Yesterday I went to "church" for the first time in years. I use quotations because although what I attended was technically in a church building, it certainly wasn't a mass in any traditional sense.
Let me stop a moment to say that I am more or less an atheist. I've frequently gone between that label or agnostic in the past. I'm actually open to the possibility of god, but the truth of it is that I do not believe. There are plenty of things in life and the universe that I concede as being unexplainable... but that doesn't do it for me. People with genuine faith have something that I do not. Sometimes that makes me sad... but I insist on being true to my own feelings and thus I cannot accept religion or god based solely on peer pressure or things other people tell me. Unless I FEEL it, then it simply doesn't exist as far as I'm concerned.
So... a friend asked me to go to Sanctuary last night. In a nutshell, it appeared to me to be a natural evolution of ways to worship. Worship is an interesting word and I'll return to that a bit later. So anyway... take a nice evangelical church building, add some candle light, young musicians and singers, guest speakers, and PowerPoint multimedia and you arrive at an experience that is perhaps much more relevant to modern society than a more traditional service with a pastor simply preaching. I've always felt in the past that I was so disconnected from any religious services that I've attended. I seemed to be going more out of a sense of obligation or peer pressure.
Anyhow, I went to this thing last night primarily out of a sense of curiosity. Truth be told, I always feel rather uncomfortable around a group of people who have faith. I think that is partially due to the fact that I simply don't understand where faith comes from. How it is that people have it when I do not. Skepticism that many people are just going through the motions without truly believing things in their hearts. Or that I find the entire foundation of many religions (and particularly christianity) both unlikely and hypocritical. I also have a deep seeded belief that the most evil behaviors exhibited by man on this world of ours has historically been based on religious ideaology in some form of another. All in all, I feel like I have more reasons to be completely disgusted by religion than find inspiration in it.
And yeah, I felt a bit uncomfortable last night too. But I have some positive things to say as well...
First, the atmosphere WAS at least accepting of someone such as myself who comes in with a critical eye. I don't INTEND to be critical, I simply cannot help myself. I wasn't there to nitpick and find further ammunition in my arguments against the existance of god. I was there because... it was interesting. And sorta cool too.
Second, this method of delivery... of these messages about god... seem much more appropriate to our world today. More realistically accepting that the millenia old method of sitting in a church listening to someone preach this and that just isn't effective anymore. (Granted, most of my existing bias towards christianity specifically are based on knowledge of the catholic church. So it should be said that I take more issue with that particular institution than many other forms of christianity). The underlying messages are always more or less the same in any kind of christianity. But the difference in methodology is dramatic and I can certainly see how it makes a big difference.
It's still about worship, however. The idea that we pittiful humans should prostrate ourselves before god, accepting his conscious omnicience and our own general inferiority rubs me the wrong way. Sure... I'll be the first to say that IF there is an all-powerful conscious presence in the universe that IS pretty awesome. And we certainly don't rise up to that level of awesomeness. But I'd sorta like to meet him first before I subject myself to subjugation of an etheral entity that may or may not exist. And even assuming there IS a god, how would we know that this worship is even what it would want? It seems to me a bit pretentious that we insignificant beings could actually figure out what god wants of us.
So, no epiphanies... although none were expected. Still, I'm glad I checked it out. I might even go again some time.
Let me stop a moment to say that I am more or less an atheist. I've frequently gone between that label or agnostic in the past. I'm actually open to the possibility of god, but the truth of it is that I do not believe. There are plenty of things in life and the universe that I concede as being unexplainable... but that doesn't do it for me. People with genuine faith have something that I do not. Sometimes that makes me sad... but I insist on being true to my own feelings and thus I cannot accept religion or god based solely on peer pressure or things other people tell me. Unless I FEEL it, then it simply doesn't exist as far as I'm concerned.
So... a friend asked me to go to Sanctuary last night. In a nutshell, it appeared to me to be a natural evolution of ways to worship. Worship is an interesting word and I'll return to that a bit later. So anyway... take a nice evangelical church building, add some candle light, young musicians and singers, guest speakers, and PowerPoint multimedia and you arrive at an experience that is perhaps much more relevant to modern society than a more traditional service with a pastor simply preaching. I've always felt in the past that I was so disconnected from any religious services that I've attended. I seemed to be going more out of a sense of obligation or peer pressure.
Anyhow, I went to this thing last night primarily out of a sense of curiosity. Truth be told, I always feel rather uncomfortable around a group of people who have faith. I think that is partially due to the fact that I simply don't understand where faith comes from. How it is that people have it when I do not. Skepticism that many people are just going through the motions without truly believing things in their hearts. Or that I find the entire foundation of many religions (and particularly christianity) both unlikely and hypocritical. I also have a deep seeded belief that the most evil behaviors exhibited by man on this world of ours has historically been based on religious ideaology in some form of another. All in all, I feel like I have more reasons to be completely disgusted by religion than find inspiration in it.
And yeah, I felt a bit uncomfortable last night too. But I have some positive things to say as well...
First, the atmosphere WAS at least accepting of someone such as myself who comes in with a critical eye. I don't INTEND to be critical, I simply cannot help myself. I wasn't there to nitpick and find further ammunition in my arguments against the existance of god. I was there because... it was interesting. And sorta cool too.
Second, this method of delivery... of these messages about god... seem much more appropriate to our world today. More realistically accepting that the millenia old method of sitting in a church listening to someone preach this and that just isn't effective anymore. (Granted, most of my existing bias towards christianity specifically are based on knowledge of the catholic church. So it should be said that I take more issue with that particular institution than many other forms of christianity). The underlying messages are always more or less the same in any kind of christianity. But the difference in methodology is dramatic and I can certainly see how it makes a big difference.
It's still about worship, however. The idea that we pittiful humans should prostrate ourselves before god, accepting his conscious omnicience and our own general inferiority rubs me the wrong way. Sure... I'll be the first to say that IF there is an all-powerful conscious presence in the universe that IS pretty awesome. And we certainly don't rise up to that level of awesomeness. But I'd sorta like to meet him first before I subject myself to subjugation of an etheral entity that may or may not exist. And even assuming there IS a god, how would we know that this worship is even what it would want? It seems to me a bit pretentious that we insignificant beings could actually figure out what god wants of us.
So, no epiphanies... although none were expected. Still, I'm glad I checked it out. I might even go again some time.
lot since the development of electronic amplification. A hundred years ago the average sermon
was a great display of shouting and waving of arms, necessitated by the fact that you did not
have a microphone to amplify your voice. Things settled down when you could just speak normally
into a microphone. But this is just an overall tendency, there certainly were quiet sermons then and
loud ones now.
The light Saber is dopalicious
it is so cool.
i love it.
x