About church and religion in general...

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I think I figured it out, why people are willing to pay to go somewhere and sing a bunch of songs they've sung before and sit for an hour listening to a guy ramble on when most of them aren't even listening to what he says.

It's a social support network. The validity of the religion or dogma doesn't matter a whole lot, because that isn't what they're getting out of it- that's why it doesn't have to be logical or reasonable.

It is a large group of people bound together by the simple fact that they have similar values (more or less) and all meet and share their goings-ons with one another in this builiding at least once a week, and maybe 2-3 times a week.

The religious aspect is there for comforting one another and is also very useful as a means to ensure good behavior and community adherence to their set of values.

And what is nice is that many churches will accept just about anyone who wants to belong to them and become part of their group! Of course some groups are more interested in newcomers than others...

It's enough to make me want to start going to church agan, simply to sit in the back row and take notes on them. Heh.

i think that probably accounts for most people who say their religious.

eg. i have relatives who are what i call 'Church of England Athiests'.

Ive always thought if i did a door to door survey, asking if people believed in god, there would be a lot of 'dont care/knows'. Go back 3 months later and ask the same people if their religious and i bet half of them claim to be christians/jews/hindus etc.

I plan to raise my kids to be somewhat religious for this very fact.

....or maybe they believe in their religon....

I'm sure that most of them do believe in at least some of what the church teaches, even if only by default (i.e., because it is how they were raised or what their parents and grandparents believed). But have you ever noticed how some churches just cannot seem to keep an audience while others are busting at the seams every Sunday? The successful ones are filling their parishoner's need for a social support group. This also explains why the pastor's wife is just as important and vital to the success of the church as the lead man himself.

Now I need to figure out televangelism, because the folks who watch and pay for this really are not getting their money's worth, I don't think. They would be better off going to church.

Televangelists are often rather good at their jobs, so they might as well think that they can make more money off of doing so.

I have a religous friend/teacher who is mormon. He teaches psychology, and in class he often brings up his experiances in church and what he talks about is not the religion but the people he knows through church and their relationships(which are strong) and other such experiances.

A lot of Christians probably go to church primarily for the social and moral support they get from others. There is nothing wrong with supporting other people who may be going through similar experiences as you are.

But that's not the way I am because the church that my family attends is so large that I hardly know anyone and hardly anyone knows me. I only have three or four friends who I am close enough to for us to really be able to talk about important things and two of these friends are also from school, so I'm not really sure if it counts.

What I'm trying to say is it seems like smaller churches seem to be able to involve more of the intimate social support than the large ones do. Heh, I also don't think it helps that our youth pastor is kind of boring and can't seem to hold people's attention when he preaches.

I go to learn, I really don't enjoy the majority of the youth group. But the lessons are usually interesting.

Ideally people would be going to church primarily because they believe what the Bible says and they want to live according to what it teaches... I know the social end of it is a huge factor though too. I've left churches myself because of the lack of social connectedness there. (Lol, that coming from an aspie...) Currently all my friends IRL go to the same church as me.

As I think about this more, why DO people go to church? The social network, the benefit of a group of people following a certain set of 'good' values and moral standards, the feeling of purpose when you have some kind of job or responsibility in the church... you can get all that outside the church too in other organizations and social settings. So why do people go? I guess that shows how God is still at the center of it - the relationship with Him, the evidence you see that He's real (seen through things that happen in your own life and other people's lives)... and of course there's the fact that people wanna know where they're gonna end up when they die and according to the Bible, there's only one way to get to Heaven...

The entertainment value of churches can not be underestimated. If you can simply use believing in God as an excuse to why what your doing is right then many conclusions can be made. The result is that you have a very entertaining group with gospel singers and a "reverand" who can do things with "Gods will" if the people give him gifts and money.
Many scams have been committed this way.

Most people really like being included in a group and churches have improved themselves to accept knew followers that way.
Others like ascerting their individuality.

Also, by someone forcing you to work harder, you will like the group more. For example, being lazy at school and doing almost nothing will make you hate it but joining a boot camp will make you like it. (justification of effort)

There is something that God has put in us when He created Us Mankind has always been seeking things out in this World. We seek out religious, spiritual, scientific, and things that relate to knowledge and understanding. We are the only animals on earth that truly can do that. That is why We are the way We are, We question everything in this world in the end and We will be doing this always in Our Lifes.

FOR THAT IS BEING HUMAN.

I think I read something where Jesus once got rid of scams in a church.
He got really pissed off at the merchants selling things in the church.
I like the Jesus Christ Superstar version.
Jesus got rid of all guns, drugs and prostistutes from a church.

Hmm... if you read the account from the Gospels, Jesus was upset because they were using the Temple as a place of commerce. The merchants were using religious means to get what they wanted, as humans. It has something to do with what their intention was.

But Jesus was also kind to the prostitutes, tax collectors and other people who were often hated or looked down upon by the Jewish leaders and people in that time. He hated the fact that they sinned (but everyone sins, according to the book of Romans), but He loved them. Same thing Christians today are called to do. It wasn't the prostitutes, the tax collectors and the robbers who repented that He wanted to kick out of the Temple, but rather those who appeared to be following the teachings, but their heart simply wasn't there.

That is probably one of the main reasons why He criticized the Pharisees so much while He was preaching.

Despite what anyone thinks, it's human nature to try to figure out where they're from after a certain length is cut from Man's Timeline.

We have created religions and built churches, we have spent a cornucopia of money on preachers to give us our placebo every week. We place trust in something that can not be scientifically proven. We do not place faith in humanity, and if we did, the world would be a farther more rational, safe place.

Men can do no evil except by religious conviction.

Sadly, many decide to keep the spiritual crutch, denying them the pleasures that make life satisfying. Priests give up the love of a woman for life to instead read out of a book and say a prayer for no rational reason. Faith is faith, and it is nothing more.

As for me, my beliefs are clear. There is no reason to justly believe in a God. All apologetics, all revelations, all questions can be answered in a scientific sense. People used to believe tourettes was a demon manifestation. Today we know the truth. How ignorant we were to actually think that Zeus created man! How wise we are today to know that it is not Zues, but Jesus that instead created man! Oh, I am glad that humans are holier and more are saved from hell than back then.

I am making myself clear, I doubt anything is opaque in this post now. Now, I am not all-knowing, but bring all pro-religious questions to me and I'll try my damnest to answer them in a scientific sense.

Right, well in a scientific sense can you tell us the meaning of life? I mean, the only explanation for life's meaning is provided by Darwin and all that he suggests is simply having sexual intercourse with as many women as possible and to avoid the use of condoms/effective birth control, which is obviously unsatisfactory for a deeper philosophical meaning. Perhaps religion is not true but it instills a deeper philosophical meaning into life that cannot be given by most other sources. Not only this but being religious seems to have benefits as religious people have longer lasting marriages and can use religion as a source of strength. I have even read in my psychology textbook about a psychologist that claimed that some people use God as a secure base for exploration and a safe haven when threatened.

I do realize that you dislike religion for your own reasons and I do dislike the times that religion has interfered with scientific progress, however, the religious gain actual benefits from their religion. The spiritual crutch may provide real advantages for society and for the individuals that partake in such. Religion is a powerful tool and as such I do not think that it should be dismantled but instead needs to be used to further human progress. Rationality has great importance but human actions are never entirely rational, the emotional and spiritual nature of human beings must not be forgotten and religion addresses this.