>>15006942>Can I be a Christian if I don't attend Church?OP here's an attempt to respond to your question:
Belief in Christ is *Faith*. Therefore believing in Christ, according to The Gospels, is necessary for one to be "born again" and receive the Grace of His Holy Spirit. Will now try to explain why "The Church" aspect is significant.
Religion can be considered as an "organization of Faith" or an "institution of Faith." The reason why a Christian Church is necessary in "The West", is because it ensures the doctrines of the Faith remain alive within the popular mind. Consider the current era: without Christian Churches, how will Christians be able to "battle in the realm of ideas"? In other words, Churches are the Christian's means to influence the popular mind and ensure that the doctrines of their Faith in Christ survive. From here, one can observe The Catholic Church and fairly argue that Christianity would have likely disappeared entirely from the popular mind without the institution protecting the Faith in this world. Of course folks have personal issues with the various ceremonies, celebrations, and "dogmas" within The Catholic Church, and that's reasonable. Then again, it's worth taking a close investigation in The Catholic Church because within it, there is a multitude if other "sub-Churches".
---> See image for Catholic Church "Rites" or "sub-Churches"
Finally, from a social perspective: the religious institution is useful for:
- Promoting values and virtues where governments and corporations cannot;
- Ensuring self-disciple and tradition in the sense that folks attend Mass at least once a week;
- Building a sense of "community" where folks can "celebrate" the Faith together, and "take a break" from the materialistic world: ie "take a break" from politics and commerce.
etc.
If only "The West" was able to find a balance between those three "entities": Church/Religion; Politics; and Commerce/Economy, then one can argue, "everything will be alright."
