Why do protestants go to church?

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The reason I go to church is to
  • To obey God in not forsaking the assembling of Christians together
  • To be in the presence of God and to worship him
  • To here the Word of God preached and the Gospel proclaimed
  • To fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ
  • To be equipped and prepared for whatever task or ministry God has assigned me to
 
JonNC said:
Through His word and sacrament, which comes to us through the Holy Spirit, and His tool on earth, the Church.

Jon
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His word, meaning Sacred Scripture? Which translation? Which codex? Which books are inspired, who has authority to determine that?

And the Church isn’t a tool, she’s the bride of Christ to whom all baptized in the Trinitarian formula are in perfect or imperfect communion with.
 
105lynne said:
My mother-in-law is Protestant and believes that if two or more people are gathered in prayer, then that’s church. She does her own bible interpretation and is very anti-Catholic. Lucky me :eek:
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Nope! Church is NOT what one says it is or ought to be,but what Jesus Himself founded.
 
domandcarols said:
It’s not Holy Communion because only a Catholic priest can consecrate hosts.
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That is your view, but I believe that the bread and wine once consecrated by a Lutheran pastor is Christ’s Body and Blood and is as valid as any Roman Catholic Eurchust.
 
=Trevor Stamm;8851033]His word, meaning Sacred Scripture? Which translation? Which codex? Which books are inspired, who has authority to determine that?
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You take your pick, Trevor. The question of the was about why one goes to Church.
And the Church isn’t a tool, she’s the bride of Christ to whom all baptized in the Trinitarian formula are in perfect or imperfect communion with.
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Yeah, bad choice of words. :o

Jon
 
JonNC said:
You take your pick, Trevor. The question of the was about why one goes to Church.
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Fair enough. My point in bringing those things up was to show that man can’t corrupt everything, especially when God’s will is involved. Now, how truth is preserved and told to all is a good question to leave this with, certainly those that have it can trace themselves back to the source, Christ.
 
domandcarols said:
It’s not Holy Communion because only a Catholic priest can consecrate hosts.
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I know that. But to those Protestants it is Holy Communion or Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist, and I think that is better than having just a show with rock music and preaching.

And I know that for most Protestants they don’t even pretend to consecrate hosts, for many it’s just symbolic.

But for some they beleive it’s more than symbolic, Lutherans and Anglicans come to mind.
 
hn160 said:
That is your view, but I believe that the bread and wine once consecrated by a Lutheran pastor is Christ’s Body and Blood and is as valid as any Roman Catholic Eurchust.
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AMEN!
 
AbideWithMe said:
JRRTFAN—

We receive and we give.
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Interesting. What do you receive that you cna’t recieve anywhere? We can only recieve the Eucharist in Mass. We can recieve the “word” (in form of scripture and sermon anywhere) I often listen to sermons on iPod, no different than being there. All the sermons (and often whole services) at my family’s Evangelical Church are on cd or podcast and they solicit “internet worshippers” - they heven have an internet pastor, he’s a friend of my daughter and has been in my home many times.

I don’t denigrate it I simply don’t know what one uniquely gets at a Protestant service. I’ve seen plenty of worship given, and that’s good.
 
JonNC said:
Through His word and sacrament, which comes to us through the Holy Spirit, and His tool on earth, the Church.

Jon
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Protestants have 2 sacraments, Baptism and Matrimony as these are the only 2 that can be confected without priestly ordination. I would agree Protestants get grace through those means but they each happen only once (generally) in a lifetime. Neither of them constitute a reason to go to a service weekly.
 
JRRTFAN said:
Protestants have 2 sacraments, Baptism and Matrimony as these are the only 2 that can be confected without priestly ordination. I would agree Protestants get grace through those means but they each happen only once (generally) in a lifetime. Neither of them constitute a reason to go to a service weekly.
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Sure they do!! Do you not think that one is strengthened in baptism, strengthened in their marriage when they gather with the congregation of believers, the Church?
That said, reagrdless of Catholic teaching, Lutherans also have the true body and blood of Christ, and Absolution. I would also contend that the means of grace are present in Confirmation and even orders.

Jon
 
JRRTFAN said:
Interesting. What do you receive that you cna’t recieve anywhere? We can only recieve the Eucharist in Mass. We can recieve the “word” (in form of scripture and sermon anywhere) I often listen to sermons on iPod, no different than being there. All the sermons (and often whole services) at my family’s Evangelical Church are on cd or podcast and they solicit “internet worshippers” - they heven have an internet pastor, he’s a friend of my daughter and has been in my home many times.

I don’t denigrate it I simply don’t know what one uniquely gets at a Protestant service. I’ve seen plenty of worship given, and that’s good.
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I think its not one thing that we receive in isolation, but several things that we receive all at once: preaching/teaching, discipleship, fellowship, the ordinances, and an atmosphere conducive to worship, prayer, and praise. There is nothing wrong with listening to or watching services, but that is not going to church. That is watching other people go to church.
 
I completely understand what you are saying and questioning. I was reading some things this week by some of our Catholic Apologists about the inevitable end of all Protestantism, and it is just that, an exodus away from attending church altogether and following more of a “personalized” Jesus experience and relationship fabricated on what an individual likes and dislikes, rather than based on truth. These people call themselves “spiritual, and not religious”, which only means they want the cake without actually baking it.

Nobody ever requests there be law without an organized, established body to enforce the law, but somehow, people believe they can understand God purely with their own limited, and ignorant understanding. I’m not name-calling; I will classify myself “ignorant” for years to come, seeing I’m studying daily and praying as much as I can so I can be as “Catholic” as our Pope. Until then, I will take his opinion (along with our priests, deacons, and apologists) closer to heart than my own.

Thanks for posting on this topic. It’s an important one. We should all be praying that Protestants find a form of renewal and reinvigeration to attend church on Sundays. I’m very frightened that one day we will wake up to a country so watered-down spiritually, that people will not only do evil, but justify their evil based on their own decided beliefs about Christ, tagging his name to their evils.

Travis Dover
 
ltwin said:
I think its not one thing that we receive in isolation, but several things that we receive all at once: preaching/teaching, discipleship, fellowship, the ordinances, and an atmosphere conducive to worship, prayer, and praise. There is nothing wrong with listening to or watching services, but that is not going to church. That is watching other people go to church.
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JRRTfan—

Yes—what Itwin said. There are so many references in the Psalms to a longing to worship in “the midst of the assembly”. The assembly in the Greek Septuagint would be “ecclesia”, right? It’s a foretaste of heaven.

Mainly, though, the reason for my earlier post to you was because I don’t see how the simultaneous receiving and giving that we do in worship can be divided into only giving. We were made to worship and adore. Our deep, tried and tested adoration, not some infatuation or fleeting crush, is the truest aspect of ourselves that we can give to God, but at the very same time it’s what most fulfills us:

“One thing I ask of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to seek Him in His temple.” —Psalm 27

If a man looks in adoration at his fiancee’s beauty, who is giving and who is receiving? Aren’t both parties giving and receiving in a way that can’t be separated?

Among my most loved old hymns is “Holy, Holy, Holy”----"…all the saints adore Thee, casting down their golden crowns beside the glassy sea". The saints are simultaneously receiving the greatest reward of any creature–the Beautific Vision, while giving their homage as they cast their crowns before the Lamb of God. Again, I don’t see how the receiving and giving can be separated. And we get a foretaste of this here in the assembly on earth.

Among newer worship songs, a favorite is “Here I Am to Worship”, which you may have heard if you have some familiarity with Protestants----youtube.com/watch?v=g5hN_m55uoM. It reminds me of “Holy, Holy, Holy”.
 
ltwin said:
There are a variety of reasons pastors leave churches to pastor other ones. It’s doesn’t have to be (and in my experience rarely is) because of falling numbers. Some include:

The pastor engages in power struggles with a powerful faction of the church and loses.
The pastor gets opportunities to pastor other churches.
The pastor may feel called to plant a church somewhere else.
The pastor retires.
The pastor is ordained by a denomination which puts pastors on rotation (such as only being allowed to pastor 4 years at any given church).
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And…the pastor is not meeting speaking expectations. Aren’t you going to a lot of trouble to evade the obvious. Methinks thou protesteth too much…🙂
 
pismopal said:
And…the pastor is not meeting speaking expectations. Aren’t you going to a lot of trouble to evade the obvious. Methinks thou protesteth too much…🙂
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I only protest what I think is a very rare thing which your post turned into a common occurrence. Not every church is looking for a charismatic preacher. Not every church is looking for someone to fill up the sanctuary.

I know of churches who have been losing members for years and struggle to pay the light bill. They keep the same preacher though.
 
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