I've been wondering
Before I begin, just two quick orders of business:
1. Maverick got his first stripe last night in karate and Grasshopper earned his orange belt! I'll have two karate masters on my hands soon it appears.
2. I'm typing this post at work but Mrs. Mogul need not worry, as it's during my lunch hour. So I'm on my time.
Now, on to the main thrust of my post. This thought occurred to me last week when reading another blog and it came up again in the sermon at Church on Sunday, so I thought I would pose the question.
I've been reading a lot lately comments/posts/etc that they are religous but do not go to church/attend services/belong to a "religion"/whatever. And I'm a little confused by this, so I was hoping for some enlightment from any of my readers that feel they fall into this category. To begin, I'm not specifically addressing Christians. Regardless of what your "faith" is, if faith is important to you, why do you practice it alone?
My feeling on the issue is that if faith is important to a person, then that faith should be practiced with others of like faith. To be a little more specific, being a Catholic is not just about believing in Jesus. Part of it is worshipping God. Sure, I can worship and pray on my own, but it's not the same. Worshipping as a community gives me much more strength. For example, I've been a member of several musical groups at our church. The people I've met are an incredibly close knit group that supports each other like family. Part of it is the music, but more of it is the shared believes and faith. When one member of the group needs help, everyone goes out of their way to do something. And this is not just confined to the music groups. I see it all over our church with those that participate in the community. Those actively involved in the life of the church and the community get so much more out of it than they put in. Both the Wife and I have met so many people we otherwise would not know. And they are some of the best people around. It's not perfect, and some people in the community can annoy, but their people, so you got to expect that.
Then there's all the other things I get out of just going to Mass every week. Setting aside for a moment the fact you can't take the Eucharist unless you go to Mass, the sense of peace and renew I get from going to Mass speaks for itself. I can't count how many times I've been in a rotten mood or am worried about something and I feel better after getting out of church. So I guess for me, having faith and attending Mass go hand in hand.
So I'm genuinely curious as to why someone would say they have faith but do not want to publicly practice that faith with other like minded people. Because it seems like you'd be missing out on a lot. Can anyone enlighten me?
1. Maverick got his first stripe last night in karate and Grasshopper earned his orange belt! I'll have two karate masters on my hands soon it appears.
2. I'm typing this post at work but Mrs. Mogul need not worry, as it's during my lunch hour. So I'm on my time.
Now, on to the main thrust of my post. This thought occurred to me last week when reading another blog and it came up again in the sermon at Church on Sunday, so I thought I would pose the question.
I've been reading a lot lately comments/posts/etc that they are religous but do not go to church/attend services/belong to a "religion"/whatever. And I'm a little confused by this, so I was hoping for some enlightment from any of my readers that feel they fall into this category. To begin, I'm not specifically addressing Christians. Regardless of what your "faith" is, if faith is important to you, why do you practice it alone?
My feeling on the issue is that if faith is important to a person, then that faith should be practiced with others of like faith. To be a little more specific, being a Catholic is not just about believing in Jesus. Part of it is worshipping God. Sure, I can worship and pray on my own, but it's not the same. Worshipping as a community gives me much more strength. For example, I've been a member of several musical groups at our church. The people I've met are an incredibly close knit group that supports each other like family. Part of it is the music, but more of it is the shared believes and faith. When one member of the group needs help, everyone goes out of their way to do something. And this is not just confined to the music groups. I see it all over our church with those that participate in the community. Those actively involved in the life of the church and the community get so much more out of it than they put in. Both the Wife and I have met so many people we otherwise would not know. And they are some of the best people around. It's not perfect, and some people in the community can annoy, but their people, so you got to expect that.
Then there's all the other things I get out of just going to Mass every week. Setting aside for a moment the fact you can't take the Eucharist unless you go to Mass, the sense of peace and renew I get from going to Mass speaks for itself. I can't count how many times I've been in a rotten mood or am worried about something and I feel better after getting out of church. So I guess for me, having faith and attending Mass go hand in hand.
So I'm genuinely curious as to why someone would say they have faith but do not want to publicly practice that faith with other like minded people. Because it seems like you'd be missing out on a lot. Can anyone enlighten me?
Comments