Basic HTML Version
A very /arge segment of the population of the Western world attends
churck on Sunday mornings. Why do they go? What do these churchgoers believe, and
why? The p/ain truth is a little shocking- and illuminating!
WHATDO
CHURCHGOERS
A
BELIEVE?
;\,../
NDWHI
?
r.=====-1 othing is so aston-
N
ishing as the truth!
lt
is
often stranger
than fiction. Most
people who attend
eh urch regularly,
,________, or even occasion-
ally, would be really surprised if
they should probe into their own
minds far enough to ask why they
go, and just what is their religious
belief-and why?
Do You Know?
As a baby,
1
was taken to church. As
a child,
1
was taken to Sunday
school and church.
It
was a Quaker
church. 1 attended church until I
was eighteen. Then
1
began attend–
ing the theater, athletic contests,
and dances instead. . But when we
were married, my wife and
1
felt we
ought to attend church. We looked
over the churches in the general
area of our home, selected one that
was convenient and respectable,
with a modern building, a friendly
and personable pastor, and mem–
bers we liked sociaUy.
But WHY did we join? WHY did
we attend church?
Well, we just felt we ought to–
that's about al!. Did we stop to ana–
lyze
why
we ought to attend church?
Well, no. We supposed all people
2
•
by
Herbert W. Armstrong
should
attend church, should they
not? Hasn't everybody always
heard
that one should go to church?
lt
seems we had.
Most people simply assume, take
for granted, and accept without
question what they've always heard.
Usually they don't know why.
What Dld We Believe?
Did we have a definite religion? Re–
ftecting back, my answer would
have to be "No." How about you?
What did we believe? Well, we
had no deep-rooted convictions. We
believed, of course, those things we
had most often heard in church. We
supposed there was a heaven and a
hell- an ever burning he!!. We be–
lieved- or supposed we did- in the
immortality of the soul. We believed
in observing Sunday as the weekly
day of worship, in celebrating
Christmas, New Year's and Easter.
From boyhood I had heard the pas–
tor talk about a few weird things, or
names, that had absolutely no
mean i ng to me-" Pentecost,"
"grace," "Antioch," "sanctification,"
"justification," "dead in trespasses
and sins." Of course I knew al! those
things carne out of the Bible- but
then, I always said:
"1
just can't un–
derstand the Bible."
And, speaking of the Bible, what
does
the average churchgoer think
about the Bible? I think that in
those years I was typical of many. It
was "the
good
book." I did, in a
way, regard it with a certain super–
stitious awe. It was beyond my com–
prehension. Of course
1
assumed
our church got its beliefs out of the
Bible. The preacher alone could un–
derstand it.
Did
1
look on the Bible as "the
Word of God"? Well , yes, I suppose
so. But then I never thought of it in
specific
terms as the message, the
instruction of God, to give man the
explanation of what he is, why he is
here, where he is going, how he
ought to live, and how he can be
happy, prosperous, and enjoy life
more.
Somehow religion was for Sunday
morning-except that I had been
taught that its prohibitions !asted all
day Sunday.
It
was sin to go to the
theater on Sunday-and probably at
any time, since it was regarded as
worldly-and it was a sin ever to
dance, smoke, swear, or drink. Play–
ing cards was sin, too. Aside from a
few such things,
J
had no idea what
my church
believed.
Except for a few such church
teachings, religion was for Sunday
morning and had no connection
whatever with my life otherwise. Of
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1977