Well, I agree that Christ comes first, and if there's something going on in my life, I always pray so that I can know if it's something God wants me to do or not. But I do think that denominations can play a very significant role in not only joining a church, but how good of a relationship you can have with God.
The last church I was with was an Evangelistic church. And yes, they stayed with the teachings of the Bible and yes, they taught the Word with a good deal of love. But I didn't like hearing things like "You can't be good friends with people who don't share your faith" or "Secular music is bad for you." They seemed like such trivial things, but these were the things they were teaching us. I felt like they were teaching us to think that we couldn't associate with everyone else; to me, that was contradictory to what Jesus wants us to do because thinking like that only closes off acceptance. To me, they emphasized a lot on the RULES and CONDUCT of religion. I didn't feel right with that.
The current church I go to (First Southern Baptist) fits in so much better to what I felt being a Christian was like. They emphasize a lot on a personal relationship with God, which is what I always thought it should be like. They teach the Bible using scripture to SUPPORT that having this personal relationship is very important; just doing good things won't get you into Heaven. And many of these things I agree with. I feel at home here than I ever did at my old church; I was even baptized at my old church, but I didn't want to keep going to a place where I didn't feel comfortable.
But that's my personal experience. I know it varies from person to person, but in my case, the denomination seemed to play a huge part in me coming back to God; if I didn't feel so much at home there, I don't think I'd be in church right now.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-11-08 08:08 pm (UTC)The last church I was with was an Evangelistic church. And yes, they stayed with the teachings of the Bible and yes, they taught the Word with a good deal of love. But I didn't like hearing things like "You can't be good friends with people who don't share your faith" or "Secular music is bad for you." They seemed like such trivial things, but these were the things they were teaching us. I felt like they were teaching us to think that we couldn't associate with everyone else; to me, that was contradictory to what Jesus wants us to do because thinking like that only closes off acceptance. To me, they emphasized a lot on the RULES and CONDUCT of religion. I didn't feel right with that.
The current church I go to (First Southern Baptist) fits in so much better to what I felt being a Christian was like. They emphasize a lot on a personal relationship with God, which is what I always thought it should be like. They teach the Bible using scripture to SUPPORT that having this personal relationship is very important; just doing good things won't get you into Heaven. And many of these things I agree with. I feel at home here than I ever did at my old church; I was even baptized at my old church, but I didn't want to keep going to a place where I didn't feel comfortable.
But that's my personal experience. I know it varies from person to person, but in my case, the denomination seemed to play a huge part in me coming back to God; if I didn't feel so much at home there, I don't think I'd be in church right now.