Going to Church

"When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men.  Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.  "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.  "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.…

-- Matthew 6:5-7

I don't go to church, unless it is a special occasion and I'm required to attend at the behest of good friends or family. I haven't made church part of my weekly ritual since before I left home for the military. It had nothing to do with Matthew's verse. Truth be told, at eleven years of age I wasn't going to learn Latin so I could understand Sunday Mass, and everything in the Bible, save the Ten Commandments, was totally Greek to me.  No, I wasn't going to learn Greek, either.  My last stint of "scheduled" Sunday Mass was back in 1965, if memory serves. That was when Mother Superior at St. Angeles Catholic School thought I would reap more benefit from a secular educational system.   Yep, at the ripe old age of eleven, I was such a pain in the ass even the Catholic nuns gave up on me. Hey, lucky me!  But this incident would have a lasting impact my young mind, on my view of tolerance and hypocrisy in religion.  Church and I parted ways and I developed a stronger, more personal relationship with Christ and God. 

Had I paid any attention to scripture, I probably could have saved myself, the church, and the holy sisters of St. Angeles, two years of undeserved punishment. After all, according to Matthew, a church is pretty much peopled by hypocrites. But me bringing my new found knowledge of Matthew to the attention of the Mother Superior, especially in the guise of an excuse to blow off going to church, certainly would have earned me a trip to the confessional, followed by some serious penance from the venerable, Irish, Father Lane, no doubt. But, isn't mind control a major point, throughout history, of a religious place of worship?

It would seem, whether Christian, Jew, or Muslim, our places of worship have been used often for controlling the minds of the faithful.  Gentle sermons by Jesus morphed, over two thousand years, into tirades of fire and brimstone.  Fear of God, fun, and happiness would suck the life and the love of God from most people's spirituality.  It almost seems as if life, marriage, misery, taxes, more taxes, death, inheritance taxes, and final judgment were all mankind had to look forward to.  Couldn't we look forward to forgiveness?  Of course!  That's where confession and massive penance came into play, at least for those of us that couldn't afford to just get a wave of the hand and a "pass."  

Mafia bosses were generous when it came to donations for the church, as a steady flow of cash would seem to garner a blind eye, from the local priest, for any indiscretions, like snuffing out the lives of your competition or those who "wornged" you.  If sins were confessed one could look forward to divine forgiveness granted through the priest’s absolution, as long as the sinner made good "some satisfaction" for the sin. For most of us peons this satisfaction would mean saying penance until hell froze over. For the mafia dons, and the filthy rich, this could be accomplished with a healthy donation toward a "new roof" for the church.  

But, this kind of hypocritical give and take is historical for temples, churches, synagogues, and even mosques.  Money could always buy your way into heaven because, well, who are we to judge the servant of another?  It is before their own master they must stand or fall, correct?  

So religion could use this excuse to take bad money and do good with it, at least we would hope.  Historically, however, we have seen priests, ministers, imams, and rabbis, living in the lap of luxury while suffering around them continued unabated.  Bring on the gold, pass the basket, send in those dollars, and let us build an even grander monument to the glory of God.  But, If we listen to Matthew, is would seem this isn't what Christ asked us to do, nor is it what God really wanted, is it?

"Going to church doesn't make you a better person any more than standing in a garage makes you a car."

-- John Wayne

Does going to church make us a better person?  Does being a better person make us a righteous person?  Does being a righteous person make us a better person?  When do we ever find the time to just develop our personal relationship with God?  

My earliest memories of "Sunday go ta meetin," was having to put on our "Sunday best."  Bodies were bathed, hair was cut and combed, and suits were laid out so we wouldn't be an embarrassment.  To whom were we trying to impress, Jo Bag O'Doughnuts and the entire Bag O'Doughnuts clan?  The priest?  Or was it to impress Jesus and God, et al?  Who were we supposed to really there to impress?  I always go back to what Matthew said, "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men."  

Somehow I think God would overlook one's wardrobe if one's heart was in the right place while praying, and, according to Matthew, that place is in one's own "inner room."

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Frank Anthony Villari (aka, Pastor Tony)

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."