Why church at all?

Why does anyone go to church at all? 

No doubt people have many different reasons both conscious and unconscious. Psychological research has identified certain personality types as having different reasons.

A widely accepted method of measuring personality type is the Five Factor Model (FFM) which measures:

You have to do your part.

(I am a Christian and this post is written from that frame of reference. There is no bias in it and it is relevant to all religions and their 'gods')

I am amazed how many Christians rely on their God to make it through whatever it is they are going through. To see it is awesome and inspiring indeed. The problem to me is when they rely on God when they have not or are not prepared to do their side of the deal.

Let me paint a few pictures. They may not all apply to you, but I hope you get the overall point.

1) You are writing a big exam and you did not do any studying and you fail or do not get the mark that you think you 'deserve'. You blame God.

2) You are expecting to get the big raise and or promotion. You have done nothing more than usual or over and above what you normally do. You do not get the raise or promotion. You actually get a disciplinary reprimand for not doing your job. You blame God (or your boss).

3) You enter an athletic event but do not train as you should or hoped to. You land up doing a bad time or even drop out and do not finish. You blame God

The question is: how is God going to help you when you have not done your side? Yes he is all powerful and can do anything. I believe that and trust Him to do that. I will illustrate it another way: I register for a course in art with a local teacher. I do not go to classes and at the end of the course I pray and pray that God will get me through the exam with an awesome painting - sorry - not going to happen!

Stop blaming God for your shortfalls! I am to blame here - I can honestly say I do not blame God very often but I have asked the big questions of Him.

My theory to this is simple and it's an adaption of my mom’s old favourite saying before exams. She always says 'do your best and guess the rest'. Good advice. My saying is 'do your best and let God do the rest'.

He ALWAYS does his side of things - what’s your excuse for not doing your side?

Twice a year is not enough!

Easter (and its related holidays) is now over and its back to work! Whilst driving around this weekend, I saw a very good yet disturbing sight - full church parking lots.


Before you jump to any conclusions, let me explain. I see this trend twice a year. Many people who do not go to church on a regular basis cram into the local church on two occasions a year, namely Easter and Christmas, for reasons that elude me and sometimes even them. Possible reasons are guilt, a sense of duty and so on.
Why only twice a year? I can understand the timing of the mass entrance to churches being the birth and death of Jesus Christ but what about the rest of the year? He came to save you ALL YEAR ROUND not just because you felt the need to go twice a year.


He is your best friend and Saviour and this is how you treat Him? How would you feel if your best friend (and Saviour) came to visit twice a year?