Religious Disaffiliation in the US

#78
#78
n_huffhines said:
There was a pastor in Nashville who really rubbed me the wrong way. He was a big congregation guy, but his whole marketing schtick was he wore it loud and proud that he had been forgiven for being a convicted murderer. He had served like 19 years in prison and turned his life around. His point was that Christ can forgive you if he can forgive a murderer, but it came across like he was flaunting his misdeed. After attending the church where he mentioned his past a few times, I literally got a post card in the mail from the church and it had a picture of him when he was a hippy druggy, and it talked about his murdering past. So weird
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Cornerstone with Maury Davis???
 
#80
#80
n_huffhines said:
Yeah, It's been 12 years now, but I just looked on Google maps and that looks right. It was in Madison.
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He's on TV here now. Sunday morning preaching show. Still mentions his past.
 
#81
#81
Yeah, he's big business. They did a really elaborate puppet show for the kids, and all the bells and whistles with media, like 3 projectors (big deal in 2003, not so much anymore), real musicians, etc. It was crazy. I could never worship like that, nothing against people who do.
 
#82
#82
n_huffhines said:
Yeah, he's big business. They did a really elaborate puppet show for the kids, and all the bells and whistles with media, like 3 projectors (big deal in 2003, not so much anymore), real musicians, etc. It was crazy. I could never worship like that, nothing against people who do.
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They have a huge July 4th event now. Fireworks, bands, americana. Hard to know where the faith ends and the patriotism begins
 
#83
#83
jbr82 said:
Keep asking God to lead you to a church where He is the head of
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That's ok, I do not need to walk into a building every Sunday to believe and have a relationship with him.
 
#84
#84
McDad said:
No. But may be necessary to have a personal relationship with others who have a personal relationship with God.
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I've seen a few marriages destroyed by these personal relationships made in church.
 
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#92
#92
Stopped going when I was 18. So almost 18 years ago.

Im surprised the unaffiliated isn't higher. But then again the sh!t I hear come out of peoples mouths all day at work then they have to say a prayer before eating...the hypocrisy isn't surprising at all.
 
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#93
#93
I imagine religious disaffiliation has been slowly growing since the invention of the printing press.
 
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#94
#94
n_huffhines said:
I do not endorse any church. I do not consider myself religious. Agnostic deist, meaning maybe God exists, and part of me hopes He/She does. "Do unto others" is my religion I live by, I guess.
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This is me as well.

Actually I consider myself affiliated with the philosophy of "Be Good." Just be good!
 
#95
#95
I guess you could say I've been disaffiliated all my life. My family has never been consistent church goers, although we call ourselves Baptists. I'm in the "younger" crowd as well, and I think the disconnect we've had with Christianity is that we've grown up with gay people in class. Our best friends are black, Arab, Muslim, Jewish, etc. And although I don't think Christianity was ever meant to hate anyone, it is certainly preached that way today. (At least in my experience in the South.)

I couldn't bring myself to believe in something that tore others down for things they couldn't control - homosexuality, the color of their skin, their families' religion, etc.

Basically, I believe in a higher power for sure. What that higher power is is something we'll probably never know until we get there. But I believe we can connect with that higher power through good deeds, love, compassion, happiness and other positive qualities. There has to be a reason we were given consciousness and the ability to feel these things.



And just as a side note: I've been doing a lot of research into DMT, the spirit molecule. I think that might be the basis of our humanity and how we connect with the world around us, but I mean, who know really? We'll find out one day.
 
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#96
#96
Frankly I've never understood people's need of belonging to organizations such as church or clubs or lodges. I'm just not wired that way. I have my family, my very close friends, and my colleagues at work. That's all the socialization I want or even have time for. I don't even have a Facebook page because I guess I'm not narcissistic enough to think anyone gives a crap about what goes on every waking moment in my life and I certainly don't care enough about others to follow them that often.

Actually that leads me to another thought. I wonder if the decline in religious affiliation and church membership can also be said for other Volunteer organizational groups like lodges, boy/girl scouts, etc.
 
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#97
#97
Brave Volunteer said:
Frankly I've never understood people's need of belonging to organizations such as church or clubs or lodges. I'm just not wired that way. I have my family, my very close friends, and my colleagues at work. That's all the socialization I want or even have time for. I don't even have a Facebook page because I guess I'm not narcissistic enough to think anyone gives a crap about what goes on every waking moment in my life and I certainly don't care enough about others to follow them that often.

Actually that leads me to another thought. I wonder if the decline in religious affiliation and church membership can also be said for other Volunteer organizational groups like lodges, boy/girl scouts, etc.
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VolNation too
 
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#99
#99
This has been a very interesting thread with no arguing, great job to dink and all the posters in his thread.

IMO, we are seeing a prophesy of the Bible being played out.

We are taught as in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah and in the days of Noah will be when the Son of Man returns. In those days there were basically no believers or very few believers. We are seeing a shrinking number of believers yearly, just as the Bible predicted.

We are taught about false prophets and deceivers coming. We have more false prophets and deceivers than we have those that are actually doing the business of God.

When a church of any sect of religion is worried more about the number of people attending and the amount of money put in the collection plate instead of doing the work of God to get our people saved, they are teaching a false prophesy and deceiving people.

We are living in a time where the Word of God and teachings are being changed to satisfy man instead of teaching the Word of God. Because a church changes it's belief in order to satisfy it's people, that does not make it right, that is deceiving.

The Bible does teach these day would come, we are seeing them play out.

The life church goers live is also very important. The lives we live DAILY can and does affect how nonbelievers view religious people. Someone that people see living an ungodly life is not going to draw anyone to God, that will do the opposite.

Hypocrites cause people to view religion in a bad way. A hypocrite is the worse thing one can be, IMO. They have ran off people in droves that will never attend church because of things these people have done. Two examples of hypocrites are the actions of Westboro Baptist Church and the Catholic priest that molest children. One can find examples in every sect of religion.

That is my take and my belief. I know some will not agree and that is okay. We all have been granted the right to believe and worship the way we choose.

May God bless you all. Please continue this thread without arguing, it is one of the better thread I have read in the VN politics forum.
 
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