What is Church good for?

@Didymos Thomas,

Didymos Thomas;123581 wrote:

So, your criticism is not against religion, not against the teaching of religion to children, or anything like that. Your criticism is about common failures in the way religious communities carry out their mission.

There is a huge difference here. We have to be very careful when we generalize, especially about such a large and diverse body.

It is difficult today when the extremists, the violent, the hateful get so much exposure while the pious, devout, and holy are essentially ignored. It takes some digging around to find them, but they are all over the place.

That's extremely true and I would never claim that religion is negative element of society.

Sometimes I just wonder if some of those suicide bombers, or to take it back those present at the crusades, would have made the extreme choices they did based on their own conclusions. Some? Yes. But I highly doubt as many as have down under community-based religions.

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@Sam I Am phil,

To answer that we have to get into the real causes of suicide bombing and crusading. Neither have religious causes.

Suicide bombing seems to come from the hopelessness of living in certain conditions, and sometimes from the hopelessness of seeing others, like family, live under certain conditions - like abject poverty, totalitarian brutality, the careless eradication of community tradition by self-interested outsiders, ect.

Crusading seems to have come from the extreme greed and materialism of medieval Europeans, along with a general disregard for the value of other people, and from the need of Popes (at the time, the greatest hedonists around!), for the sake of maintaining their power structure by diverting the jingoism of monarchs from one another onto an outside party.

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@sometime sun,

sometime sun;120626 wrote:

What is church/temple/mosque/group good for?

What does it facilitate?

What does it add that cant be gotten any where else?

If you could choose the congregation would you be more inclined to attend?
(or is that the exact opposite the church stands for and is worthy because of?)

---------- Post added 01-17-2010 at 11:29 AM ----------

And dont say community, community you can get everywhere, if you try hard enough.

The function of a church is to control people. The preacher or priest typically tells people how they should be living their lives, and tells them what will happen to them if they don't do as he (or, less often, she) says. (Though, of course, he or she may not be telling the truth about what will happen to them, or about how they really ought to live their lives, as he or she may be dishonest, or may be deceived himself or herself.) Naturally, that is typically not how churches advertise themselves, as it would not generally suit their ends if they were explicit about such things.

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@sometime sun,

Church/Religion is preschool for those looking for the truth but are afraid to seek it on their own. It won't lead you to the truth/God. That can only be attained by one's self alone. You will have guides to help you. But only you can return your soul/consciousness to it's original state to abide with God.

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What is Church good for?

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