Church Politics

**Riley** · 10-22-2008, 01:17 PM

Interesting subject...

Most of you probably, at one point or another attended (a Christian) church.

I no longer do.

Has anyone else noticed the widespread corrupt in almost all these churches? It's the whole hierarchy of it all.

Not just the Catholics, the protestant churches...everywhere. The deacons, the pastor, the elders, everything!!

My parents (and my uber-religious mom) have even given up...they tried to fight the system, for what they thought was 'right', but ugh...

Here is some example of church 'scandals' I've witnessed over the few years:

~ The priest at the local United Church was in the closet (which isn't a big deal to me, but in my rural town it was a scandal).

~ Youth Pastor at the local Baptist Church has a pornography addiction (which he openly confessed in a Sunday service...) and had to step down

~ Another Youth Pastor at the local Baptist Church has premarital sex with a girl from the Praise Band (to which he later married her, but had to step down).

~ The Pastor at the local Pentecostal Church said "I'm not here to listen to your problems, I don't care anymore. I'm here to tell you what's right and wrong".

~ Elder at the local Mennonite Church (oh how I despise the Mennonite culture) told his son he couldn't marry this one girl because she wasn't Mennonite...and he did anyways and has been excommunicated from the family.

It's like so annoying...all the b.s. I have pledged to never attend church for 5 explicit exceptions:

1) Funeral
2) Wedding
3) Baptism of family member
4) X-Mas Service
5) Easter Service

**s243a** · 10-22-2008, 01:51 PM

The people in the church are only human and will act accordingly.

**HaVoK** · 10-22-2008, 01:59 PM

A lot of the reasons you state above are the same reasons I left my church. The hypocrisy had no bounds. Most of the people who attended were not there to honor God's word, they were there to further their status here on earth.

Nothing but a social function.

**DurkaDurka** · 10-22-2008, 02:02 PM

I haven't stepped foot in a church since I was 15, not so much because of politics but because I believed the whole religion is a crock of BS.

There is nothing rewarding about the Catholic Church, they just instill this fear of god into you which eventually causes you to despise the religion and anything to do with it.

**Stoney Toni** · 10-22-2008, 02:25 PM

I was having my doubts about the old stories before I began noticing the hypocrisies. I got confirmed and then I didn't go back. I wasn't going to be lectured by people who can't walk the talk.

**Riley** · 10-22-2008, 04:05 PM

That's what I find.

Most people who attend church treat it almost like a social obligation or a thing of 'social status'.

I know people who don't live the word of God (lie, cheat, adultery, etc.), but still attend every Sunday.

It's complete bullshit

**Inviolable** · 10-22-2008, 08:32 PM

I dont trust to many churches either. Protestant or Catholic.

I've noticed a growing concern about how Churches do things. I think the human element does mess it up more often then not.
Just how people are.

O.K.
I know this sounds completely like a shameless ad, but it's something I'm doing because I honestly believe Christians can grow in fellowship. You might have seen that in my thread about the Jesus car.
I think this will escalate this thread a bit.

If anyone has MySpace I invite you to join me there where I've made a Christian page.
http://www.myspace.com/christianshelping
You'll find lots of interesting Christians there who seem very sincere.

I am putting in grant proposals to address the issue of Christian fellowship to form a online church.. and I only say online "church" for lack of a better word.

Here is the actually letter for the proposals. So you can get an idea of what I'm trying to do.

Start a website devoted to personal Christian charity. The website will allow people to react to each others needs on a personal level. Anything that can possibly be thought of to cover a Christians needs will be addressed on this site, under several categories to choose from when visiting the site. Visitors to the site can select a category that best suites their own need. From there they can leave a note describing what it is they need. These "notes" will have headlines giving a brief description of what they say. Only by clicking on the note can someone read the entire note. After they leave their note they can look around the site, reading other peoples notes and then pick someone to help with a need. The full quantity of a need does not have to be met by a single person. Several people can contribute to one persons need. This will allow for a greater need to be met by several small contributions. In essence, people with the same need can help each other out and keep the dollar amount low because they're all coming together for one goal It's also important to keep in mind that we're not only talking about dollars and cents. We're talking about needs on a massive scale reaching far beyond money. Emotional support as well as a multitude of other social needs within the Christian public will be categorized.

An individuals note can stay on the site until it is viewed by a set number of visitors. Once the number of views is reached the person's note is removed from the category it was originally placed in.
The site will take notice of who is visiting what persons note and how frequently. A single person viewing the same note ten times will only count as one view.

The site in and of itself will function exactly as a Church does with 24/7 access to Christian fellowship. It is our hope that this will help to bring Christians from around the world closer together. Bridging the gap between denominations and helping to bring us all closer to being one body under Christ. While the site is in no way meant to replace the traditional churches we all attend, it will hopefully show that we all have the same goals under our Lord Jesus Christ. The site itself will keep to one standard, that Jesus is our personal Lord and savior.
However the ultimate goal of the site will be toward uniting Christians in such a way that Evangelical methods will become more universal. Allowing Christians to see the importance of spreading the Gospel by focusing their attention more on the body of Christ and less on the traditions of the church.

I'm actually open to suggestions and looking for some honest Christian insight.
And I hope this doesn't actually derail the thread. It seems appropriate to the topic.

**Sparrow** · 10-22-2008, 09:27 PM

I agree with all of you. I haven't been in a Church, except for special occasions, in a long time. They preach to the people and try to tell us how to live of lives. However, you better not look behind the scene because it is not rosy.

In other words they want us to do what they say and not what they do. Talk about hypocrisy.

There are many who do not go to church and they are better Christians than those who go to church regularly.