What do you like about your branch of Christianity, Judaism, or what have you? ... and what do you like about those others you haven't decided to join? (I'm hoping for no flames or arguments; just what people find positive.)
What I like about my church (Catholic) is weekly communion, and the strong moral stance.
When I was Pentecostal, I liked their understanding that God is involved with us in everyday life. When I was Baptist, I liked their concern for those who don't know Christ. The Episcopal liturgy, to me, is cooler than mine.
I also admire the LDS practice of training young adults to *be* adults.
What about your group? What makes it cool?
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Logic. Tolerance. Self-consistency. On the other hand the choir sucks since I only sing tenor.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I've actually been discovering things I don't like about my "branch" of Judaism. I thought I had grown up attending a reform congregation. I realize now that I didn't (turns out it was considered unaffiliated, and taught respect for Orthodox traditions).
I've found my Rabbi spends too much time trying to make it look like Orthodox practices are outdated. Even going so far as to using the Shofar this past Rosh Hashanah, and asking anyone who is offended to step out of the room. That really bothered me, and I haven't been back to services since.
I represent my congregation in my county's Jewish council, and have spent more time with the Orthodox shul. It has the largest room for gathering, so most events I help plan are held in their auditorium. They seem much more open then I had assumed. They didn't even bat an eye when they heard I was married to a Methodist.
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I realize that after I am dead, if my veiw of the afterlife is 100% correct, I will be in the vast minority, of 1. On the otherhand, if I am incorrect, I will be in the great great majority, that of everyone else except for maybe one.
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I really love the visiting and home teaching programs. In every ward, every member is assigned to a pair of men, and every woman is assigned to a pair of women. Idealistically, the pairs will all visit each person assigned to them at least once a month, share some spiritual goodness, help out, become friends, and basically take care of one another.
It doesn't always work as designed. Cynics would say rarely, but I've been in wards where it was pretty dang close to working as hoped. The best part is that even when it doesn't work perfectly, it can work a little bit. In the best case scenario, everyone looks out for each other and everyone has a friend at church.
There's no paid ministry so even the heads of the congregations have full-time jobs elsewhere. When visiting and home teaching is done, then there is much less pressure on the leaders to sacrifice their limited time. I love it.
My mother joined the church because of the home teachers who came despite my dad not going and my mother not being a member. My parents weren't hostile - just unaware and/or uninterested. Once made aware, my mother embraced the gospel whole-heartedly. (My dad's was a different story, but that's okay.)
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I like the complexity of its theology that still remains organized, yet has practical applications. This helps me be comfortable with its teachings without feeling restricted by them. For anyone who doesn't know, that would be the LDS Church.
Posts: 2207 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I go to a non-denominational Christian church and I like quite a few things about it. First, I like the freedom of being able to choose my church. I like that if for some reason this one didn't work for me, my pastor would recommend one to me in the area that might suit better. If you go or you stay, he cares about people and their needs, not so much that they gotta go to his church or they might not get the message of Jesus Christ. I tend to feel 'held hostage' when someone tells me I should go to this church or that church. I don't feel that way about my faith, and the fact that this church honors that outlook really makes me want to be there.
Second, and in particular for this church is the community service-mindedness of the pastor. He practices what he preaches. He wants us to serve the community in real, substantial ways, and he leads the way. He goes to the jail once a week to visit inmates. He leads our church to host music in the park during the summer, some of which is purely secular. He constantly promotes from the pulpit examples of community service within our congregation so more people can be involved. I love that.
I appreciate about the LDS church that it takes serious the needs of families to be together. I think that evangelical churches could learn a lot from the LDS. Too often, we ship our kids off to children's church, expect Awana to eduate them, and then go off to our own adult studies, and rarely, if ever, do stuff within the church as whole family units, together. I really like that sacrament meetings are for the whole family. Then you get your time among peers. And I really like the visiting teachers. I have many fond memories of our visiting teachers when I was growing up.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Episcopalianism is much like Hatrack, generaly fairly tolerent and kind, and then every now and then boiling over, after which somebody leaves and all is well.
We even allow atheists if they don't rock the boat too much. Rocking the boat is discouraged, I think, more so than other denominations (even R.C.), but maybe it just takes alot more to rock the Anglican boat (Fr. Curran is mainline, Fr. Boff eccentric but harmless and Fr. Küng acceptable from an Episcopalian viewpoint.)
They even tolerate me, and half the time I don't even know if I believe in God.
Posts: 1332 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I'm in the process of changing denominations (becoming Catholic), and I'm finding there are a number of things I like about it. Particularly I like the catechism and how heavily referenced it is. The beliefs of the Catholic Church are very well based in the Bible and in many cases they clairify, solidify, or make sense of things that I either did not notice, did not understand, treated as nothing more than metaphor (still powerful, but as much as reality is). I also really find I agree with their treatment of Mary. Also, I think I am in love with the sacraments and how they fit into our lives. The fact that I can go to church every day also makes me happy and I enjoy setting time aside for that. I think I also feel far more at home in a quieter form of worship; it is generally a more relaxed denomination which is less concerned with converting the masses and more with following God. Also, I love the emphasis upon community and that they are pushing for ecumenism with the Protestant denominations.
A major point that I like is their expression of faith using so many different mediums. I see stained glass windows portraying the lives of Jesus, Mary, the saints, there are paintings, statues of important figures, , even landscapes have been used as canvas. The Tabernacle is always lovely and the church buildings are designed to reflect God and to point to Him.
Another aspect is the emphasis upon living. It is not so much about advertising your faith, or making sure you are saved, or to prove other denominations wrong. It is more about just living what you believe to be the fullness of truth and all else that is right and good and of God will follow.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Good luck with your RCIA process. I am a mentor/team leader for classes at our parish. We have 44 candidates/catechumens this year.
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