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Church on Easter Sunday/The Religion Thread

Church on Easter Sunday

  • Yes - I always go

    Votes: 78 43.6%

  • Yes - It's one of the only days of the year I go

    Votes: 23 12.8%

  • Nope - I never go

    Votes: 78 43.6%
  • Total voters
    179
PH, what about the idea of guilt or tradition?

I know quite a good amount of people, especially at my age (college demographic), that rarely ever go to church but consider themselves Christians. Then when Easter and Christmas come around, they feel they are obligated to go to Church because that's what good Christians do.

However, they do not go to church every Sunday because they have already convinced themselves that they can worship and be a good Christian without having to go to church weekly.

I am not casting judgment or saying this is okay or wrong, I am just pointing out that I know it exists. I would also believe that a good deal would not admit that they only go to church twice a year, even though they are probably closer to going twice a year than every Sunday.
 
PhDeac said:
You don't get my point, wakephan. There are two questions here:

Why would someone who believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ rarely go to church and only go on Easter?

Why would you assume someone who rarely goes to church is Christian enough that they'd go out of their way to go to church one or two Sundays out of the year?

Again, the results support my point. Only 22% of the posters who don't regularly go to church go on Easter Sunday.

At my church, we didn't have nearly as many visitors as I expected.
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There are several reasons that some people only go to church on Xmas/Easter. Here are a few I can think of:
1. They aren't sure if they really believe in that shit or not, but it just seems like the right thing to do to them those 2 most important holidays.
2. They believe that they can escape hellfire as long as they go on those two days and repent their sins of the past year as this is the minimum requirement in their minds.
3. They believe, but they are just plain lazy, and religion isn't the highest priority in their lives so they usually are too busy or distracted to go weekly, but they always remember the 2 biggest days.
4. They don't believe but like to go as a cultural experience once a year
 
Response

PhDeac said:
You don't get my point, wakephan. There are two questions here:

Why would someone who believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ rarely go to church and only go on Easter?

My guess is that if they aren't serious about the religion and they were going to choose to go once, they would choose the holiday that is the most important.

Why would you assume someone who rarely goes to church is Christian enough that they'd go out of their way to go to church one or two Sundays out of the year?

I would not assume. People do a lot of things to maintain appearances, to make other people happy, or to appease their own conscience.

But you are the sociology guy. I am sure you know a lot more about these sorts of things than I do.
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AnonymousDeac said:
PH, what about the idea of guilt or tradition?

I know quite a good amount of people, especially at my age (college demographic), that rarely ever go to church but consider themselves Christians. Then when Easter and Christmas come around, they feel they are obligated to go to Church because that's what good Christians do.

However, they do not go to church every Sunday because they have already convinced themselves that they can worship and be a good Christian without having to go to church weekly.

I am not casting judgment or saying this is okay or wrong, I am just pointing out that I know it exists. I would also believe that a good deal would not admit that they only go to church twice a year, even though they are probably closer to going twice a year than every Sunday.
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That's what I'm talking about. They believe "good Christians" go to church on Easter but not every other Sunday? The logic is curious. I definitely agree that they probably wouldn't admit it.
 
Go to church on easter, christmas eve and a couple other sundays a year. Don't consider myself super religious but do think it was positive when I was a kid. Most of the time today was spent making fun of our churchs service with my brother in the balcony.
 
Manifest Destiny said:
Go to church on easter, christmas eve and a couple other sundays a year. Don't consider myself super religious but do think it was positive when I was a kid. Most of the time today was spent making fun of our churchs service with my brother in the balcony.
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Oh really. Did there happen to be any fairylike women dancing around your church service today?
 
The priest at my church always gives a warning the week before Easter and Christmas. "They're coming to take your seats!"

I think Catholics have the largest version of this phenomenon. There are usually around double the people at a holiday mass as there are for a regular one at my church. I'm sure part of this is families being together for the holidays, but I would think the added numbers there would be somewhat balanced by those who are out of town themselves. I think the assumption of many Catholics is that one can do whatever they want, but so long as they ask forgiveness on occasion everything will be fine.
 
Good post, redwing. I was back in NC last year for Easter and several usuals weren't at our church today.
 
If you skip every other Sunday, there was no point in going today to make you feel good about yourself.
 
redwing42 said:
The priest at my church always gives a warning the week before Easter and Christmas. "They're coming to take your seats!"

I think Catholics have the largest version of this phenomenon. There are usually around double the people at a holiday mass as there are for a regular one at my church. I'm sure part of this is families being together for the holidays, but I would think the added numbers there would be somewhat balanced by those who are out of town themselves. I think the assumption of many Catholics is that one can do whatever they want, but so long as they ask forgiveness on occasion everything will be fine.
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I completely agree with that statement. I have noticed tat as well.
 
Jesus Christ said:
whatever. my only step taken was to hit up santa on the SMS. birther should find himself on the "accidentally end up in east winston after missing the exit for kohl's" list this holiday season. i appreciate churchgoers as much as the next deity, but it can't cure idiocy.
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You know what kills a good parody?

Overuse.
 
I don't believe in God but if I did going only on the "high holidays" would seem hypocritical. I think it's ok to go though with family to make mom happy. I used to do that on xmas eve. Now I don't go at all.
 
PhDeac said:
At my church, we didn't have nearly as many visitors as I expected.
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I think we average around 350-500 for the late service each week (we have 3 services). The communion count was around 800. Now some of these were family members in town for the holiday (i.e. college students, adults in their 20s, and families that have moved away) and some of them were CEOs (Christmas and Easter Only), and then the final group were visitors.
 
KeystoneDeac10 said:
I have noticed that the more people go to church, the more they tend to judge those who don't.
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I'm not judging anybody, but like the last poster said it's hypocritical to only go on certain holidays. People that go then just do it for their conscience.
 
Wakegrad said:
I'm not judging anybody, but like the last poster said it's hypocritical to only go on certain holidays. People that go then just do it for their conscience.
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I am far from religious but I think it's pretty silly to claim that it's hypocritical to attend church only a few times.

There are many ways to believe in a religion and attending church or a service every week is far from a requirement. I do not think religion should be about fulfilling obligations such as attending church every week, but finding out what works for you.

Who am I to judge someone for the way they follow their religion? Let people find their own religious norm and live as they choose.
 
Wakegrad said:
I'm not judging anybody, but like the last poster said it's hypocritical to only go on certain holidays. People that go then just do it for their conscience.
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Ok, my bad. Reading comprehension eludes me today. I can agree with you there.
 
Wakegrad said:
I'm not judging anybody, but like the last poster said it's hypocritical to only go on certain holidays. People that go then just do it for their conscience.
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Sentence 1: "I'm not judging anybody."

Sentence 2: Judgement!
 
Here is my point: If you believe in what Jesus did and are truly convicted then it seems to me like you would want to be in Church every weekend, at the least. If you want to wait til the right time comes along or whenever you are good and comfortable to go to Church, then I wouldn't consider you a true Christian. There are many people who believe that will die and go to Hell. Right or wrong, that's my opinion.
 
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