So your not even seeing a whole person much less all the other people that make up that body of believers. At best all your getting is a doctrinal stance as one person understands it that may or may not agree with the church.

Food for thought.

Imagine you had a friend that went to jail and I said I could no longer be friends with you because your friend went to jail. I would be judging you based on someone else, people do this with Christ all the time judge him based on a small few that say they know him when in reality they may or may not and may just be self decieved.

[StoneThrower]

Originally Posted by Railroad

Some of us (Member of church but don't attend regularly) have handicapped spouses and other issues which keep us separated. And I can assure you, TV doesn't fill the hole. Only God can do that. I miss my church family a lot. I'm a minister and have no church, and I'm a church member who can't attend, but I'm a caregiver who's always there. A different meaning for purgatory.

Its admiral that your taking care of your spouse, do you have any fellowship at all? Does your church family come to visit you? Are there any other pastors that you get to spend time with?

[retiredweaxman]

Originally Posted by StoneThrower

Food for thought.

Imagine you had a friend that went to jail and I said I could no longer be friends with you because your friend went to jail. I would be judging you based on someone else, people do this with Christ all the time judge him based on a small few that say they know him when in reality they may or may not and may just be self decieved.

People are judged all the time based on the company they keep. Using your example, I would not "drop" a friend because a friend of that person may have gone to jail. However, if it was for a heinous crime, I would surely think twice about our friendship if my friend maintained the original friendship with the jailbird. I would, at the very least, question his/her judgement.

(hopefully that made sense)

Employers also do this, whether it is fair or not is open for debate. How many times have you heard about people not getting hired for a job or being released from a job based on what may or may not be posted on social media? If I "liked" the KKK for example and my employer found out, I would surely get a phone call.

What is the old cliche - Guilty by association???