What church should I belong to, or should I even bother?

I guess it totally is up to you, but I say don’t bother. I think church is a bit of a waste of time. I could be doing more productive things, or sleeping, or anything really.

People usually go to Church because they need the feelings that concentrated, purposeful community-oriented spirituality provides. If you don’t feel that need, why go?

But if you’d like to experiment, try some different places. Try a Vedanta Temple, or an AME church, or a Jewish Synagogue, and see what happens.

Try several churches and see what strikes you as what you’re looking for. We go to a Christian church and love it, and I think any denomination is fine… they’re all a little different but the main points are the same.

It really depends on your current belief system. If you’re going for community and fellowship it’s going to matter what the others believe. It’s an indescribable bond when they all believe the same things as you.

Don’t join one. It’s not worth it.

@cbloom8 What a terrible and naive thing to say.

This is a question you need to ask yourself.

you also need to answer it yourself

Check this out, it helped me a lot: (write church in the search)

www.GotQuestions.org
and
www.AllAboutGod.com/all-subjects.htm

Are you looking for community, spirituality, both, neither?

I was raised in the Unitarian Universalist church and have only good things to say about it. It’s heavy on community, light on spirituality, and a pretty decent way to spend a Sunday morning.

I ask this only because of the topics you put here.

Are you looking for a social event? Or are you looking to get closer to god?

I always figured black churches were fun social places.

I’d dont think you should join a church or other religious group. I feel that they just slow down the worlds progress. If you feel like devoting your time to something try Wikipedia. Join their RC patrol.

As said above, I would just visit a different church every week until I found one I liked and into which I seemed to fit.

The church I am in right now is vaguely Baptist (I was raised as a Congregationalist, with an Episcopalian father and a Unitarian mother, and Jewish, Catholic and Quaker cousins) but is very strong on reaching out and doing for others. I like that part, so I have joined even if I am not a “believer.” I am a believer in helping others, and that’s enough for me.

Church can provide instant community. People care, and can be very warm and welcoming. However, they usually expect you to show fealty to their beliefs. Not always. You could join a synagogue, and they wouldn’t make you believe in God or anything. You could join a Buddhist monastery, and they wouldn’t make you believe any dogma. But most churches expect you to believe what they say you should believe.

Acting like you believe something you don’t really believe and probably will never believe in order to belong to a group forces you to not be yourself, and that can’t be good. All in all, for me anyway, it’s best not to join any religious organization that has pretty serious dogma. I think I could be happy in a Quaker, Unitarian, Buddhist or Jewish situation. Who knows, maybe even Bahai or liberal forms of Islam.

But I don’t really want to bother. I have a community. I belong. I have relationships and friends and education and spirituality. I don’t need to belong to a church. I don’t see what it would add to my life, and it certainly has a good chance of taking things away from my life.

Well I would suggest that you go to any particular organization that you are drawn to. Be friendly and try to be accepting of different views and opinions. The idea of community is a powerfully transformative experience.
I went through various incarnations in my twenties from Universalist to Pentecostal and eventually found zen. I think the idea of a community in any form reminds us all to maintain “right size” in life. That we are one among many.

And I think communal life devoid of agenda is what we are sorely missing in this country. Say what we will about generations like the 50’s, there was nevertheless a community trust that was a good thing. I think we need that sentiment again.
One moon shows in every pool; in every pool, the one moon.
– Zen Forest Saying

If you’re wondering if you should even bother, you might not enjoy it anyway. If you have religious beliefs, you could go join a volunteer group that is associated with it (I think there are more Christian stuff out there than anything else), and have a community there that still encourages your beliefs while helping others. I’d imagine that would feel more fulfilling than sitting in a pew going through the motions.

Try Evelynism, its a completely free church, and since the deity known as Evelynism is a 300 foot tall woman with six boobies, it is definitely the BIGGEST religion out there.

We don’t have blood drives, but then, neither do the JWs.

@BBSDTfamily like the Jewish saying, many roads to the same island.

@NaturalMineralWater about @cbloom8 it’s a double edge sword it’s not 100% that religion is the way to go or there would be no need for faith. Thank you though, honestly

One of my close friends, who was raised, JW goes to church still during certain holiday’s but really is not JW anymore. She does not believe that only JW’s can go to heaven, or that other religions are wrong, and she votes, and she is angry she was not allowed to go to college (maybe some of these rules have changed since she was young) but she feels comfortable in that church and some of the traditions she was raised with I guess. Still, if you ask her what religion she is she simply replies, Christian, don’t get me wrong, she does not hide she was JW in any way, but I guess there is no real way for a JW to practice the religion halfway, even though she technically does.

The other two people I am aquainted with who were raised Jehova identify as Christian’s and tried out various churches until they found one that was a good fit.

If you feel the need to belong to a church, which would not surprise me since you were raised very religiously, I would recommend a nondenominational church maybe? Also, you might want to read up on the various religions and see which one you identify most with. In the religious section of a book store you can even find “Idiots guide” on religion that are easy reading and very informative.

Or, you could do nothing like me. Well, I am Jewish, but never really practiced my religion except for an occasional candle lighting at chanukah or getting together with family on passover.

You are the temple of God.

@bumwithablackberry wouldn’t that be bridges, since you would have to be able to breathe underwater to reach an island by road?

One that values freedom of religion and critical thinking.