Non-Christians: Did you ever go to church?

Beckyy25 said:

You say you have Islam now which is sufficient for you. Does that mean you were a Christian before? Or did you have another religion?

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I went to a Christian school and was taught about Christianity and how to pray and all the stories and bible. You can say I was more Christian than anything else, but thank God my eyes were opened to Islam.

Beckyy25 said:

I'm starting this thread the second time, as the first one has been lost, due to the fact that CF has been hacked some time ago, as you may have noticed. I can't remember the exact questions I asked the first time, last time I think I had 6 questions, now I have 8. So for those who already answered the first time, forgive me if my questions are not the same. And I hope you'll answer them again.

So here are my questions:

1) Have you ever been to church?
2) Which church did you attend?
3) Did you go once or more times?
4) What was the sermon about? (If you went more than once, say what you can remember from what has been preached there.)
5) How did you feel during the church service?
6) Did you like or dislike the service there?
7) What exactly did you like/dislike?
8) Would you go again? If yes say why, if no say why not?

And don't forget to vote in the poll.

Thanks everyone and looking forward to your answers.

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When I was a Christian I used to go to church almost every Sunday. I was a very committed fundamentalist, Born-Again, washed in the blood of Jesus Christian.

I didn't like the fattening douhnuts they served in Sunday school though.

Question #8

Would you go again? I have visited only a couple times since my deconverstion from the faith

Why did I go? I was invited by a friend who is a Christian

1) Have you ever been to church? Yep.
2) Which church did you attend? Catholic. A pretty stone structure.
3) Did you go once or more times? More. Usually christmas and easter.
4) What was the sermon about? (If you went more than once, say what you can remember from what has been preached there.) I dunno, catholic stuff.
5) How did you feel during the church service? Bored out of my mind. I was young. I think my family stopped going when I was 12 or so.
6) Did you like or dislike the service there? Dislike.
7) What exactly did you like/dislike? Most of it didn't pertain to me in any way shape for form. And I had to sit still and behave myself for an hour.
8) Would you go again? If yes say why, if no say why not? No, most of it won't pertain to me, and I don't like to sit still and behave myself for an hour. lol.

I guess I also went once in highschool. As a date, as sad as that was. Some youth service. The preacher told my date to stop dating non-believers. Something about yolks and cows. I met her again in college, and she had gotten over her religious phase and was dating a mutual friend from highschool. Go figure.

Becky25 said:

It's nice you offered to do that. Maybe he's just afraid.

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Heh! I suppose he might be apprehensive about some of the more... effusive denominations. But I think it's more likely that he's just too busy and would rather sleep in on Sundays, or go to work.

Namaste Becky,

thank you for the post.

Becky said:

1) Have you ever been to church?

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yes.

2) Which church did you attend?

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usually the ones closest to me. in terms of denominations i've been to Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Evangelical Preysbetarian, Southern Baptist and some rather smaller things like New Avalon Church of Jesus and things like that.

3) Did you go once or more times?

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some, only once. others, quite a bit.

4) What was the sermon about? (If you went more than once, say what you can remember from what has been preached there.)

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depends on when i was there. during the Christian holiday services the themes are pretty straightforward.. Jesus, death, forgiveness, sinners etc.

5) How did you feel during the church service?

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depends on the service.. some of the speakers were fine orators and others were more boring the watching paint dry.

6) Did you like or dislike the service there?

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there are few that i have actively disliked but there have been several that were excellent.. one of the Catholic ones i attended was fantastic along with an Easter one at the Methodists place.

7) What exactly did you like/dislike?

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far too general a question for me to answer given my level of visiting but, generally, there are a fair amount of philosophical priority statements inherent in the Christian world view which i simply do not share and thus find building theology, moral or ethical paradigms based on them not suitable for me.

8) Would you go again? If yes say why, if no say why not?

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probably not. i suppose that if i had a compelling reason to do so i would but i really don't so i can't see that i would.

by and large the questions i have regarding the Christian paradigm are not the sort that are addressed in a public sermon to the masses.

metta,

~v

1) Have you ever been to church?

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Yes. Many times. I was raised Christian. I attended Church on a regular basis from birth until I was 19-20.

2) Which church did you attend?

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Lutherine, Non-denomination, Baptist.

3) Did you go once or more times?

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Many.

4) What was the sermon about? (If you went more than once, say what you can remember from what has been preached there.)

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The last time I went to church was about 2 years ago for my cousin's graduation. They preached about how bad we non-believers are. They called me the son of satan, and said I was going to burn in hell. It kinda [wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth]ed me off. I got tricked into going to church, they said I was attending a graduation cerimony.

5) How did you feel during the church service?

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Irritated at times. I also remember feeling sorry for my family, since they believe this garbage is true.

6) Did you like or dislike the service there?

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I disliked it.

7) What exactly did you like/dislike?

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I disliked the preacher and the atmosphere. It had bad energy. The preacher was a simpleton.

8) Would you go again? If yes say why, if no say why not?

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Not if I can help it. I don't like the message of most Christian Churches. They seem to encourage intellectual apathy and or intellectual dishonesty.

Beckyy25 said:

So here are my questions:

1) Have you ever been to church?Yes
2) Which church did you attend? Catholic ( actually worked in lourdes and went to the cathedral) and (also went to Catholic school )andalso was invited to 7 day adventist church.
3) Did you go once or more times? Every now and again
4) What was the sermon about? (If you went more than once, say what you can remember from what has been preached there.) It was too long ago
5) How did you feel during the church service? Nothing particularly special
6) Did you like or dislike the service there? Again did not feel particularly chuffed
7) What exactly did you like/dislike? cannot remember
8) Would you go again? If yes say why, if no say why not? I would only go there to talk to the people to bridge gaops between religion, to dispel the misconception and untruhts told about Islam.

And don't forget to vote in the poll.

Thanks everyone and looking forward to your answers.

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Peace
Yaqovzadeek
Aka James the Just

1) Have you ever been to church? Yes
2) Which church did you attend? An Anglican church
3) Did you go once or more times? Many times
4) What was the sermon about? (If you went more than once, say what you can remember from what has been preached there.) I can't remember specifics but it did depend on the time of year...i.e. if Christmas or Easter or near those it would be more focused on those.
5) How did you feel during the church service? When I was a Christian, I loved it. I felt close to god and would leave church feeling full of joy. I tried going when I'd began doubting my faith and ended up bored and feeling as though I was just going through the motions.
6) Did you like or dislike the service there? I liked it when I was Christian.
7) What exactly did you like/dislike? A combination of things...I liked the music, the feeling it gave me, the peacefulness.
8) Would you go again? If yes say why, if no say why not? No, I'm not Christian anymore..I'd be bored.

1) Have you ever been to church?

Ten years, usually twice on Sunday, plus midweek Bible study

2) Which church did you attend?

A few times Methodist, Baptist, Catholic and once JW, but my main churches were Anglican then Brethren then Free Evangelical then Evangelical Free

3) Did you go once or more times?

about 700 times

4) What was the sermon about? (If you went more than once, say what you can remember from what has been preached there.)

That Jesus took our sin on himself and was punished so we could be reunited with God, with some everyday example showing this in some way, seven hundred times.

5) How did you feel during the church service?

It was OK to start with but gradually got predictable and pointless, some seasonal themes

6) Did you like or dislike the service there?

The coffee and biscuits, sometimes cakes

7) What exactly did you like/dislike?

Lacked use able information

8) Would you go again? If yes say why, if no say why not?

I might try Catholic since I've met a number of good Catholics

1) Have you ever been to church?
Yes, I was raised in the church.
2) Which church did you attend?
Mostly Evangelical Free.
3) Did you go once or more times?
I got curious and calculated it. About 1,400 times.
4) What was the sermon about?
Typical things... usually not too divisive. I was actually shocked to visit a megachurch once where the guest preacher got into politics and told us to spank our children. I wasn't raised with those kinds of sermons.
5) How did you feel during the church service?
As I got older, pretty bored. As a kid I felt fear.
6) Did you like or dislike the service there?
These days if I visit I get a good occasional chuckle by faulty logic and scribble in the notepad while playing solitaire on my iPod... so I don't know.
7) What exactly did you like/dislike?
Most sermons just don't speak to me at all. They're always talking to other Christians like it's a cult or something.
8) Would you go again? If yes say why, if no say why not?
I guess I could stomach it now, since I haven't been in a long time.

1) Have you ever been to church?

Yes

2) Which church did you attend?

St. George's Church of England (Anglican) also a couple of Catholic churches for a wedding and a christening.

3) Did you go once or more times?

More than once...nearly every Sunday for about six months, and sometimes to additional prayer meetings, too.

4) What was the sermon about? (If you went more than once, say what you can remember from what has been preached there.)

I think that last one was about the unknown people that work in the merchant navy.

5) How did you feel during the church service?

Peaceful, mostly, but in the dead of winter sometimes very cold

6) Did you like or dislike the service there?

I quite liked it.

7) What exactly did you like/dislike?

I liked the sense of peace that it gave me...but I hated the feeling of not belonging...the church I was in seemed to me to be full of people that had known each other for many years, and sometimes whole lifetimes. I never felt like I fitted in, somehow.

8) Would you go again? If yes say why, if no say why not?

Yes, I would, I love churches. There is a new Methodist Church that is nearly finished now near me (they have been building it for about a year now) and I will certainly be going to visit it once it opens its doors

I only been into 2 churches

the one that contain the grave of William Shakespeare, some small town in southern England I think

the other is the big cathedral in London

Every Christmas Eve I go to church.

I am agnostic.. but someone once made a jab about agnostics: "Ask an agnostic do you believe or do you not believe in the tooth fairy?". Well maybe I'm a "weak-atheist (god could exist but highly unlikely), but I still prefer to be called agnostic because god (the creator) can go by many definitions. I use him here as the creator and I don't know how unlikely it would be for a god to create the universe (which is a whole lot different than the tooth fairy).

Hi Becky,

"1) Have you ever been to church?"

Yes.

"2) Which church did you attend?"

Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist

"3) Did you go once or more times?"

Many.

"4) What was the sermon about? (If you went more than once, say what you can remember from what has been preached there.)"

Sin, I think the priests/preachers were against it.

"5) How did you feel during the church service?"

Varied. Sometimes it was interesting, sometimes boring.

"6) Did you like or dislike the service there?"

Eh, can't say either way. I was not impressed, if that's what you mean.

"7) What exactly did you like/dislike?"

I went out of obligation more than anything else.

"8) Would you go again? If yes say why, if no say why not?"

Only if obliged to, say a wedding or funeral mass. I don't really want to hear someone's interpretation of the Bible.

Twice a week. Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings.

morningstar2651 said:

Twice a week. Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings.

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For how long roughly?

(If you'd gone for longer do you think you would be a Christian now?)

(If you went back... do you think 'we' would get you hooked again...?)