How do Christians find the time to ...?

[Hestha]

How do Christian find the time to...?

• Attend church on Sunday
• Attend Mass every day
• Pray
• Worship God
• Read the Bible
• Read biblical annotations and commentaries and synthesize a personal judgment on the topic
• Tithe (What is the minimum payment at your church? How often do you or should you tithe?)
• Volunteer for the church ministries (by the way, do Christians volunteer for nonreligious or ecumenical Christian charities, or do Christians mainly use the church ministries as a way to do charity and "proclaim the gospel", thereby bringing in more converts?)
• Find a little bit of "God time" in your life by prayer and meditation.

What if the person in question works as, say, a radiotherapist who has to work very long hours at a nearby hospital 7 days a week and really doesn't have time for family and "God time"? Would being a Christian only work for someone who has leisure time on Sundays?

 

[Marahuta]

These things are done during one's free time.
Although they are important to the life of a Christian, they do not make you a Christian. Somebody that goes to church every day is no better than somebosy who will only go on Sunday, or a few times a year.

1. Going to church makes you no more of a Christian than standing in a garage, makes you a car.
2. Reading the bible makes you no more of a Christian than reading an instruction manual, makes you a mechanic.

 

[Girder of Loins]

How do Christian find the time to...?

• Attend church on Sunday
• Attend Mass every day
• Pray
• Worship God
• Read the Bible
• Read biblical annotations and commentaries and synthesize a personal judgment on the topic
• Tithe (What is the minimum payment at your church? How often do you or should you tithe?)
• Volunteer for the church ministries (by the way, do Christians volunteer for nonreligious or ecumenical Christian charities, or do Christians mainly use the church ministries as a way to do charity and "proclaim the gospel", thereby bringing in more converts?)
• Find a little bit of "God time" in your life by prayer and meditation.

What if the person in question works as, say, a radiotherapist who has to work very long hours at a nearby hospital 7 days a week and really doesn't have time for family and "God time"? Would being a Christian only work for someone who has leisure time on Sundays?

1. I don't every Sunday, but I do most. I just got started on their worship team, so I'll probably be going more often. And how do I make time? I don't. I make time for other things, not for God.

2. I've never gone to a Mass, but I would love to one day. See how my fellow brothers and sisters worship God.

3. Prayer isn't always a section of your day. Prayer, for me, is an open line of communication at all times. I will randomly pray during my day if I feel the need to. I don't need to stop what I'm doing or do anything beyond talk to God. It doesn't even need to be audible.

4. Worship goes beyond music. Worship is a lifestyle. In everything, glorify God. That is worship. I can worship God while eating cereal. Instead of eating cereal because Reese's Puffs are the best, I eat breakfast so God can use me to my fullest. That is worship. Praise is more music and audible words/actions oriented, but they will often coincide.

5. I think knowing whats in the Bible is more important than reading it. Obviously, the only way you know something is by reading it, but I don't read my Bible every day. I know it well enough to where if I have a question, I know generally where to look, or can formulate an answer based on my knowledge.

6. The closest I come to reading/hearing commentaries regularly is church. I'll listen to one if I have the time, but I'm usually too busy or it just doesn't interest me.

7. Tithing is a tricky one. I don't tithe, as I don't have a job, but if I did have a job, I would give as much as I could. No percentage, no frills or anything. If I can give "x" amount, I should give "x" amount. No more, no less. But that's my opinion.

8. It depends. Some will find it easier to do Christian charities or charities put on by their church mainly for social reasons. You know everyone around you, at least remotely. There are lots of Christians who do non-Christian charities. Its just a matter of wanting to do them and knowing about them. Belonging to a church allows us to see various organizations going on, and they are usually Christian if advertised in a church. So that is why you see so Christians not in secular charities. It isn't unwillingness, it is them not knowing about them.

9. Once again, it is all a lifestyle. Prayer, meditation, worship, it should happen throughout the day, not at a single time interval.

 

[Sketcher]

Attend church on Sunday

Sunday is church day. You get up, and you go to church. Even when I was working nights I pushed myself to make it happen.

Attend Mass every day

Not Catholic, not applicable. I don't know of a single Catholic layperson who goes to mass every day.

Pray
Worship God
Find a little bit of "God time" in your life by prayer and meditation.

God is everywhere, and always available. The times when I do so are highly irregular.

Read the Bible
Read biblical annotations and commentaries and synthesize a personal judgment on the topic

It really does not take that long, you just don't want to be rushed.

Tithe (What is the minimum payment at your church? How often do you or should you tithe?)

"Tithe" means 10%, any more or less and it's not a tithe, just an offering. My church doesn't have a minimum, but I believe people should pay the 10% unless they are absolutely unable to, and that they should work their way up to 10%. There's too much prosperity in this country not to do that.

Volunteer for the church ministries (by the way, do Christians volunteer for nonreligious or ecumenical Christian charities, or do Christians mainly use the church ministries as a way to do charity and "proclaim the gospel", thereby bringing in more converts?)

Christians do both. Typically someone will do one or the other, I don't think it matters. I would prefer a church ministry since they won't have rules against sharing your faith. Non-religious charities might. Anyway, with my schedule the way it is, I have not found a charity that meets at a regular time that I can make as yet.

What if the person in question works as, say, a radiotherapist who has to work very long hours at a nearby hospital 7 days a week and really doesn't have time for family and "God time"? Would being a Christian only work for someone who has leisure time on Sundays?

There are practicing Christians who are nurses. That can be a week on, a week off. You make what you can, and do what you can, when you can.

 

[ebia]

How do Christian find the time to...?


[*]Attend church on Sunday
[*]Attend Mass every day
[*]Pray
[*]Worship God
[*]Read the Bible
[*]Read biblical annotations and commentaries and synthesize a personal judgment on the topic
[*]Tithe (What is the minimum payment at your church? How often do you or should you tithe?)
[*]Volunteer for the church ministries (by the way, do Christians volunteer for nonreligious or ecumenical Christian charities, or do Christians mainly use the church ministries as a way to do charity and "proclaim the gospel", thereby bringing in more converts?)
[*]Find a little bit of "God time" in your life by prayer and meditation.


What if the person in question works as, say, a radiotherapist who has to work very long hours at a nearby hospital 7 days a week and really doesn't have time for family and "God time"? Would being a Christian only work for someone who has leisure time on Sundays?

You make time for what matters to you.

Sunday wasn't a day off for anyone in the first century. Jews worked Sunday-Friday, everyone else 7 days a week. The first Christians either got up in the very small hours of Sunday morning to meet and/or met in the evening.

If you can't meet on Sunday because your occupation has to happen on a Sunday (eg a nurse)should meet whenever is possible for them.

 

[ebia]

These things are done during one's free time.
Although they are important to the life of a Christian, they do not make you a Christian. Somebody that goes to church every day is no better than somebosy who will only go on Sunday, or a few times a year.

1. Going to church makes you no more of a Christian than standing in a garage, makes you a car.
2. Reading the bible makes you no more of a Christian than reading an instruction manual, makes you a mechanic.

Slightly misleading. An object can be a car without ever entering a garage. One cannot be a Christian without engaging with the Christian community (church) and scriptures.

 

[Marahuta]

Slightly misleading. An object can be a car without ever entering a garage. One cannot be a Christian without engaging with the Christian community (church) and scriptures.

The bible defines the word "curch" as the Christian community, not a building.

My point was not that "Christians should never go to church, there is no use of going. I said "it's not what makes you Christian."

 

[ebia]

The bible defines the word "curch" as the Christian community, not a building.

No one suggested otherwise.

My point was not that "Christians should never go to church, there is no use of going. I said "it's not what makes you Christian."

My objection is too the analogy, which is an off-repeated but incorrect one.

Church is necessary but not sufficient to being a Christian.
Garage is neither necessary nor sufficient to being a car.

 

[Eric Hibbert]

How do Christian find the time to...?

The same way I find time to do other things that are important to me: I make the time.

Attend church on Sunday

About five hours on Sunday. (Three in the morning, two in the evening). Seven, if you count going out to supper or supper at church.

About two and a half on Wednesday.

Pray

About an hour a day.

Worship God

Worship is something that is incorporated into every area of life (hopefully).

Read the Bible

About an 40 minutes to an hour or so a day.

Read biblical annotations and commentaries and synthesize a personal judgment on the topic

A couple of hours a week.

Tithe

We're not Jewish. We don't believe in tithing. But how long does it take to write a check or put some money in a collection plate?

What is the minimum payment at your church?

There isn't one.

Volunteer for the church ministries

A couple hours a week.

do Christians volunteer for nonreligious or ecumenical Christian charities

Of course.

What if the person in question works as, say, a radiotherapist who has to work very long hours at a nearby hospital 7 days a week and really doesn't have time for family and "God time"?

Then he's made his job an idol and needs to repent and find a new job.

In the Bible, God places a very high priority on work, but it's pretty clear that God and family comes first.

People find all sorts of time to do those things that are important to them, such as sit in front of a computer all day, watch TV, go shopping, read books, have hobbies, etc.

Christians are no different. The only question is, what is important enough to make time for.

Sunday is church day. You get up, and you go to church. Even when I was working nights I pushed myself to make it happen.

I know I'm showing my age here (sorry, but for some reason, I'm always under the impression that everybody on the internet is a teenager...I guess that's showing my age, again), but when I was a kid, and even up into my twenties, Sunday was CHURCH day. Church was all there was because nothing was open. If you had to go to the store or wanted to go shopping, you were just out of luck. I still remember our neighbor opening up his pharmacy for us when we had an emergency on a Sunday.

Imagine your frustration when you want a Chick-Fil-A sandwich on Sunday and magnify that by about a thousand.

I have a theory that this is one reason why college football is so big in the South (aka "the Bible Belt"), because it was played on Saturday, not Sunday. Granted, the fact that we didn't have an NFL team in the South for so many years was probably a bigger factor, but I do think we liked it because it provided an alternative we didn't have to feel guilty about doing.

Not Catholic, not applicable. I don't know of a single Catholic layperson who goes to mass every day.

I do. Although I'm from the South, I lived in New Jersey for many years, where the population is very largely Catholic. It's mostly older people, but there are a lot of Catholics who go every day. Kind of weird that they don't all go every day, considering that their religion teaches that missing a day can put their soul in peril.