Atheist Seeking Church

[fschmidt]

I already posted this to "Exploring Christianity" (which, unfortunately, I can't link to), but since there seem to be different people here than there, I hope it's okay that I report this here. My first post was:

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I am an atheist who is disgusted with modern decadent culture. I am looking for a church to join that has good moral values. I also want this for my kids so that they can associate with decent people. I have the following criteria:

1. Must have a church in El Paso, TX where I live.

2. Must be tolerant enough to accept an atheist who only views Christ as an intelligent moral man whose advice is worth following.

3. Must strongly support monogamy and promote marriage.

4. Must have a strict dress code in church. No tattoos, body piercings, or immodest dress.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
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and my follow-up was:

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I thought I would give an update on my search. I have visited 2 Christian churches, Mormon and Sovereign Grace Ministries. These services were 3 hours and 2 hours for a total of 5 hours in church so far. In all that time, I haven't heard a single mention of any moral or ethical issues. The entire focus was on faith in Christ, which of course means nothing to me as an Atheist. I think I could put up with 80% faith and 20% ethics. If I remember the Gospels from reading them a long time ago, Christ did have a lot to say about moral issues, and I generally agree with Christ. Do any churches discuss this kind of thing? So I am disappointed so far. I will visit Greek Orthodox next week.
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I am posting this here hoping for suggestions.

 

[a_ntv]

Well, to choose a church is not like to go Wallmart and buy what you want....

Anyway, if you look for prim/decent people you can find some (Traditionalist) Anglican Church or Lutheran-Missouri-synod (LCMS)
If you look for the misteries of heavens, the Orthodox Church is for you
The Roman Catholic Church is a good choice if you look also for an ethic/moral aspect.

 

[Deleteriousnonsense]

So it's true, some sheep do howl at the moon. Have you given any consideration to joining the Rotary Club?

 

[lisahoney]

Look for any assembly of God church. I have loved every one of those I have attended.

 

[fschmidt]

Look for any assembly of God church. I have loved every one of those I have attended.

Does this church address my concerns from my first post?

By the way, I just got back from a Greek Orthodox church and I was quite impressed with it.

 

[a_ntv]

Does this church address my concerns from my first post?

By the way, I just got back from a Greek Orthodox church and I was quite impressed with it.

I love the Greek Byzantine Rite. Even if Roman Catholic, I attend every Sunday the Divine Liturgy song in Greek !! (of course in a Eastern Catholic church)

Ok, perhaps you have not found what you looked at, but you have found what mean to glorify God by the liturgy.

 

[servitude]

You will find most of the usual suspects fit the bill - anglican, baptist, church of christ, methodist, etc etc. All will welcome you and accept your attendance, just be upfront and honest about not being a christian but wanting your children to be brought up with morals. As long as you don't come across as mocking, no one will have a problem with you.

 

[Aibrean]

Well you sure could attend an LCMS church but you'd never be able to participate fully (you can't be a member of the church and deny the Trinity..and obviously not participate in communion). Lutherans place most of their sermons on Law and Gospel so if you don't care about hearing the gospel, I'm sure you won't like it.

That and we don't really care what people look like. Who are we to judge? Although I haven't seen anyone in our church dressing immodestly, tattoos and body piercings are OT law so the synod has no official position and certainly would not close the doors on anyone with them.

 

[1watchman]

This is really strange --an atheist seeking a church. Why? If one is not sure about what the Bible teaches that is understandable, but one who opposes the thought of God and does not believe in God should probably join a community service club. I hope he does not plan to go and disrupt the church meetings.

- 1 Watchman

 

[fschmidt]

This is really strange --an atheist seeking a church. Why? If one is not sure about what the Bible teaches that is understandable, but one who opposes the thought of God and does not believe in God should probably join a community service club. I hope he does not plan to go and disrupt the church meetings.

A community service club isn't going to work for me. I don't like modern culture which I feel is decadent and corrupt. If I were single, I would simply never leave my home. But since I have a family, I want to find a community for them that shares my values. And my values are much closer to those of Christ than those of modern culture, in spite of the fact that I am atheist. I have no intention of disrupting church meetings, but I will be honest with them and explain why I am there. So far, this has worked fine.

 

[laconicstudent]

fschmidt, its cool that you had a good time at the Orthodox Church. You might find this link helpful if you want to check out other Orthodox parishes: Orthodoxy in America - Home

 

[bsd31]

I already posted this to "Exploring Christianity" (which, unfortunately, I can't link to), but since there seem to be different people here than there, I hope it's okay that I report this here. My first post was:

-------------------------------------------------
I am an atheist who is disgusted with modern decadent culture. I am looking for a church to join that has good moral values. I also want this for my kids so that they can associate with decent people. I have the following criteria:

1. Must have a church in El Paso, TX where I live.

2. Must be tolerant enough to accept an atheist who only views Christ as an intelligent moral man whose advice is worth following.

3. Must strongly support monogamy and promote marriage.

4. Must have a strict dress code in church. No tattoos, body piercings, or immodest dress.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
-------------------------------------------------

and my follow-up was:

-------------------------------------------------
I thought I would give an update on my search. I have visited 2 Christian churches, Mormon and Sovereign Grace Ministries. These services were 3 hours and 2 hours for a total of 5 hours in church so far. In all that time, I haven't heard a single mention of any moral or ethical issues. The entire focus was on faith in Christ, which of course means nothing to me as an Atheist. I think I could put up with 80% faith and 20% ethics. If I remember the Gospels from reading them a long time ago, Christ did have a lot to say about moral issues, and I generally agree with Christ. Do any churches discuss this kind of thing? So I am disappointed so far. I will visit Greek Orthodox next week.
-------------------------------------------------

I am posting this here hoping for suggestions.

The problem, for you who doesn't want to be preached to/at, is that any truly Christian church will focus intently on Jesus Christ. We as Christians believe that the cure to all the world's ills to include moral and ethical issues is Jesus Christ.

 

[Dezero]

If your looking for a good church with good people then most if not all are going to talk alot about God and Jesus. A Good church won't push anything on you or force your beliefes. The SDA church is a very loving community. I just joined and they encourage goodwill and are very strong in ecouraging healthy eating and looking after your body. Since I joined I kicked drugs and alcohol and saved my marriage. But I would suggest going into different churches and finding some people who you might get along with. People will always come and talk to you. And you should never feel unwelcome Good luck

 

[fschmidt]

We as Christians believe that the cure to all the world's ills to include moral and ethical issues is Jesus Christ.

Then you might as well rape and pillage and let Christ handle the moral end.

Thankfully, the Greek Orthodox Church that I went to for a second time doesn't seem to share this view. They believe in Christ AND they believe in moral behavior, the second part being of more interest to me.

 

[fschmidt]

I really wish there was good resource to compare churches. The distinctions in dogma that one can find on the web really don't give any idea of the large differences in character of different denominations. For what it is worth, I will post my impressions, as an atheist, here:

Mormon - Modern spartan feel. Highly emotional audience. Conservatively dressed. Pushy, which I don't mind, but my wife does. Somewhat odd beliefs compared to mainstream Christianity.

Sovereign Grace Ministries - Martin Luther, the musical. Modern inspirational music that basically reflected Luther's view that faith is all that matters. Sermon was also focused on faith. Modern dress including some of the things I would rather avoid, like tattoos.

Unity Church - With the power of God, you go girl. - or - Ask what God can do for you, not what you can do for God or anyone else. This was all about empowerment with the power of God. Women loved this. Women love being empowered but hate being criticized or held accountable for anything, so this church had an audience dominated by contented women.

Greek Orthodox - Traditional church. The service was very ritualistic with mostly chants and singing. The songs were not modern, so the feeling was of being removed from the modern world, which I liked. The words don't matter much and a lot of it was in Greek. There was a short sermon, but this consisted of explanation of what is in the bible. This is very different from the other churches where explanation and logic were conspicuously absent. The people dressed conservatively, no piercings or tattoos. My wife said that this church reminds her of how Catholicism was before it degenerated into its current liberal form.

Antiochian Orthodox - Very similar in style to the Greek Orthodox service, but somehow it felt like they were going through the motions with the meaning/feeling being lost. I suspect this difference is simply related to these specific churches rather than to the branch of the religion. The lesson here is that one may need to go to more than one church of a denomination to judge that denomination.

 

[whatfor]

Interesting thread.

I think you will find different churches under the same denomination will vary, also sermons vary a lot so one you might like on morals , the next might focus on the gospel.

Good luck with your search.

 

[KernAlan]

I must agree, interesting thread.

Orthodox churches are, in general, pretty good. If you can't find any conservative Protestant churches around, I would recommend returning to one of them.

That being said, the best advice I can give you is to look for a good pastor or priest. They're the ones from whom you'll hear the actual teachings, and you'll find that they set the standard for the church. The better the shepherd, the better the sheep...usually.

Oh yes, I was a bit confused on one thing you said:

They believe in Christ AND they believe in moral behavior, the second part being of more interest to me.

The morals are derived from Jesus Christ. His teachings and lifestyle are the standards and groundwork for our moral behavior, so where you find one you will also find the other.

 

[Charles Spurgeon]

So, out of curiosity, if you don't mind me asking on behalf of myself, and the community here, why do you want to remain an atheist, and not trust in Christ as your Savior?

Granted I know a lot of the "Church" is "corrupt" but when a person is truly saved, they're truly saved. A lot of people who profess to be Christians, and the Church over the centuries was not made up of true believers... thus you have the crusades, and all of the evil in the name of Christ.

Whether or not if it will help, I challenge you in an honest heart to ask the Lord to truly reveal Himself to you, if He wants to. But you have to ask this in a sincere heart, and without mockery, but in genuineness. I doubt you'll get anything if you're a mocker.

 

[fschmidt]

I investigated the truth of religions when I was younger. I found no reason to believe in God and no evidence that he exists. The world makes more sense to me if I assume that there is no God, so I will stick with my beliefs.

I have a question for Christians. Suppose you lived at a time and place where most Christians were corrupt. And nearby is a community of non-Christians, let's say Buddhists, who are moral. Would you move to the non-Christian community to be around more moral people?

 

[Walter Kovacs]

Suppose you lived at a time and place where most Christians were corrupt.

You mean like now?

Would you move to the non-Christian community to be around more moral people?

If Christianity were about being moral or "good" I might. If those are my only alternatives though, I'd rather just live by myself.