ugh... I HATE division in the church. all our worthless separation of denominations, because some group of people was too PROUD to accept compromise. When I say hate in that sentence, I.. I feel the word. If I spoke it, it would be from the bottom of my stomach and it would carry the entirety of the weight on my heart, vibrating with every bone in my body. The Apostle Paul would be infuriated by the state of the Church today, I am sure of it.

I am especially disgusted by it tonight after having read a few scattered portions of a book called "The Portable Atheist" at Barnes & Nobles tonight. In one section.. hold on, I am going to Google the quotes so I can get this accurately to you guys.

OK, there are several questions raised. I won't address all of them tonight, but feel free to ask me questions and I will do my best to answer them quickly, briefly, and to your satisfaction. Here is a link to a youtube video with all the questions in it (not their answers or anything, it's just text displayed on the screen. I has music, but I had it muted when I watched it so I don't know what kind. The questions are straight from the book as I remember them, and I read them not 30 minutes ago, so I'm fairly sure that's them.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRmDMtzwT6o&feature=player_embedded

Be careful watching that. It will shake your faith.

This is from Charles Templeton's "Questions to Ask Yourself", and can be found in the book "The portable Atheist", which is a collection of literary works negating the existence of a God (I noticed, primarily the Christian God, which is an irony of Atheistic principal, but I suppose cannot be used against them given the cultural predominance of Christianity in America).

1. Why are there literally hundreds of Christian denominations and independent congregations, all of them basing their beliefs on the Bible, and most of them convinced that all the others are, in some ways, wrong?

2. If all Christians worship the same God, why can they not put aside their theological differences and co-operate actively with one another?

3. Why, in a world filled with suffering and starvation, do Christians spend millions on cathedrals and sanctuaries and relatively little on aid to the poor and needy?

Those three questions... my thoughts exactly. The church, the whole world, kindof disgusts me at this point, but primarily in a kind of "from this perspective... I can't see myself bringing about any large effect in terms of revival or resolution to the issues which plague us." There will always be war, and all I can do is look out at our world and wonder if Jesus felt anything like this when he said "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who sent you, how often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"... man... saying that makes me feel like i need to step down from my high horse. ... well... I guess I'm done with that topic for now... but I am still outraged at the church.... I think I might stop going to church altogether.. oh, hahahahaha wait, hahahaha I already am not attending a church. hahaha. --ok, that wasn't so funny. Maybe I should attend a church.

On a side note, I think the band "Collective Soul" (or at least their album "Dosage") would be much better off if they got a new lyricist. Their instrumentals are really cool sometimes, but their singer and lyrics can be really annoying. --like in the song "Generate" which sounds cool until the chorus starts.

Now, for my nonexistent readers, so I don't feel like I sound like a hypocrite for not attending church. First, let us examine the primary purposes for a church (this is going to strongly allude to the previous discussion).

Reasons for the existence of --and reasons to attend-- church:

1. To surround people/yourself with believers and bounce ideas off of them

2. To teach/learn about God

3. To help grow/grow as a Christian

4. To develop relationships between/with believers (a church "family")

5. To expose/be exposed to ministry opportunities on a regular basis

alright, now lets pick those apart:

1. I attend a Christian university. I am surrounded by believers and pretenders alike.

2. I attend a Christian university. I am required to take Bible classes and to attend like 5 devotionals a day (or risk being late to class).

3. If devotionals and messages are what cause you to grow as a Christian, then I am a fortress. They arent, but seriously, growing as a Christian is more than going to church, and who "grows" from being at church anyway?! Can you tell me what the message was at your church 2 weeks ago? (no help, I want this off the top of your head) Most likely, you can't. Messages given at Sunday morning services (at the churches which I have visited since I have been down here in the "Bible Belt") have been shallow and easily forgotten. This also relates to 2.

4. Most of my friends attend the same university I do. Also, the last person who told me to value my church family told me that the reason was because some of the old people could help me fund missions trips (which are great, but I'm not gonna be your friend just so that you will spot me when I want to travel)

5. My school does that for me.

Those, and on top of all that, I am really disgusted with the church right now. *groan*

terminat pro pantonas