Religion

Even though school has ended and I do not have the awesome Hope bus to take me to church every sunday, I continue to go most Sundays. This time, I go with Mike's family, who I am living with for the duration of the summer. They are evangelical protestants, from what I've observed, and it seems that most of Forest Lake feels the same way. During the past month I have visited two churches.
The first church Mike's family has gone to for what seems like forever, compared to my church-going background. The first service, I stepped in and there seemed to be an old hippie waving a flag while a band played on the stage. yes. stage. At least there was a center isle... After beginning church, and singing a few christian songs, the (pastor?) started preaching about Mother's day and asked all the women in the congregation to meet him in front of the church. At this point I was wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into. Being very conservative in religious matters, I did not stand and walk to the front... I think there were maybe four or five other girls who did the same as I. Needless to say, it was creepy. Then to make it worse, the man asked all the men to stand around the women and put their hands up and pray. Inside, I screamed. Once all these shenanigans were through the man then started yelling and ranting about how women and men should stay married- no matter what- and stated that women cannot nurture children properly unless accompanied by a husband. Not only is this untrue, it insulted me and ruined any respect I could have for that man. One example: if a man is beating or verbally abusing his wife- how the fuck can a woman nurture a child in that environment?!? This is a perfect example of how certain criminals of society were raised. In the preacher man's eyes-geez can I even call him such a term- the woman should stay married to the man and nurture the child in this environment. I believe that God, in this case, would want the woman to leave the man and take the kid with her. There are very well and good reasons for divorce today and I certainly believe that children can be brought up without a father- dead or divorced. I was subjected to another service in this church two weeks later. Even though it was not creepy, the man tiraded yet another sermon and further unimpressed me.
Today, I went to a different church. Mike's family have been "shopping around" for a new church- I do not question why. This one, Eaglebrook, they seem to like. There are police escorts directing traffic into the parking lot of the church, which is good... safe... and it made me excited to see why all of these people would come to this church. Eaglebrook boasts at least four services per weekend and a church that cannot hold all of its members. Again, I was excited to see why all these people would come to such a church. Walking inside, I thought it looked like a hotel lobby, but not being one to judge a book for its cover- I withheld judgement until the service started.
It started out more like a rock concert than anything. Whatever happened to worship songs?!? People don't seem to know the difference between Christian rock and worship songs. Worship songs are hymnals- as unexciting as they may be, and psalms- directly from THE BIBLE. Speaking of the Bible- there weren't any in this church. What kind of church doesn't have Bibles?? Seriously. How could this be credible? There was no scripture read, no hymns sung, and the worst part was that the congregational area was designed like an auditorium. There was a stage and no aisle. It almost seemed as if we went to see a church rock show with guest speaker- that is exactly what it was. It was even broadcasted to another church! There were also several positive things that may or may not have suprised me. The quantity of people was incredible. If people wish to gather like that to hear the word of God, it is perfectly fine by me. Just don't call it church. Also, the (pastor?) ahem.. "speaker" was excellent. I almost wish he spoke at the first church- then I would go. And ignore the hippie.
After the service at Eaglebrook I was given a tour by Mike of what else the church has to offer. I was suprised- shocked. There is a "kids zone" and an arcade. An arcade! Why?? There was also a book store and coffee shop. Eaglebrook no longer seemed like a hotel lobby, it seemed more like a plaza center. I was about to ask where the public pool was when we left (haha kidding).
Please don't take these views offensively, because that is exactly what they are- my views. I guess you could view this as a disclaimer or a warning that traditional churches are dying and I yearn for them, the lessons they taught, and values they instilled.
Back in the day, the Bible was the most important thing in a church- it seems that they have driven themselves far from that value.
Maybe I should just convert to Catholicism. Ironically those churches seem to keep the closest to teaching directly from the Bible. At least the few churhces that I've been to.