Answers for atheists

A post that I wrote a little while back caught the attention of an atheist, and you can read the entire post and comments by clicking here.  But the main comment concerned some tough questions that have been asked in similar form by many a non-believer, which I will quote here:

If [God] is all good, why do 20,000 children die every day in this world? Surely someone all good, would not let that many children die? So he is either not all good, or he is unable to help them so he is not all powerful..

Do you believe in a devil? If so why would a god "allow" him to exist? If he does, then again he is either not all good or not all powerful and cannot stop him or stop him from existing..

See how quickly cracks appear in even your most basic belief system?

Here was my initial reaction to this comment, so bear with me: I must admit that I was a little put off at first. Was I supposed to abandon my faith simply on the basis of two issues that this person assumed I hadn't found answers to? Perhaps this person didn't really care to find answers to these questions but was simply trying to discredit believers in general and this blog in particular, upset merely by the fact that my belief system runs contrary to his/hers?

Also, as the comments progressed, I had the feeling that s/he was calling my character and level of intelligence into question solely as a result of me believing in God, as though only some half-wit would do something so audacious. You can see in subsequent comments how s/he and I attempted to iron some things out, and how in the end I realized that attempting to answer these questions isn't a bad thing.  However, doing so just wasn't the intention of this blog.  Let me explain.

I started this blog for reasons explained in the introductory post, and I hoped that people would read it so that any comments would not resort to making me feel as though I was being regarded as a second-rate human being for believing in God, for example by inferring that I am "brain washed by a cult" or that by believing in God I "may as well be believing in Santa Claus, except you are an adult". I wasn't expecting to be subjected to ad hominem attacks - to attacks on my character - and to attacks on my intelligence, but rather I had hoped to be asked to reasonably and intelligently discuss matters related to God.

But then I realized that perhaps this atheist has only ever encountered "religious" people, as s/he refers to them (perhaps not yet realizing that true Christianity is actually the anti-thesis and the greatest enemy of religion), who seem as though they are robotically brainwashed by how they act and live.  Or maybe Christians (or those who claim to be) have looked down their noses at him/her and attacked his/her character as well.  Maybe I was simply bearing the brunt of his/her discontent.

Although this person should not have assumed the same about me or done the same to me, I guess I can't blame him/her.  What I realized is that s/he's probably never become acquainted with, let alone met, someone who believes in God like me yet with the integrity, character, and intelligence that those around me know I possess.  It's easy to assume things about someone whose stuff you're only reading about online instead of getting to know them face-to-face. I'm also very well regarded by Christians and non-believers in my sphere of influence because I don't walk around with a 'holier than thou' attitude. I'm very real, and I don't walk around with my head in the clouds. In short, I'm very personable and don't speak with people as though I look like I was weaned on a pickle.

I also realized that to not answer those questions would lead this person to rightly assume that I lack integrity, character, and intelligence. Therefore, I am attempting to answer these questions for these reasons, but also since this person has never met "one single person who can logically answer those questions. Not a priest, not a born again Christian, not Mormons nor Jehovah Witnesses at the front door." However, I do not make this attempt with the illusion that an atheist will suddenly "see the light" regarding Jesus.  This person him/herself has stated that s/he is "not someone looking for God".

So why should I bother answering these questions?  Because I as a follower of Jesus need to be as open, caring, and transparent to non-believers as he was to all around him when he walked this earth. He is the example that sadly most Christians have failed to follow, and I've never wanted to be a part of that majority. If most Christians truly reflected the character of their Savior, their Messiah, then the atheist ranks on this planet would be almost non-existent because the love of God would be hugely apparent, since it is meant to be reflected through Christian believers.  Sure, this person has implied that s/he really doesn't care to know the answers, which means that perhaps instead I'll either be mocked again as I was at first (but hopefully not) or s/he'll simply try to poke more holes into my faith that s/he cannot truly understand apart from that faith.

But maybe none of this will happen; maybe I'm assuming that this person will act exactly how I did as a hater of God for the first 22 years of my life, when I responded to any spiritual inquiries with venom and hatred (and all without objectively considering their viewpoint, by the way) that few non-believers have had the guts to express with a believer face-to-face.  Anyhow, this is a chance I'm willing to take; my faith has and never will be shaken, so really I've got nothing to lose, and maybe it will actually be somewhat informative to this and other atheists/agnostics who stumble across this blog. At the very least, these are good questions that deserve attempts at answers - hey, I wondered about them as well at one time - and hopefully the responses are respectful and reasonable even if someone still disagrees with them.

So here's my approach.  In this post, I've decided I'm not going to re-invent the wheel.  These questions have been addressed somewhat directly or indirectly in this blog.  So first, do a search by blog title or keyword for the items of concern, such as "brainwashing" or "atheists" or "Satan" or "devil".

Second, search online for other sources that will answer these questions, because they've been asked and answered ad nauseum throughout the ages.  I simply feel I don't need to try to answer them myself at this point if others have done so already.

But beware: not all people who claim to represent God truly represent the God of the Bible, the one true God.  So please avoid anyone who has violated the warning of Revelation chapter 22, verses 18-19 like the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses have:  they have tweaked and even re-written the Bible to make God fit their mold, to suit their twisted agendas.  They are cults in the truest sense of the word, and therefore their answers to these questions will be misinformed and intended to mislead.  In fact, any religious movement or self-proclaimed "faith" that has rejected Jesus and therefore the Bible is also not a good source for information (ex. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.). I've never found their explanations on such issues to be reputable or even helpful because they lack a true understanding of such issues by, for example, their removal of Jesus from the equation.

Instead, start with organizations like the Christian Research Institute (the best cult-busting organization in existence!), and search for messages from the likes of Charles Stanley and Chuck Swindoll.  I'm sorry, but answers to these questions are only best addressed from a Biblical perspective (since these questions are about God and the devil), so you need to be open-minded about this no matter how uncomfortable this may be!

Now I won't leave you totally hanging.  Here are a few links to answers to the above (or similar) questions to get you started.  Where you go from here is up to you:

If [God] is all good, why do 20,000 children die every day in this world?

• Link 1, Link 2, Link 3

Do you believe in a devil? If so why would a god "allow" him to exist?

• Link 1, Link 2, Link 3

Some of these responses are written from Christians to Christians, but bear with them as you read them. Don't get upset, don't get insulted - just take them for what they are.  In some cases, some answers to the specific questions are sprinkled throughout various parts of the articles.

Third, these questions do not have cut-and-dried, simple answers.  In fact, for me these answers only came after several years of gaining a deep understanding of God through reading my Bible, listening to reputable (not just any) Bible teachers in person and on the radio (this involved me sorting the reputable from the pseudo-biblical and cultic teachings), and through asking God to reveal his truths to me.  Even if I can refer you to cut-and-dried attempts at answers, they'll probably seem non-sensical without a solid background of walking with God.

So there you go!  Now, if you're assuming that this is a cop-out on my part, I hope you will do your due diligence and first research these things more for yourself.  Then, if you really would like me to answer them from my perspective, in my own words that I believe God is revealing to me, please leave me a comment to that effect and I will create a new post.

BUT PLEASE, if your desire is not to really seek to understand God more but rather to try to mock me, my faith, or to just keep asking questions for the sake of mockery and/or to waste my time and energy, then I will no longer be answering such questions.

Again, I intended this blog to share what I believe God has laid upon my heart over the years for the benefit of believers and non-believers seeking to understand God more.  And I will return strictly to this agenda if I sense that my character is being subjected to attack or if my faith is being mocked in a disrespectful fashion.  I am asking you to hold to the same level of integrity that I have hopefully also held to, and I believe this is an absolutely fair and reasonable request.

Too much church?

When a person reads or hears about the miraculous works and healings in the Bible, particularly in the Gospels and in the book of Acts, there's a misconception that such events are ancient history and that they have no place in this day or age. That God is somehow finished with using miracles to reveal His power in peoples' lives and win them over to belief in His Son, Jesus. Sadly, there are many Christians in the western world who would agree with this point.

But anyone in touch with events in the numerous parts of the world where being a Christian is illegal and/or violently opposed, particularly in Asia, realizes that God is working amazing miracles in these places in ways that make the Bible read as though one is flipping through a current newspaper. (By the way, the body of Christian believers living in these circumstances is said to be part of the "persecuted Church".)

For example, while thumbing through the most recent magazine put out by a Christian organization called Gospel For Asia (GFA), I read of people being freed from the bondage of demonic possession, healed from various illnesses and diseases, liberated from paralysis, and rescued from snake bites. And all of these miracles, according to this magazine, have resulted from GFA native missionaries praying for these people in the name of Jesus.

So why aren't such things happening en masse in the European and North American Church? (And by capital-c Church, I'm referring to the body of believers in Jesus Christ and not a building.) Why aren't we reading of genuine, miraculous healings in the Sunday morning services, Bible study groups, and other gatherings of Christians in the western world?

Before I go on, I wish to briefly address the perception of some in the western Church that healings do in fact regularly take place there. These are typically and pretty much exclusively believed to take place whenever a "healing crusade" or some event with "healing" in the title is held. In other words, where some self-proclaimed healer comes supposedly in the name of Jesus to some huge church, perhaps stadium, and with certain words and gestures causes the paralyzed to rise up out of their wheelchairs and the like.

If anything, these spectacles are a major reason why people mock the God of the Bible in western culture. Unbelievers, and fortunately most believers, have grown wary of these yahoos parading around as if they're God's gift to everyone and everything, accusing the handicapped, crippled, and diseased people in attendance to believe that if they don't get healed then they "don't have enough faith". So never mind the inability of the supposed healer; the true problem is the believer who lacks faith, in their eyes. Many have turned away from God and from the saving power of Jesus when they leave a healing crusade because they witnessed the staged healings (not realizing they weren't for real) and are devastated and angry at God because they themselves weren't healed. If you're a Christian and you believe that healings at these mass events are for real, then you should contact ministries like the Christian Research Institute (CRI) and start to learn about the shady characters behind these sorts of teachings who claim the name of Christ.

In the persecuted Church, none of the claimed healings occur because a time and place was arranged for them to occur. They happen as a missionary comes across a situation where a person is in crisis and then asks God for His intervention. As God chooses in each situation, He either heals or he does not heal. And if these events are rare, then why are there constant reports of such things being reported by the numerous ministries operating in these areas, and with witnesses - believing and non - to back most of them up?

So again - and finally - back to before: why aren't we reading of genuine, miraculous healings in the gatherings of Christians in the western world? Quite simply, I believe it all has to do with how we in the western Church think we need to relate to God.

In the Christian world, there is a wonderful and very accurate phrase that goes something like, 'Christianity is a relationship, not a religion'. In other words, the people with the deepest knowledge and reverence of and relationship with God across the globe are not those who regularly do all the things they think they need to do to please God. These are not the people who think that regular church attendance, regular taking of communion, regular giving of money, etc will draw them closer to God and vice-versa.

Rather, the people who know God best have included Him as a part of their everyday lives. They aren't trying to score 'brownie points'. They aren't putting on an image or a front of spirituality. They aren't doing nice things then making sure everybody else knows about them. They're regularly trusting in and communing with God by praying to Him and thinking about Him (meditating in its intended sense), reading and studying about Him in the Bible, and looking for ways to serve others and not just themselves.

Now what I've discovered to this point in my Christian walk is that the "religious" Christian makes church attendance and the like the focus of their faith. They're so consumed with ritual and putting God in a box that they miss out on what God really wants from them and for them: they miss the opportunities to give of themselves and serve others, plus to be open to new and fresh things that God wants them to learn and experience. They see God as ordered and structured instead of the dynamic, exciting, radical God He actually is. As a result, theirs is often the stale, boring, ritualistic faith so common in the western Church that turns off multitudes of people from realizing who God truly is and causes them to end up lost for eternity.

The "relationship" Christian, on the other hand, makes church a minor part of their overall faith. As I mentioned in another post, church to them is like the icing on the cake of their weekly walk with God and not the cake itself, as in the case of the religious Christian. Church is more a chance to catch up with other believers, and to encourage and practically serve those in attendance who have needs (like praying for them, inviting them over for lunch, helping them with yard work, cooking them a meal, etc). During the rest of the week, they are not the "Sunday Christian" like their religious counterparts. Instead, as mentioned before, their week is consumed with seeking then doing what God wants them to do, and this can only result from being in constant communion (i.e. communication, fellowship) with Him.

In parts of the world where Christians endure hardship much greater than us spoiled Christians in the West could ever imagine, a genuine, real, relational faith in God is much more common than the religious faith that dominates and corrupts the western Church. In these places, the "relationship" Christian seems to predominate, and they have given Jesus the freedom to work through their lives to produce all the miracles that the outside world has a hard time believing. Whenever I've heard of genuine healing occurring in our western culture, it is from relationship Christians praying for others on a one-on-one basis, as needs arise and without the hype of a formalized healing event.

I believe that if western Christians would only get away from the notion that church attendance and formal, pre-arranged church activity is the main way to know and commune with God, then our culture would see the dynamic power of Jesus in peoples' lives that non-believers are currently seeing through the persecuted Church. Instead, once again, all western culture sees for the most part in the western Church is stale, boring, religious ritual.

So am I proposing that us Christians in the western Church decide to stop attending the four-walled building we call "church" and forget about all the activities we do there? I am instead proposing that we not make Sunday mornings the central time of our faith, the overarching focal point or crux of our Christian walk. We need to pray, read our Bibles, get together with other believers, and serve the needs of Christians and non-believers throughout the week and not just during a formal, pre-arranged time and place.

As more Christians in our spiritually messed-up western culture realize these things and put them into practice, I believe that reports of genuine healing and other miracles from God - not the wiles of people - will no longer be stories from ancient history or things that only occur in other parts of the world.

The Great Facade

I was watching a video a couple of nights ago where some non-believing youth were being asked their opinions about various things related to God. One was, "What do you think about church?" The answers were not surprising to me, because I was also once a non-believing youth who felt precisely the same as they do. They referred to some stereotypes that are common in only a few churches, like the mention of "smelly old people", but other answers were sadly all too common, like "boring", "outdated", "irrelevant", and so on.

On arguably one of the greatest Christian music albums ever recorded, wonderfully named "Jesus Freak", the group dc Talk wrote a song called "What If I Stumble?" They open the song with a spoken audio clip of some guy who says

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

What God has been showing me the past few months to a greater degree than at any point in my Christian walk is examples of people who call themselves Christians but who put on what I like to call The Great Facade. I have been anguished at times how their claim to be followers of Christ could not be more opposite in the reality of how they live their lives.

It is the existence of these people who are responsible for the opinions given by the non-believing youth in the video I mentioned. These people also give total validity to the above quote in that dc Talk song.

Now referring to them as "these people" doesn't imply that I'm looking down my nose at them or having hatred towards them. Sometimes I say and do little things that put me in the same category for a moment and leave me crying out to God and asking about why I was so stupid! But my anguish is for "these people" whose facade is continual, whose outward actions and appearance are put on to hide their actual lack of true understanding and relationship with God/Jesus. A facade that creates a Jeckyl-and-Hyde sort of approach to being a Christian that causes great damage to the reputation of God/Jesus as outsiders scratch their heads and wonder if their hypocrisy and inconsistency in life is what it means to be a "Christian".

Here's just one example of sadly many people I've personally known who've put on The Great Facade. An acquaintance of mine and his wife - both Christian by title - are almost at the point of separation. He wants to make things right again but she refuses, adamantly stating among other things that it won't work between them any more. She has seen her lawyer and is on the verge of leaving. At stake are their three young children who dearly love their mom and dad. She in particular is very proactive at school to make sure her children are doing well and being kept safe from bullies. However, among many measures she is taking, she no longer wants their dad to attend the same church as her and the kids once she leaves.

I cringe at how this woman claims to be a Christian but doesn't realize how leaving her husband will do infinitely more damage to their children than poor grades or a bully's actions could ever possibly do. And I almost gasped with disbelief when he told me that she doesn't want him to attend the same church any longer. Basically, she wants to put on The Great Facade at church to appear as though she's right with God, yet she won't humble herself before her husband to whom she once pledged her life - and Jesus who she claims to believe in and therefore follow - in order to make things work again.

Unfortunately, any non-believer who might learn of these things will only see the hypocrisy of a Christian couple divorcing despite the Christian belief in the sanctity of marriage. And they'll wonder why someone who claims to be a follower of Jesus would take so many actions that reflect the total opposite.

The host of the video followed up the answers of the non-believing youth by re-affirming much of what they said, but he then took things in a brilliant direction by commenting that perhaps the church has given God a bad rap. That for a non-believer to form an opinion of God based upon the mess that humans have made of the church that was created and is headed by Jesus is a crucial mistake to make.

When I was "unsaved", my opinion of God - as you will read about in other posts - was initially totally formulated by the particular "spiritual morgue" that I attended as a kid. It was reinforced by people who didn't have a real relationship with God - like people in the media and in academic circles - but still thought they had God and Christians and the Bible all figured out and discredited.

In other words, I was basing my opinion of God on bad sources of information. It was akin to asking an artist how to diagnose and fix a problem with my car, or asking a medical doctor to help me draft a plan to get out of financial trouble. I was using the mistakes and hypocrisy of believers and the lies and subjective opinions of non-believers to form my false understanding of God.

Now I have no idea how or why God began to unravel my totally false understanding of who He is, but He began to do so by exposing me to the Bible. He did this through books and preachers and teachers - including those on Christian radio broadcasts - who began to show me the truth of God and what a relationship with Him is really all about. In other words, I began to see God from His side, and I was so impressed by the non-religious reality of who God is that I was intrigued and eventually gave my life to Him through His only appointed Mediator, Jesus.

I began to realize how religion is not from God, but rather a means created by people to try to relate to God outside of what the Bible teaches. They have a beef with this-or-that, like the claim by Jesus that He is the only way to come to God and to know God, so they make up their own rules and think that God will somehow honor these man-made substitutes by forgiving them and letting them into heaven anyhow. Such religions include Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.

In the case of some sects that call themselves "Christian", they claim to relate to God according to what the Bible teaches, but they twist the Bible just enough to deceive people into thinking that their beliefs are still Bible-based when they actually are not. Such sects include Mormonism (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and the Jehovah's Witnesses, and such sects are typically and more appropriately called "cults".

Why have I shared this last bit about my realizations and about religion and cults? Because I want you, if you're a non-believer, to be careful about the sources of information you use to form your understanding of God. Quite simply, if these sources discredit or mock the Bible, or if their information doesn't line up with the Bible, then you should ignore them entirely until you have a better biblical understanding.

So how come so many Christians put on The Great Facade? I believe the #1 reason is because they don't make the effort to know and understand who God is. Because they don't know and understand Him, they don't trust Him and therefore don't allow Him to control their lives. So the root causes of a divorce or financial ruin never get dealt with because the Christian tries to fix these things himself/herself. And these disasters occur in the first place because these people never formed a daily relationship of dependence upon this God whom they've claimed to put their trust in. Doing so would have prevented many of these disasters from ever occurring. So these people claim to believe but they don't actually trust, and this makes their belief very shallow and superficial.

They don't read the Bible themselves and ask for God to help them understand it because they don't make the time and the effort to do so, and then come up with excuses. So they instead listen to a teacher's or preacher's opinion and claim that to be truth instead of consulting the source of truth itself. And when one is not familiar with the truth presented in the Bible, it's easy to fall for teachings that sound biblical but actually aren't. Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses live on today simply because Christians don't know their Bible (and don't understand what the cultic versions of the Bible are and how they differ from the real one) nor apply what the Bible teaches them.

They also don't really commune with God, which means spending time getting to know Him. They resort to prayer during an emergency or to present their wish list; they don't pray to ask God to show them what to do in life then ask for the patience to wait for His answer. They sing at church so they don't look unholy, but they don't mean what they sing nor give their reverence and praise to God because they fear being vulnerable plus looking wierd to their friends.

So on and on The Great Facade goes. The Christian puts on their "Sunday best" but then lives not much differently from the non-believer during the rest of the week. It doesn't help that they watch the same TV shows and movies and listen to the same music, either. And all the while the mighty power of Jesus that is available to work in peoples' lives gets overshadowed by the hypocrisy and mistakes of multitude Christians who've put on this facade and don't allow this power into their lives.

These are the main reasons why so many churches become "boring", "outdated", and "irrelevant". The people are there pretending to know God when they actually don't, so they tolerate and never question all the irrelevant (i.e. non-biblical) religious ritual. The religion becomes a safe alternative to actually becoming vulnerable to a relationship with God that will bring about change and growth. They want change and growth on their own terms even if they realize that God's plan is a much better one.

And the net result of all these factors is Christians that are far too often ineffective and hypocritical to the outside world.

Do you need "church"? Part II

I guess I decided to tease you by waiting until this post before giving my thoughts about whether or not you need "church". Actually, I didn't want the first part to be longer than it already is! So here goes.

If you're a willing, open-minded non-believer, going to a four-walled church might be a good way to learn about God as I mentioned in Part I, but provided only that you're in a good environment. It would be better for you at this point to ask God to make Himself known and real to you, then to ask Him if this is the time for you to look for a "good" church (i.e. biblically grounded) - and of course to ask Him to lead you to such a church! God will lead your heart to the right place for you if you open yourself up to Him and trust Him. I'm confident that He wouldn't lead you to a spiritual morgue like the one I was forced to attend as a kid!

If you're a believer, I firmly believe that no matter what kind of perceived or actual experiences or hang-ups you've had at a particular church, you need to first attempt to find and become a part of another one. And I don't mean make that building the center of your faith, but rather the center of your fellowship.

When Christians decide to shy away from other believers, iron can't sharpen iron. Disagreement and debate and even conflict are the root causes of growth, and sitting at home in your bell jar on a Sunday morning makes you a weaker Christian if you aren't at least spending that time in prayer and Bible reading. If you're spending that time shining your car or reading the financial headlines instead, then your relationship with God throughout the week is probably not a priority at any point, either. And the resulting dryness of your spiritual life and therefore life overall - hand-in-hand with your increasing selfishness and desire for worldly things - can come as no surprise.

Also, by shying away, Satan has you right where he wants you. His favorite tactic is to divide and conquer the body of Christ, and he has succeeded marvelously by making countless Christians think they don't need regular fellowship with a body of believers at or through a local church. What often follows is what I alluded to above, and that is substituting fellowship with pursuing worldly things that have left far too many Christians wondering why their lives aren't anywhere near as satisfying as they could be.

Far more often than not, Christians who avoid attending a local church often end up being a Christian by title only, and not by their impact for Christ on the world around them.

However, some Christians who have had truly frustrating if not severely damaging experiences in a four-walled church still need to attempt to seek fellowship. Seeking this in what I call the "true" church, or with other believers in the body of Christ outside of a four-walled church, is better than nothing at all. These believers could start a home Bible study, or they could attend one hosted by someone else. It is often in a small, close-knit environment with other wounded Christians that they can feel open to share what might have gotten them ostracized from a four-walled, or congregational church.

So really, I firmly believe that everyone needs "church", but frankly for a small few believers this may be best achieved outside the large, four-walled congregational kind that has a label attached to it like "Lutheran" or "Anglican" or "Pentecostal" or "Catholic".

What all people ultimately need, however, is to be part of the body of Christ, that church that extends world-wide across all cultures and boundaries. And again, a person becomes a part of this body once they've gotten right with God, which results from asking Jesus to forgive and cleanse them of their sins, which then re-establishes their relationship with God. Such a "saved" person is then known as a Christian.

And whether a person decides to meet with other members of that body in a congregational church with some fancy label or title or simply in someone's living room should result from earnest prayer and waiting for God's answer on the part of a believer. This should not result from peer pressure, but strictly from what one is firmly convinced that God is speaking to them.

My concern is again with those who say they are Christian but who never make the effort to fellowship anywhere with any other Christians, or at least to extend their fellowship beyond, say, their family. Christians MUST make the effort to be willing to trust God by stepping out and fellowshipping in a broader context. Perhaps you need to attend that home Bible study group that your friend or neighbor told you about, or that you read about on a poster or on the internet.

Whatever means you choose to fellowship, you become like a lake that has a stream flowing into it and another flowing out of it. The new experiences you have with different believers is like fresh water flowing in, used by God to bring about cleansing and change in your life, and this forces the selfishness and worldliness away like the stream flowing out.

However, refusing to fellowship at all, or to not extend your fellowship beyond family makes you like a lake with no inlet or outlet stream. There is no freshness in your spiritual life, so after a while the algae and weeds begin to kill your spirit, and the waters of your spiritual life and therefore your life overall eventually stagnate and die.

So the most important question is really not whether or not you need church, but rather whether or not you need fellowship with other people who believe in Jesus. Although I believe the latter is best achieved in a four-walled building, it is obvious throughout the entire body of New Testament scripture - especially in the book of Acts - that regular fellowship in some kind of group setting is crucial.

Otherwise, you are at the mercy of the devil and your spiritual life will stagnate to the point of no longer being effective for Christ. And not being of effect for Christ means that your existence on this planet is essentially a waste.

Do you need "church"? Part I

I have a religious uncle, who, a few years back was lamenting about the moral condition of a non-believing cousin of mine. Knowing that I was a Christian (though not in favor of religion, which is trying to please God through man-made rules and institutions), he felt he could share the frustration on his heart to my cousin while in my presence by lamenting to him, "You really need church!"

When I was a non-believer, the last thing I would have liked to hear from anyone is being told that I needed church! Growing up, I was exposed to a very religious environment where people showed up to this particular church building on Sundays looking as though it was the absolute last place they wanted to be. Then at one point during the service, they would drop a money envelope into a tray that was passed around.

The people, including my parents, seemed to have the idea that if they showed up just often enough and gave just enough money, this would somehow make things right between them and God. No document or teaching - biblical or non - was ever brought up to affirm that these acts would produce this result. In other words, there was no specific percentage of attendance or amount of money revealed that would guarantee that God would love and forgive them. Nevertheless, these spiritually lifeless corpses robotically showed up, sat through each service, and gave their money with about as much passion and excitement as, well, a kid like me being forced to attend a dry, boring, spiritually dead church!

Now, how do you think my cousin would have responded if my uncle had succeeded in convincing him that he needed "church"? Especially if he showed up in a spiritual morgue just like the one I had to attend as a kid? He would have rejected and mocked God for the rest of his life, assuming that believing and following God would drain the life out of him like it did to the people attending that church.

Do non-believers really need "church"? For that matter, do Christians really need "church"?

First of all, to clarify, what exactly is "church"? Well, to the religious person trying to please God based upon his/her own efforts, it's a four-walled building, usually adorned with some impressive steeple and ornate furnishings to try to prove to outsiders just how spiritual they think they are. To the Christian, however, Jesus explains how the church is His "bride", that it is the world-wide body of believers in Jesus of which He and He alone is the Head. So the church, according to what Jesus says in the Bible, is the bride of Christ. He is so committed to His bride that He was willing to lay down His life for her.

So if this is the case, then church in the truest sense is not restricted to a building. Whenever Christians meet to talk about God, or pray to Him, or to worship Him through songs, it can be said that church is 'in session'. It also doesn't matter what time of day it is and what day of the week it is. Where two or more are gathered in Jesus' name, according to the Bible, Jesus says He is (spiritually) there in the midst of them.

With this understanding in mind of what church actually is, unless someone has put their faith in Jesus (asked Him to forgive them of their sins - "save" them - and to become the Lord of their lives), being told that they need "church" isn't the answer to their problems. Jesus is the answer. By accepting Jesus (putting their faith in Him), a person becomes part of the world-wide church or "body" (not building) of believers in Christ, and Jesus alone is their Head - the only One they need to come to with their problems, and not some priest, pastor, or other self-appointed "mediator" between that person and God.

So what's the point of going to church, then? Well, for a willing non-believer who has been invited (not coerced, forced, or dragged) to a non-religious church building who is presented with what the Bible has to say - and not some set of man-made rules and instructions and rituals and doctrines - that person may come to the knowledge that Jesus is the only way that they can get right with God, or "saved" from having to pay the penalty for their sins (their offences against God). Not by following a set of religious practices.

For the believer, the practice of going to church is surprisingly a very strong bone of contention within the body of Christ. I have some relatives whose relationship with their Lord is deeper and more meaningful than most Christians who regularly attend a four-walled church. I have yet other relatives who call themselves Christians - and I believe they are - but make the excuse of not going to church because of some hurt (perceived or actual) in the past in the form of a church experience where people claiming to be Christians acted in ways that indicated otherwise. Or they get too busy trying (in vain) to find happiness by living their lives like non-believers - following their ways and advice - that they no longer have the desire (even though they have the time) to attend the excellent, well-grounded churches in their area.

Why do I go to church? I realize that since I've placed my faith in Jesus, He has cleansed me of all my sins - past, present and future. This means a realization that I don't have to "perform" to earn His love and forgiveness by doing things like showing up at a church. If I miss a church service, I know that God's love for me hasn't changed a single bit and I haven't lost my salvation (i.e. I'm still forgiven) and my faith doesn't hang in the balance. So I don't go because I have to, but because I get to.

Mainly, I go to church because of the other Christians. I go for fellowship with people more than fellowship with God, because a Christian should be spending the rest of their week in fellowship with God - at work, school, and play. Sunday should be merely the "icing on the cake" of their relationship with God, but too many believers make church the "cake" itself. And the cake doesn't taste too good - doesn't satisfy as much - if they've relied on the songs, and/or sermon, and/or time with other believers to be their sole time with God during the entire week. Dessert doesn't nourish the spirit like a full-course meal!

Anyhow, by hearing of the triumphs and tragedies of other believers, I can celebrate and mourn with them and thereby form strong bonds with them. I realize that if I think I'm going through something unique, there's at least one person there who's gone down the same path and I can learn a great deal from his experience, and more importantly that person can pray for me in my situation. My strongest friendships have resulted from people I have met at church.

Far too many Christians go to church because they think they have to. Often, they're the type who are concerned with image, who worry more about what other people think instead of what God thinks. I've found many people with this mindset to be the "Sunday Christian", putting on a facade on Sundays then spending the rest of the week living no differently than the typical non-Christian - chasing money and career, buying the toys, and living selfishly and for today. They simply show up on Sundays to spiritually 'fuel up' (on cake) and give everyone else the impression that they've got everything all together, spiritually and otherwise. Sadly, it is this type of Christian that some of my friends and relatives use as an excuse to not attend a church any more.

So, do you need "church"? That is, should you go to church? I've done enough writing for now. Check Part II of this post for my thoughts on this crucial question.