marieolae: Ok we were having this debate in my house and I felt the need to come on nairaland to express my thoughts on this. Its a question that has been bothering me. Which I'm yet to find the answer to

Well we all know that Jesus emphasised the importance of his church. The bible emphasizes regular worship, bible study and fellowship with other believers. But on the other hand..

What is a christian?

Many people who do not believe in Jesus christ believe they are christians simply because they go to church. If I decide to worship God at home, following his commandments at home, does this make me less of a christian?

In my church at the moment, the elders are currently having a major disagreement over money. The pastor and other leaders of the church have tried to talk to them, but all is in vain. These are the people who go to the church on Tuesdays for bible study, Thursdays for prayer meeting, Saturdays for evangelism, and on Sundays from 9am-4pm. It has escalated to the point that outsiders have heard about what is going on in the church. Is this the kind of behaviour that church-goers are meant to have?

So I just want to get your opinion, if I refuse to go the church, but decide to worship God in my house, am I worthy to be called a christian? please, I need answers !

geophyscist: ma

XketchDesigns: I noticed you have tried to improve on your spelling mistakes but your punctuation is still horrible. Keep working on it sweety.

emmyspark007: No....but go to church...dis gal u too like NL eh!

marieolae: yess oo

marieolae: Ok we were having this debate in my house and I felt the need to come on nairaland to express my thoughts on this. Its a question that has been bothering me. Which I'm yet to find the answer to

Well we all know that Jesus emphasised the importance of his church. The bible emphasizes regular worship, bible study and fellowship with other believers. But on the other hand..

What is a christian?

Many people who do not believe in Jesus christ believe they are christians simply because they go to church. If I decide to worship God at home, following his commandments at home, does this make me less of a christian?

In my church at the moment, the elders are currently having a major disagreement over money. The pastor and other leaders of the church have tried to talk to them, but all is in vain. These are the people who go to the church on Tuesdays for bible study, Thursdays for prayer meeting, Saturdays for evangelism, and on Sundays from 9am-4pm. It has escalated to the point that outsiders have heard about what is going on in the church. Is this the kind of behaviour that church-goers are meant to have?

So I just want to get your opinion, if I refuse to go the church, but decide to worship God in my house, am I worthy to be called a christian? please, I need answers !

ITbomb: It is explicitly written, 'do not neglect the gathering of the saints'.

You would agree with me that if you go to a spirit fill church, you feel recharged after each meetings.
We have the spirit of truth in us that tell us when things are not the way it suppose to be, and that is the spirit talking to you now.

My advice is that instead of you to be brought down from grace by the ones that supposed to lead you to grace, you change association. Staying away from church will bring a gradual sublime decay to your soul till it reach a point nothing else matters to you.

Don't just walk into a new church, listen to messages on TV and understand whether the pastor is talking about only your physical prosperity or he preaches love and soul upliftment, look at the life of those who attend the church, do they translate love in all their dealings or they are living a 'Pastor says' life.

Get a living church and worship, constant teaching of the word of God opens up your life to a new meaning

marieolae: grow up. Thanks

XketchDesigns:
You're welcome. However, it wasn't a complement.

franugo: I wudn't know beautiful, i don't go 2 church 8 months in a yr

debraleey: Going to church alone does not qualify one to be a christian. Just as someone stated, Christianity is behaving Christ-like. But from my point of view, a truly zealous Christian would not contemplate going to church, as he or she will want to go to any extent in serving the Lord thru service groups n so on. Even the Bible encourages us to fellowship with the brethren. Not trying to judge but even from NL alone we can see that a lot of church goers r not even Christians. A lot of us tend to be religious rather than spiritual....i've deviated already.....may God help us all n grant us understanding in Jesus' name.....Amen.......

marieolae: ok my question is..can I worship God from my house? Without going to church..Is it really bad?

emmyspark007:
Yes u can..but no offence it seems u r lazy

marieolae: pls this is nt a personal experience. We were debating about this in my house this mornin on our way to church.

XketchDesigns:
You're welcome. However, it wasn't a complement.

marieolae: ok my question is..can I worship God from my house? Without going to church..Is it really bad?

Ymodulus:

You need to ask yourself is there a God at the first place.


I will neglect the fact am Atheist and answer you from a neutral perspective but outside the four walls of the religion thought or dogma.



there is no command in scripture which says that a believer in Christ must attend a church building in order to worship God? This is true. Also, there are no examples of any follower of Christ going to a church building to worship God. They worshipped God by their obedience to Him in every area of life, every day of their lives. They did not worship Him by giving only one hour of their time every week to some temple made with hands.

A "Church" is basically a temple made with hands. Does God dwell in temples made with hands? Scripture tells us:

Acts 7:48, "Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;"
Acts 17:24, "God...dwelleth not in temples made with hands;"

Keep in mind that the real question we seek to ask is not whether we are to worship, but how we are to worship. Perhaps the question is also where we are to do that. Are we able to do these things only in a building whose mortgage payments are being paid by a State-incorporated ecclesiastical institution, or may we obey them in our homes, or in a context of decentralized, informal, voluntary gatherings? The question before us is, need we "attend church?" Need we hear the "sermons" of special priests in order to obey the Biblical commands to exhort one another and discuss the Scriptures? Can we obey these commands if we only "attend church"?


Answer is no

Ymodulus:


Rotflmao. You are crazy. Seriously.

marieolae: why is that so?

marieolae: why is that so?

valmunich:
I'm still tryna figure out what was so funny about his comment

Ymodulus:

You need to ask yourself is there a God at the first place.


I will neglect the fact am Atheist and answer you from a neutral perspective but outside the four walls of the religion thought or dogma.



there is no command in scripture which says that a believer in Christ must attend a church building in order to worship God? This is true. Also, there are no examples of any follower of Christ going to a church building to worship God. They worshipped God by their obedience to Him in every area of life, every day of their lives. They did not worship Him by giving only one hour of their time every week to some temple made with hands.

A "Church" is basically a temple made with hands. Does God dwell in temples made with hands? Scripture tells us:

Acts 7:48, "Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;"
Acts 17:24, "God...dwelleth not in temples made with hands;"

Keep in mind that the real question we seek to ask is not whether we are to worship, but how we are to worship. Perhaps the question is also where we are to do that. Are we able to do these things only in a building whose mortgage payments are being paid by a State-incorporated ecclesiastical institution, or may we obey them in our homes, or in a context of decentralized, informal, voluntary gatherings? The question before us is, need we "attend church?" Need we hear the "sermons" of special priests in order to obey the Biblical commands to exhort one another and discuss the Scriptures? Can we obey these commands if we only "attend church"?


Answer is no

Y did jesus have to drive away marketers from the temple in jerusalem..

Why did the disciples have to gather at a place to receive anointing from the holyspirit...

Mind you the Bible said that wheresoever 2 or 3 are gathered in my name(the Lord)...I (the Lord) am in their midst

No one ever told u dat God dwells inside the church building..

The church is jst a name given to a place where people gather in one faith to worship the Almighty and so dimmed to be a Holy place...