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It is okay
if you don't want to it's your choice
nobody should be forced to |
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Of course it's ok not to attend church. It really is your choice. |
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God does not only want to pray, but to act as well. How many of you know people who go to church and
that's the only religious or generous action they take for the week? I try to help people out all
the time and I do not go to church, yet I still believe that if there is a Heaven, I've got just as
good of a chance of getting in as a church-goer.
If God wants to hate on me because I was a good person but didn't show up to church every Sunday,
then that's not the God that I believe in. |
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Hey, if you didn't go to church, how else would they be able to collect your donation? |
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I agree! I have to also say be good to your fellow man..... |
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Well as long as you don't have an illegitimate ancestor ...Moses (the one who wrote those precious
10 commandments that you think following will ensure your place in a place no one has seen) said
that bastards and their ten generations won't. See Deuteronomy 23:2 If works got people into
heaven...no one would be there! |
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I do not believe in god however i feel that if someone wants to believe in something they can, i am
for the fact that people can skip church as god is suppose to be everywhere therefore you can pray
in your own home it does not stop you from going to heaven, i feel this as there was suppose to be a
manuscript that has been discovered claiming that you can pray anywhere, the roman catholics don't
like this as they have rich churchs and don't want to lose this money because people do not have to
attend it. |
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I agree. God never said he wanted us to go to church anyway. I'm sure even if you don't follow the
ten commandments at times (eg a homeless, starving child stealing bread) then God will forgive you,
so long as you show remorse or it is the only option available to you.
And God didn't write the bible, or build churches. He sent his word via man and sometimes his words
may be tainted through scriptures and writings anyway. If you really believe in God the most
important thing is to feel the connection between yourself and his ethereal being. He is everywhere,
not just in church. |
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I think that people don't always go to church for the teachings. I personally don't follow any of
the religions that have erected churches, but I believe that you're right. As long as they follow
the ten commandments (which I find to be reasonable "codes of conduct"), there should be no reason
to feel ashamed for not attending church. You can pray whenever you want and don't need to set aside
one day per week for worship.
"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy
Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
This is a passage in the bible. |
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If you're a non believer than obviously it is okay to not attend Church. Most people are never
actually in Church any way because they day dream or drift off to a far more exciting place.
As for belivers I still say there is nothing wrong with not attending Church. You don't have to go
to Church to be a Christian, as long as you read the bible, follow what it says, be a good person,
then surely your being a good a Christian.
Also belief is a personal thing for believers, being forced to go to Church would be against their
rights. People should be able to express their reliigon in the way they want, as long as it not
harming others. Church is not necessary to being a good Christian. |
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I do not understand why people should be unilaterally compelled to attend church. By church, i
presume the initiator meant a christian church with all of the traditional structure .
I'm not a christian, but i thought that Jesus taught that church was wherever people gathered in his
name or to discuss such issues.
Frankly the traditional church structure in many cases is merely a relic of the authoritarian
structure of government, whereby the pastor/vicar/priest would preach the status quo, thus Marx's
quotation religion is the opiat of the people.
In effect what i am saying is that church, and the commandments has nothing to do with God. |
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Absolutely. There are an infinite variety of ways to worship God (or NOT to worship God), church is
just one way. And no church I've seen or read about is perfect. They're all full of dogma and
routines. Often the majority of a congregation is zoned out and thinking of something else entirely
so what's the point of them being there? And you can attend church every single day but still be a
wicked person on the street, or you can attend church just once every 10 years but live your daily
life like a Mother Theresa. Being physically in a church means nothing unless you make sure it
means something to you. |
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One of the requirements for my child's confirmation preparation, is to attend mass every week.
During mass he needs to fill out a mass attendance ticket and put information on it like the date,
the gathering song, the gospel and what the homily was about and the closing song. Then my child
has to sign it and hand deliver this to priest after mass. Am I crazy or is this just unreasonable?
We may be changing our parish because of this! |
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Yes and No.
Froggy believes there should be a reason for a person to not got to church but she also excuses them
if they don't.
If a person does not go because it is just boring to listen to it, that's not a good enough reason
in Froggy's opinion.
People may or may not agree with Froggy but she doesn't go not because she doesn't believe in God,
not because she thinks it's boring, but because she doesn't believe in the Church.
There is a difference between believeing the church and believe in Faith and God.
The church has become something much less that it used to be 'waaaaaaaaaaaay' back when. Froggy is
an agnostic person if the church feels that it's wrong to question than Froggy sadly cannot comply
to a journey to the alter every Sunday morning.
So yes Froggy does think it's okay to not attend church.
And
No, Froggy doesn't think a person should skip around it just because they don't like sitting in pews
and hearing a priest speak the word of the Lord. |
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Like Romains1 said it depends on your interpretation of church. Jesus made it clear, that the church
was the followers, not the building. No where in the Bible were the Christians EVER told to rebuild
the church, and go to a church building, they worshiped in their homes. This is what Jesus came to
do, was to bring religion to a personal relationship not dogma.
The 10 commandments were part of the LAW.
"If you try to get to heaven by way of the law, you become a debtor to ALL THE LAW."
All 10,000 laws. And you have to keep them all or not go to heaven.
By the way, the SABBATH is on SATURDAY, ask any JEW, they were the ones who wrote it.
In any case, no one can keep the law, that's why Jesus came to FULFILL the law. If you could get
there by the 10 commandments, Jesus died for nothing. |
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In the beginning, was God, and Adam, later on, Eve, and at some point a serpent of temptation.
Adam, walked with God in the garden in the cool of the day.
Surely, this garden-walking, with God, was Adam's church.....?
Meet with God in solitary, in the garden of your heart.
Obey God in the garden of your mind: Yes, that, if you could accomplish that feat, would be def
worthwhile endeavour.
Surely, as good as attending some church? |
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Church is built in your heart. And, it is from your mind, and through your heart you should always
address church issues. |
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 joe9  23 Jul 2008 12:06
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Especially if you don’t believe. But within the context of the question I find it hard to believe
a good god worthy of worship would care more for exactly how you worship than how you spend the
other six and a half days a week. |
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Of course it is. What about Muslims, Sikhs, etc? Of I forgot, since we're not white, straight,
Christian, and middle class, we're going to hell, right? |
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I am a Christian and i believe that you shouldn't have to go to Church to show their love for God. I
have read through the 10 commandments and not one of them states that to be part of God's family we
should go to Church because if it did i suspect that fewer people would believe in him. God is meant
to show love for everyone and so by not allowing someone in to his family just because they don't
attend Church defeats the whole point of God being benevolent!! Churches are simply for people
congregating together and to share prayers together with God, those that don't wish to do this are
within their rights to do so at home alone. Some wish to exploit their prayers in Church and others
may want to just do so to God alone. Church isn't a necessary thing to do as a Christian but one of
choice- remember free will? God gave us that and wanted us to use it!! |
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I'm christian and I haven't been to church in eight year's nothing is wrong with that . |
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It is most defiantly okay not to attend church. I myself do not attend, but I am still very
religious. Besides, there are people who attend church and get nothing from it. |
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I think it is fine to not go to church. As long as you have faith an keep it in your spirit, You'll
be fine. |
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If you get absolutely nothing out of it, and, repeatedly so, then i see no value in it. If you do,
then go.
Look what it's done for Obama. |
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I'm a catholic and I haven't attended church since Christmas, and this is the case with most of my
friends. They only go on special occasions. |
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Nobody should be forced to attend any church. The government cant control where we go. I'm sure god
is will forgive you for missing church. If you want to get REALLY technical, you could argue that we
didn't need to go to church at ALL to be saved, since Jesus died for ALL of our sins. |
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No, in order to serve God one need not go to church every Sunday. In every sphere of our life there
exists God. God is the one and only symbol of faith, sacrifice and love. Thus, to achieve divine
eternity one must help poor, love every creation of God, believe in honesty and should have faith in
God’s teachings. Worshiping God is nothing but service to mankind and we must do so. Attending
church can remind us about holy Bible and its teachings but basic spirituality is always carried in
a person’s heredity and behavior. Moreover instead of contributing money to the priests by
attending church is also not a holy way for achieving spiritualism. Jesus always taught us to love
people to have blessings of God. We must recall - “Always remember my sons that this poor body is
the temple of God”. |
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Hell yah baby! |
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Do not get me wrong, we have a privilege to go to church and I do not think it is a requirement. It
is very good to, though. According to Jesus, all you need to do is to love and believe he is the
savior. You find this all over the Gospel. |
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You'd certainly better hope so because the overwhelming majority of so-called Christians don't
attend church, read the Bible, or usually have a clue what it is they're supposed to believe in the
first place. That's usually because most of them don't care about Christianity at all, they just
claim to believe because they think it makes them look good to the neighbors. |
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Again, there are 2 different arguments in this post.... So i'll pick this one for overall.
I do not think you have to attend a church to have a relationship with God- afterall, that is the
most important thing when it comes to God- having a relationship with Him. It is not about going to
church. A church is a place dedicated for an organized religion (denomination) to meet for
fellowship with people who believe the same as you do. Since there are numerous denominations
(faiths) out there today, I don't see why it's important to attend to church to get into heaven.
All you are doing is agreeing with your pastor that he is correct and everyone else is wrong.
Anyone can have a personal relationship with God in the privacy of themselves- be that home, work,
your car, walking down the street, etc. Anyone can have faith in a higher power and believe as they
wish. A Bible (or other book) is something that is studied by a certain denomination (faith) and
everyone has an opinion as to whose is correct. That being so, how can anyone pick the church that
would get them into heaven?
I also don't know if only living by the 10 commandments would get you into heaven. I believe that
if you treat people the way Jesus would have treated them, you are true to yourself and positive
towards others, keep a healthy open relationship with God and believe that He died on the cross for
our sins, and ask forgiveness for what you consider your own sins, then you have a good shot of
going to heaven. So many people (esp. Church goers) frown upon people and treat them as crap
because of what they are learning or told in their organized religion. They are also more
hypocritical of others, more so than the non church goer.
Therefore, I do not believe in organized religion, and I don't think you have to go to church to get
into heaven. |
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Religion and faith is something that you can not force upon someone. I think it should come down to
your personal choice. If a person does not want to go to church every Sunday he should not be forced
to do so. Like a child can not be forced to study and if forced he may not gain or learn from what
he studies a Christian can’t also be forced to attend the religious sessions at the church weekly. |
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Not everyone has to follow the same beliefs. We have a right to make a choice. |
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They forsook Yahweh's Covenant Law(The Truth/eternal life), dress code(chaste/shamefaced), and the
Sacred Seventh Day(Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) Sabbath and committed idolatry with the Lord
God and Elohim. |
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This entire debate is silly. Lol
Here we go again. The author mentions the 10 commandments. In doing so, the author has declared a
Biblical debate.
If the author was Jewish, I would think the word temple or synagogue would have been used.
The author does not mention Jesus Christ or the New Testament. So I don't know what to think.
I will gear my response to the "christian" comments which have been posted.
In the Bible, the Pharisees and Saducees were "church" goers. The "church" was the "church" that
worshiped the God that was embraced by Jesus Christ. These church goers had a big problem with Jesus
Christ. They had such a problem with Jesus Christ, they demanded He be put to death.
In an attempt to expose Jesus as being bad because Jesus did not "adhere" to the "church's"
teachings, He was asked what was the main commandment. He replied, "Love the Lord thy God with all
your heart, all your mind and all your understanding and love thy neighbor as thyself". This is not
a "ten commandment".
Jesus was accused of not keeping the Sabbath. If you are one to accuse others of not keeping the
Sabbath, you should feel a little creepy.
After the death of Jesus, we are told "do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together". We are
also told the "church" is the body of believers.
The assembling of "churches" after the death of Jesus is interesting. The Jews who accepted Jesus as
Messiah were faced with quite a challenge. How to worship God through Jesus Christ when all they
knew was the Jewish religion. Throw in the fact that Jesus included everyone when the Jewish
religion did not. Very difficult for these people to do "church-temple-synagogue".
Then add the people who accepted the teachings of Jesus who were not Jews. They knew little if
nothing about the Jewish religion from which Jesus was the Messiah. Their "churches" were based on
what were often bizarre pagan rituals. It's all they knew.
It's easier to see how these "churches" could be so screwed up than to imagine how they should be.
Most everyone today sees obvious errors in "churches" and many of the terrible results of organized
religions which claim to be based on the teachings of Christ.
One thing for sure, the body of believers is the church. As for the assembling, I would suggest
assembling believers would be reflective of agreeance (being one) instead of disagreeance. The
sharing of what they know which adds to the collective. I would suggest the splintering into
different factions is not assembling. Thus, it would seem most "churches" are not assembling? |
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If you are a TRUE Christian, You would know that the Bible says that God wants you to go to church
every Sunday. Why would you SELECT things that God has said to follow? If you believe, and are
willing to do other things relating to it, why wouldn't you be compelled to attend the house of YOUR
God? You cant just PICK and CHOOSE which commandments to follow! |
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You should always attend church. Not attending church is like not believing in Jesus. I mean, if
Jesus dedicated your life for you, you should at least devote some time to him every weekend. Also,
at church, you learn things that you never knew before, like how to be a good person and how to
follow the ten commandments the right way. |
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But doesn't the church need us to come, to give it money? |
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I would have said yes except for two problems.
First of all, Your explanation of your affirmation is false. Read Romans, and if you haven't
understood why afterwards, read Galatians, and if you still haven't understood why, then read
Ephesians 2:8-9. Your works won't get you anywhere.
Secondly, you did not define church. Most people think of church as the building, and if that is how
you understand the word in your affirmation, then I agree with the affirmation. However, according
to the Bible, the church is the group of believers regardless of where they get together. In which
case, if this is how you define "church", I disagree with you, as Hebrews 10:25 says that we should
not neglect to meet together... |
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Darn right |
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Christianity is not a solitary religion. We rely on fellowship to function correctly. How are we
supposed to be the Body of Christ without meeting with other Christians? Also, being plugged into a
church is a great way to get involved in service projects (e.g. Soup kitchens, etc). |
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Have you even read the Commandments? One of them is to honor the Sabbath Day! But going to church
because your family makes you really doesn't count if you just day dream. ''Skipping out'' on church
really doesn't show you respect Him. |
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Off the bat I am going to let you all know that I am agnostic but it would seem if you accepted
"Jesus" into your heart even if you don't go to church your whole life and you go to church the day
before you die and ask for forgiveness and then be baptised than technically you go to heaven anyway
right? |
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NO God commands in the Bible Christians to come together to meet and celebrate Him and for 125 there
is way more commandments than that |
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I'm against it! If you want to go to heaven you need him as your savior so you have to go to
church to here his word |
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Okay, to go to heaven you need to accept Jesus (God's son) into your heart, tell him you believe he
is God's son and ask him to forgive your sins. That's how you get to Heaven, and just because you
become a Christian doesn't mean you can do whatever you want, you will have to answer to God for
those sins eventually. And you also have to answer for the things you didn't do also, such as going
to church when you should have, there are churches everywhere, and you don't have to be a Christian
to go, God loves everyone, but he hates sin, and he can't let sin into heaven. |
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Yea rite? Who's the ignorant one who said this. I think someone needs to further their bible reading
just a little bit more. The bible firmly states that in order to be a proper christian you must 1)
have faith the size of a mustard seed 2) love they neighbor asa thyself and 3) you must spread the
gospel through all nations. How do you think you spread the Gospel? You first go to church and learn
(hence the preaching) and then you fellowship and bring others to church to learn and fellowship as
well. |
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I don't go to church. |
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I agree believing in him gets you to heaven.but if your not reading his word nor fellowshipping with
Christians are you capable of following his will?its better to do things so people can better
understand what it is god wants them to do.a effective witness does every thing in his power to draw
closer to god.therefor he can reach out to others. |
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Following the commandments don't get you to heaven do any of you people read the bible?. Aparently
not.someone saidthe cathlic religon was the best.well who are you to make that assumptin?.obviously
you dont follow gods word neither.dont you guys pray too mary?and beleive you can sin all week then
get 10 hailmerrys an your all good?the bible says you pray to G od, ,Jesus an the Holy
Spirit.nowhere does it say Mary?correct me if i am wrong.AND FOR THE REST OF YOU LET ME KNOW HOW
THAT PHILOSOPHY WORKS FOR YOU.AN IN THE BIBLE IT SAYS YOU SHOULD FELLOWSHIP WITH OTHER
CHRISTIANS.HOW MANY CHRISTIANS DO YOU KNOW THAT DONT GO TO CHURCH?MAYBE YOU SHOULD EVALUATE THE
PEOPLE YOU HANG OUT WITH.AN BE CAREFUL HOW YOU LEAD OTHERS WITH YOUR HYPOTHOSIS.WILL THESE PEOPLE
THAT ARE WATCHING YOU MAKE IT TO HEAVEN?THINK ABOUT AN HIT ME BACK IF YOUR FEELING FROOGGY. |
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Think about what you are saying. You are not following the 10 commandments by not keeping the
sabbath holy. There is no church today that follows all of Gods law 100% correctly. But as far as
I am concerned the Catholic religion seems the closest. Being that Jews do not believe in Jesus,
but they have some things like feast days that may be correct. God himself will someday correct
this when he sends Jesus back. But for now we must obey the sabbath which not only includes worship
of God but not patronizing any places of business. Sunday is a day of rest and people belong at
home with their families. This excludes the ox in the ditch scenario, such as hospitals and such.
But such things can be limited. Check out what Madjegore? Has done with their community after the
visions of Mary. Research it, and read "While you were sleeping" by a friend from Madjegoria. God
will give us his graces if we follow his commandments completely, including rest on Sunday with no
one does anymore. One major reason you see the extinction of the human family as we used to know
it. |
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Following the 10 Commandments does not get you to church. The Bible says the only way to get to
heaven is through Jesus himself- you must sacrifice your life (not physically) to God and Jesus.
This means that all "your" time, energy, and possesions and property you're giving to their use.
And the church isn't necessarily a building, a church can be a group of people. If you got a small
group of people (two people not so wise, easy to get off topic) together once a week at your home,
watched football, then prayed and read the Bible and communicated with God, that could be counted as
church. But you should put him first in everything, meaning you should alway put church as a major
priority. |
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Just obey the amendments and you will be fine and besides your not sure if there is an after life. |
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I believe that it is absolutely necessary that one attends church. Just believing and living is not
enough. When one attends church, they learn how to live their life the proper way. No one knows
everything, so each time one goes to church, they should learn something new. God opens his doors to
everyone and for someone not to go to church is like not accepting God's warm inviting into his
house. Therefore, I strongly believe that everyone should attend church on a regular basis. Church
usually last one hour. Many people spend way more hours in front of the television each week, so why
could they not sit in church for an hour. Church is part of a religion and regular attendance is
definitely essential. |
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Jesus Christ established and is establishing his church - for us!
Required in order to be redeemed - no.
Beneficial and uplifting, helping one grow... ABSOULETLY! |
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Christian denominations are not in agreement on this and some do maintain that in order to enjoy
salvation, it is necessary to attend church every Sunday. Of course, we should keep in mind that the
vast majority of people who identify themselves as Christian, when asked for census purposes, do not
attend church on a regular basis. For example, 71% of the British population identifies itself as
Christian, yet only 10% go to church every Sunday, while 15% attend on a monthly basis, with an
additional 26% attending service or mass at least once a year.
Most Evangelicals would argue that it is not strictly necessary to attend church every Sunday in
order to go to heaven, because you can be saved by making a one time conscious decision to "accept"
that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
The Catholic Church, however, does require that one attend mass each and every Sunday in order to be
in what is called a "state of grace." The exception is if you are too sick to attend. In this case,
most parishes will have volunteers who can offer you communion in your home, if you wish. |
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