Hi Gonzo:
I never heard it described as rock bottom, but I think you may have come up with the perfect expression. :thumbup:Before the real Church was established by God, people were searching and hoping that God would settle all the problems so far. The Romans were ready to destroy their temples, and they were raping,pillaging,crucifying and taxing to their hearts content. The people were at rock bottom and expected God would come down swinging a sword to set things right. Well, they got their wish, but God had a different approach from all the same old tactics that never worked. He would form an army of people of all ages and sexes togeather to use persuassion and love to convince the Romans and evildoers to change.
....take me to Church and most people I saw.....
I read Ann Landers answer an ad once by saying, "the Church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints". It wasn't entirely explainatory, close, but it stuck for some reason.
We go to Church to visit God, and is a Sanctuary made for us for spiritual resucitation because this world is not our real natural world and we need to tap into that Good that is God to keep us from the onslaughts of the day to day evil that drowns us. Our form is partly material in nature for the purpose of this world and to allow us to function here, but we are meant to return to our true home. So every once in a while we need that lifeline, or long distance call to God to "check up on Dad". In prayers it is also refered to as an exile and in OT scripture our plight is described in other terms as well. Because our world offers us every form of sin and decadence and is as distant from the perfection of our true home as you can imagine, some even say it is a form of hell.
His idea was to enlist soldiers of peace to pass on the Word by example and verbally from one person to the next, and that has been happening since those days. He enlists these new soldiers through the ritual of baptism and confirmation, and sets them on the road armed with words and deeds as new evangelists for his cause. He called his new militia-institution his Church, and when we go to visit God that is all that is on our minds. We are in anticipation of our conversation with Him. For the moment others must wait for this visit to be over and we ensure no one or nothing distracts us.
You shouldn't go to church because you hope God will make your life better, and the only reason your there is because you have no where else to turn.
Our view of a better life is different than His view. Our view includes comfort and TV,cars,house,concerns with health, obtaining food, paying rent,etc., and He makes no gurantee of these and never did, whereas He places more emphasis on attitude and performance and what part we did to better the world and everyone else's life. That is because our purpose here is as servants to God's will by putting ourselves second, not first. That means doing things we wouldn't like if we had our own agenda. That is not an easy thing to do, and we can't do it alone, He said that Himself. So we need to get strength from Him. Your right that there is no where else to turn. We can find complete happiness only in fulfillment of His will.
Sometimes people who are ill want to be cured. You see this on TV. A preacher, preying on the desperate, "heals" these sick people with the power of the Lord. I am sure that if there is a hell these preachers are going there.
Evil will attempt to trick people at every turn, and in religion it is no exception. Especially those who use the name of God as instrument of their own gain, they will have a very hard go at explaining themselves as to why they led people astray with their tricks.
Another reason people find religion is because they've been harassed by religious crusaders. Why do these religious types have to "spread the word"?
Many people will be led astray and taken to new cults for entertainment value, or ambiance of the edifice, or a special group happens to collect there or for many reasons. The thrill of belonging usually dissipates to one of emptiness, but not for one who belongs to the true Church. This one is tolerant and patient and calls every convert to do research, reflect and weed out the unlikely, use his reason and intellect to see without the eyes, but at all times he should pray and ask for assistance to advance in wisdom and knowledge.
A607. R.R Vol I, Late Frs. Carty, Rumble and Card. F Sheen:
"The strangling of reason is left to people who are ready to believe
anything they hear about teh Catholic Church. But the
Church herself asks no man to strangle his reason, and says that
it is heresy to say that it ought to be strangled. Nor must
Catholics accept anything, however unlikely. If a thing seems
unlikely, they should suspend their judgement until secure
evidence of it's truth or falsity, and then decide accordingly"
AndyF
