Questions about church

Far Side Of the Moon said:

I have a few questions that ill put here so I wont have to make thread after thread.

1) What exactly is wrong with ," church hopping"? Why isnt it okay to just visit a couple churches before u settle down on one you like ?

2) Why does the church treat mental and physical health differently. I notice if someone has high blood pressure they dont try to restrain said person with BP and say pray about and if your BP is still up that means you disnt believe hard enough :/ But when it comes to mental illness the church lays hands,anoints, and tries to cast that devil out. Why isnt the same spiritual effort applied to someone with high BP or anyother health related illness. Like it is with mental illness? Why the difference?

3) Superficial friendliness; I'm not knocking this too much because I get the point of this. To make everyone feel included and welcomed..( basically when people greet each other,ask how Are you ect) but its so on the surface for me...like you can tell when someone is genuinely happy and wants to see you.. Like I think this is nice and defintely serves a purpose...but after service ends you can tell it was just pleasantries in that moment in time.
I understand were all human I just wonder why there's no real effort to truly connect and get to know someone....on a deeper level than.. " Oh I'm glad youre here this Sunday" and a half hug.

These are the few questions I have for now

Click to expand...

I don't think there is anything wrong with church hopping to find a church you like.

Far Side Of the Moon said:

I have a few questions that ill put here so I wont have to make thread after thread.

1) What exactly is wrong with ," church hopping"? Why isnt it okay to just visit a couple churches before u settle down on one you like ?

2) Why does the church treat mental and physical health differently. I notice if someone has high blood pressure they dont try to restrain said person with BP and say pray about and if your BP is still up that means you disnt believe hard enough :/ But when it comes to mental illness the church lays hands,anoints, and tries to cast that devil out. Why isnt the same spiritual effort applied to someone with high BP or anyother health related illness. Like it is with mental illness? Why the difference?

3) Superficial friendliness; I'm not knocking this too much because I get the point of this. To make everyone feel included and welcomed..( basically when people greet each other,ask how Are you ect) but its so on the surface for me...like you can tell when someone is genuinely happy and wants to see you.. Like I think this is nice and defintely serves a purpose...but after service ends you can tell it was just pleasantries in that moment in time.
I understand were all human I just wonder why there's no real effort to truly connect and get to know someone....on a deeper level than.. " Oh I'm glad youre here this Sunday" and a half hug.

These are the few questions I have for now

Click to expand...

My church prays for people with illnesses, though I can hardly remember any issues with mental health, though they would be prayed for, also. I've never heard anyone judged for not believing hard enough.

Far Side Of the Moon said:

I have a few questions that ill put here so I wont have to make thread after thread.

1) What exactly is wrong with ," church hopping"? Why isnt it okay to just visit a couple churches before u settle down on one you like ?

2) Why does the church treat mental and physical health differently. I notice if someone has high blood pressure they dont try to restrain said person with BP and say pray about and if your BP is still up that means you disnt believe hard enough :/ But when it comes to mental illness the church lays hands,anoints, and tries to cast that devil out. Why isnt the same spiritual effort applied to someone with high BP or anyother health related illness. Like it is with mental illness? Why the difference?

3) Superficial friendliness; I'm not knocking this too much because I get the point of this. To make everyone feel included and welcomed..( basically when people greet each other,ask how Are you ect) but its so on the surface for me...like you can tell when someone is genuinely happy and wants to see you.. Like I think this is nice and defintely serves a purpose...but after service ends you can tell it was just pleasantries in that moment in time.
I understand were all human I just wonder why there's no real effort to truly connect and get to know someone....on a deeper level than.. " Oh I'm glad youre here this Sunday" and a half hug.

These are the few questions I have for now

Click to expand...

Bible studies and Sunday school classes are excellent ways to get to know people better. If there aren't any in your church, you could ask your church if you could start one.

I've gotten to know people by serving with them. I sing in the choir and do church maintenance with another fellow, and over a period of time you get to know these people well.

i dont know...why do people really church hop..is it because they dont like the preaching there or the people or what etc......and i think almost everyone does it..lol i guess my motto is if you dont like the church be the church... (if that made any sense)

Far Side Of the Moon said:

I have a few questions that ill put here so I wont have to make thread after thread.

1) What exactly is wrong with ," church hopping"? Why isnt it okay to just visit a couple churches before u settle down on one you like ?

2) Why does the church treat mental and physical health differently. I notice if someone has high blood pressure they dont try to restrain said person with BP and say pray about and if your BP is still up that means you disnt believe hard enough :/ But when it comes to mental illness the church lays hands,anoints, and tries to cast that devil out. Why isnt the same spiritual effort applied to someone with high BP or anyother health related illness. Like it is with mental illness? Why the difference?

3) Superficial friendliness; I'm not knocking this too much because I get the point of this. To make everyone feel included and welcomed..( basically when people greet each other,ask how Are you ect) but its so on the surface for me...like you can tell when someone is genuinely happy and wants to see you.. Like I think this is nice and defintely serves a purpose...but after service ends you can tell it was just pleasantries in that moment in time.
I understand were all human I just wonder why there's no real effort to truly connect and get to know someone....on a deeper level than.. " Oh I'm glad youre here this Sunday" and a half hug.

These are the few questions I have for now

Click to expand...

I think you need to continue your "church hopping" - maybe even broaden it.

Mental illness: while I believe demons exist and sometimes possess people, much of modern mental illnesses can be traced to biochemical or brain-injury causes. Prayer and laying on of hands is always appropriate, but psychiatric treatment is often helpful, and should not be ignored. They can work together, just like with physical illnesses.

Superficial concern is all most people can do until they really start knowing you. Most people asking "How are you?" don't expect a realistic, thoughtful answer. The problem is not having superficial friendliness to visitors, it lies in not progressing beyond the superficial and starting to know the person.

Far Side Of the Moon said:

I have a few questions that ill put here so I wont have to make thread after thread.

1) What exactly is wrong with ," church hopping"? Why isnt it okay to just visit a couple churches before u settle down on one you like ?

Click to expand...

Nothing at all. I was quite happy to do that when I first arrived in Auckland in 1996. But when I arrived at my present church, met the people and heard the sermon I just knew I wanted to stay there. There have been times I wanted to leave the church, and there wouldn't have been anything wrong with that, but every time something happened that made we want to stay there. God wouldn't have blamed me if I had left and found another church, but He wanted me to stay where I am because He still has good work for me to do there.

2) Why does the church treat mental and physical health differently. I notice if someone has high blood pressure they dont try to restrain said person with BP and say pray about and if your BP is still up that means you don't believe hard enough :/ But when it comes to mental illness the church lays hands,anoints, and tries to cast that devil out. Why isn't the same spiritual effort applied to someone with high BP or any other health related illness. Like it is with mental illness? Why the difference?

Click to expand...

This doesn't happen in my church. I believe that the responsibility to have faith for healing is on the person ministering the healing and not the sick person. I know that some blame the sick person, but in my experience most sick people are too busy trying to cope with the illness than trying to work up enough faith to be healed. Just agreeing to be ministered to is enough faith as far as God is concerned. If faith is required on behalf of the sick person to be healed, and John Wesley's horse was healed of lameness, thank goodness that horse had faith to be healed!

Also, God is not a vending machine. He is sovereign. He can decide to heal one person and not the next. We minister healing through obedience to God's Word and not for results. Also, healing is not just for physical ailments, but for healing of memories, hurts, and other needs for inner healing. Mental issues are a part of that. Not all mental illness is demonic. Much damage can be caused by trying to cast demons out of mentally ill people. Careful investigation and counselling is required before making a determination of whether the mentally ill person needs ministry of healing, or deliverance.

3) Superficial friendliness; I'm not knocking this too much because I get the point of this. To make everyone feel included and welcomed..( basically when people greet each other,ask how Are you ect) but its so on the surface for me...like you can tell when someone is genuinely happy and wants to see you.. Like I think this is nice and defintely serves a purpose...but after service ends you can tell it was just pleasantries in that moment in time.
I understand were all human I just wonder why there's no real effort to truly connect and get to know someone....on a deeper level than.. " Oh I'm glad youre here this Sunday" and a half hug.

These are the few questions I have for now

Click to expand...

It takes time for a new person to be bonded into a church. It took me as much as a year to become a close friend of the people I was worshiping with in the Presbyterian Church I am with at present. I have been with that church now for 21 years, and now am the senior elder and on the preaching team. We have a congregation of about 30 people, and we are like a big family. We enjoy fellowship but we don't live on one another's door steps. There are one or two couples with whom we have regular fellowship outside of the church meetings.

I think that if we want more than just a superficial "hello" and "bless you" then waiting around and expecting others to come closer to you is rather a one-sided attitude. You have to give in order to receive. Turning up to church and setting in a pew and nothing else will not give you what you want. You have to show that you love the church and the people by getting involved. When I first joined the church I volunteered for the choir and the Sunday School. I did that for two or three years, and then I was invited to be on our Board of Managers (Deacon), after serving on there for a year, I was invited to be ordained as an elder. Then I became the treasurer. Two years ago I became the Session Clerk (Senior Elder). That's how it happens.

What kind of church are you looking for ?

Far Side Of the Moon said:

I have a few questions that ill put here so I wont have to make thread after thread.

1) What exactly is wrong with ," church hopping"? Why isnt it okay to just visit a couple churches before u settle down on one you like ?

2) Why does the church treat mental and physical health differently. I notice if someone has high blood pressure they dont try to restrain said person with BP and say pray about and if your BP is still up that means you disnt believe hard enough :/ But when it comes to mental illness the church lays hands,anoints, and tries to cast that devil out. Why isnt the same spiritual effort applied to someone with high BP or anyother health related illness. Like it is with mental illness? Why the difference?

3) Superficial friendliness; I'm not knocking this too much because I get the point of this. To make everyone feel included and welcomed..( basically when people greet each other,ask how Are you ect) but its so on the surface for me...like you can tell when someone is genuinely happy and wants to see you.. Like I think this is nice and defintely serves a purpose...but after service ends you can tell it was just pleasantries in that moment in time.
I understand were all human I just wonder why there's no real effort to truly connect and get to know someone....on a deeper level than.. " Oh I'm glad youre here this Sunday" and a half hug.

These are the few questions I have for now

Click to expand...

I think it depends on the definition of church hopping. To visit churches until you find one that you want to join I do not see as church hopping because there is a reason for it. It is to find a church that is a good fit, that you enjoy and want to set down roots. This should not be taken lightly, but then not overthought either.

As far as mental illness I think it scares people to death. Mental illness has long been villified in the courts and press and in society in general. It is a sad state.

Superficial friendliness can be just to make people feel welcome and I think for the most part people are happy that you joined them for their church service in general. i would see it more as a "welcome to our church, we're glad your here" type of thing

None of these things have to do with the Gospel of Christ, and glorifying Christ, which is the purpose of the body of Christ (Church): rather these things are a description of a social club of sorts and a doctors office and a psychiatric facility.

Far Side Of the Moon said:

1) What exactly is wrong with ," church hopping"? Why isnt it okay to just visit a couple churches before u settle down on one you like ?

Click to expand...

For a while, I lived outside, sometimes with the clothes on my back. And I would visit with various churches and share with ones who were reaching to the homeless and ones who considered themselves Christians and were homeless. I shared with certain people who seemed to know what to do with me, how to relate with me. And these were my examples of how I needed to become. They were in churches; they stayed where they were; they did not give up on the church people who seemed rough and hypocritical and negative. They stayed and kept on having hope for the ones who could give me a hard time. They did not just dump their churches because of the wrong people who were there, even in leadership positions.

I got the drift lolololololololol Because I had been just walking out of each church where certain people gave me a hard time or did not agree with me. I was not loving people the way Jesus would have me love; I was not having compassion like Jesus for wrong people. I needed to become their example to feed them how to be and relate in love, instead of huffing away from them.

So, then I got with a church and stayed there . . . where there were the members who were examples and helping me get real correction.

And God has been giving me scripture about where to go and grow, for example >

"He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness." (Hebrews 5:2)

So-o . . . I can use my own weakness with my own sin problems, to help me understand and feel for others in their sin trouble. And as God gives me real correction, then I can minister this to others > Hebrews 12:4-11, 1 John 4:17. Correction means how we become in our character, in God's love; correction does not mean only stopping certain wrong things.

So, from this experience, I mean that checking out different churches can be good, if you are connecting with real and mature example people so you can see how you need to become and relate. Then settle in where God wants you > not only where you now can like a place. I mean, what you can like, now as a younger child of God, could be misleading. As we grow, we discover what God likes

Far Side Of the Moon said:

1) What exactly is wrong with ," church hopping"? Why isnt it okay to just visit a couple churches before u settle down on one you like ?

Click to expand...

No problem with that.

Far Side Of the Moon said:

2) Why does the church treat mental and physical health differently. I notice if someone has high blood pressure they dont try to restrain said person with BP and say pray about and if your BP is still up that means you disnt believe hard enough :/ But when it comes to mental illness the church lays hands,anoints, and tries to cast that devil out. Why isnt the same spiritual effort applied to someone with high BP or anyother health related illness. Like it is with mental illness? Why the difference?

Click to expand...

That's going to depend on the church and their practices. My church acknowledges that issues like anxiety and depression may have spiritual roots, or mental roots. If you're doing the right spiritual things and still experiencing a problem with that, then definitely get whatever it is looked at. We're not as quick to assume a demon problem as some churches will be.

Far Side Of the Moon said:

3) Superficial friendliness; I'm not knocking this too much because I get the point of this. To make everyone feel included and welcomed..( basically when people greet each other,ask how Are you ect) but its so on the surface for me...like you can tell when someone is genuinely happy and wants to see you.. Like I think this is nice and defintely serves a purpose...but after service ends you can tell it was just pleasantries in that moment in time.
I understand were all human I just wonder why there's no real effort to truly connect and get to know someone....on a deeper level than.. " Oh I'm glad youre here this Sunday" and a half hug.

These are the few questions I have for now

Click to expand...

It's easier to sit back when you have your network of friends built already than it is when you are in the phase of building it for yourself. That, and some of the people may just act like that because they think they're supposed to, and are blanking on better ways to welcome people.

Far Side Of the Moon said:

I have a few questions that ill put here so I wont have to make thread after thread.

1) What exactly is wrong with ," church hopping"? Why isnt it okay to just visit a couple churches before u settle down on one you like ?

2) Why does the church treat mental and physical health differently. I notice if someone has high blood pressure they dont try to restrain said person with BP and say pray about and if your BP is still up that means you disnt believe hard enough :/ But when it comes to mental illness the church lays hands,anoints, and tries to cast that devil out. Why isnt the same spiritual effort applied to someone with high BP or anyother health related illness. Like it is with mental illness? Why the difference?

3) Superficial friendliness; I'm not knocking this too much because I get the point of this. To make everyone feel included and welcomed..( basically when people greet each other,ask how Are you ect) but its so on the surface for me...like you can tell when someone is genuinely happy and wants to see you.. Like I think this is nice and defintely serves a purpose...but after service ends you can tell it was just pleasantries in that moment in time.
I understand were all human I just wonder why there's no real effort to truly connect and get to know someone....on a deeper level than.. " Oh I'm glad youre here this Sunday" and a half hug.

These are the few questions I have for now

Click to expand...

There really isn't any such thing as a typical Church. Some are friendly and warm, sme are superficial. Some really care about Biblical truths and some just want a social hangout. And then within those many kinds of Churches there are many different kinds of people too. If you want to be part of a Church, shop around all you like because the Bible never even says to go to Church!

The word church is a translation from ecclesia which simply means a gathering of believers. There are no rules for Church because, again, the Bible does not tell you to go to one. If you get blessed and get closer to the Almighty, then great. That's the best you can get.

LoricaLady said:

There really isn't any such thing as a typical Church. Some are friendly and warm, sme are superficial. Some really care about Biblical truths and some just want a social hangout. And then within those many kinds of Churches there are many different kinds of people too. If you want to be part of a Church, shop around all you like because the Bible never even says to go to Church!

The word church is a translation from ecclesia which simply means a gathering of believers. There are no rules for Church because, again, the Bible does not tell you to go to one. If you get blessed and get closer to the Almighty, then great. That's the best you can get.

Click to expand...

well, the Bible doesn't 'officially' call it church, but it does say we are to fellowship with other believers, so how do you do that then?