Facebook & the Internet bringing an end to church attendance

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I found this interesting - please move if not in the correct thread.

Some key points of the discourse I found were where one writer wrote: "The church has not succeeded in roping the Gen Y'ers in with obligation and guilt and fear to their thing,"

Maybe church attendance is dropping because people are more aware of the churches using such tactics to rope in members. Maybe the internet has helped people to do more research and learn more about the atrocities of the churches and religion in general.

reply to post by sykickvision


Thank God.

Pun aside, don't worry... still many cards left in that sleeve. The church is ever evolving and ever adapting. The Pope just announced recently that the church does not deny that there might be alien life out there. Really? Didn't they murder people a while ago just for saying we are not the center of the universe?

So don't worry, the church will adapt. It will evolve, like everything else does. Just look at the attempts to create a Confession app - first step towards the future Church of the Internet.

Khar

Lest you misunderstood the angle of my post - I wasn't worrying. I would welcome the demise of organized religion, especially the one that sits right across the street from my house that congests traffic every weekend - with a 5 acre parking lot that no one uses.

reply to post by sykickvision


No, I know man. I can tell from your post that we're on the same page. A generalized 'don't worry'.

I'm a Christian and don't go to church - here's why...

1) I don't think sitting in a special building singing songs that are 200 years old and listening to someone else's interpretation of the bible is what Jesus had in mind. I think he wants us putting in our time and energy into fulfilling our purpose in life and/or helping others. Nowhere in the bible does it say we must show up at this special building every week or go to hell.

2) There are a lot of arbitrary, made-up "rules" dictated by different denominations. Beliefs against things like dancing, rock music, revealing clothing, etc. I don't think God gives a hoot what we wear or how we entertain ourselves. I don't appreciate some old geezer telling me that heavy metal is "the devil's music". Many heavy metal musicians are Christians and most at least believe in God.

3) Churches will be quite welcoming to the newcomer, but by the 3rd or 4th attendance, they will inevitably approach you about donating money to the church. This would not necessarily be a bad thing, but a lot of that money is used to send missionaries to try and convert tribal peoples in the rainforest. The rest of it goes to regional, national and world church service offices (varies depending on denomination) and has nothing to do with helping those in the immediate community.

I worship Christ in a very private way, in prayer and meditation and do my best each day to perform what he has asked of me. The word "Christian" means Christ-like. Jesus healed the sick, told the truth, was kind to everyone, and gave people hope. So that's what I try to emulate (falling terribly short sometimes, as most humans do)