In this very interesting article (and study), Emory University looked at the reasons “why people do and don’t go to church.”
The study indicates that when exposed to new information, we filter it through our emotional brain systems, ending in our pleasure center. The area of our brain responsible for reasoning is virtually dormant. In other words, we tend to filter out new information that doesn’t fit our opinions and perceptions. We believe anything that confirms our preconceptions because it literally feels good.
Which brings us back to church and religion. Most adults continue to attend the church in which they were raised, because, as seen, it feels right. Everything about the worship service confirms the beliefs taught in childhood.
People go to church for the wrong reasons! I believe that most people go to church because of fear. Fear that if they don’t go, then they will not be saved. My own grandfather has told me this. I think the churches of the world (most of them) have been sending people the wrong message. A place such as a church should be a place where people can be freed from fear and not instilled in them. A place where one can be inspired to create a better future not only for one’s self and your family but for the community and humanity as well. This should be a place where ideas for the betterment of individuals and society should be shared. The person who lives in fear can never gain true happiness because while in the outer it may appear that he is happy, in the inner there is that doubt within him. The doubt is uncertainty of wether or not he’ll be saved. So I say let us not dwell upon fear and let us be inspired or inspire others to reach their full potential and keep on redistributing that kind of knowledge to the generations after us so that humanity can continue to move forward.