I want to be in the love church…
I might help to first learn to love.
… jussayin…
james are you in the love church
I have no church, but I have love.
I’m sure far more than you can know.
james tell me more…what kind of love…jesus love
the Christian church is dying…
James, how do we know when we’re really in the love church?
What does it look like, what is the experience like?
When you no longer think about yourself, you lose all self-consciousness and performance anxiety. When your passions and thoughts are only concerning the well being and joy of others around you, you forget yourself and are thus free of worry and fear. You become brighter, more aware, more alert, and blissful. You become a true lord or lady, highly aware of the condition and needs of those around you.
You know when you are “in the church” when those around you are doing the same.
Of course that isn’t to say that someone can’t cause you pain; put arsenic in your soup, stab you in the back, or just accidentally step on your toe. It merely means that such things are far less likely (unless you live in the modern “never let a good deed go unpunished” world). A church is a gathering of the like-minded.
A church should be an extended family, all related by common beliefs. The older churches used to call their members brothers and sisters.
I don’t want brothers and sisters…I want good friends…that is good enough for me
Aren’t good friends extended family?
how is it possible anymore to have common beliefs
Find the right place for you member.
I don’t understand
Yes, Ierrellus, they are if we think about them in that way.
We can feel closer to a good friend [s]- as though they were a family member.,consider them to be extended family. It depends on the sort of relationship we have with them. Blood isn’t everything.
James,
I do agree with you here for the most part, James. But then there is that ONLY word. If our passions and thoughts are ONLY for others, where do we fit in within our own lives? That isn’t a narcissistic statement. We cannot live ONLY for others nor can we live ONLY for ourselves. I personally feel that there has to be some kind of a balance…but perhaps leaning more toward the other depending on “real” needs. If we live ONLY for others, we might just be living a masochistic or a victim’s kind of life. I don’t think that there is such a thing as pure altruism. I’m sure that even Mother Teresa and Albert Schweitzer realized this. But I dare say that they may have been more altruistic than most/many of us.
In an ideal world, yes. There was a time when I went to church. Not everyone was doing as I was doing…except for the liturgical gestures, whatever and certain beliefs. But i know what you mean. You’re speaking of harmony here. I’m more in church when I’m in the park with nature or looking up at the stars. I’m more in church when a certain moment shows me that “all is right with the world” even though on another realistic level, I know that this is not true. I’m no buddhist.
uh oh. 
Do you really think that that “automatically” frees you of worry and fear? Being human creatures, James, I don’t think that your statement there is totally realistic. The more you care, the more you will concerned. You may have to detach somewhat to really care in a beneficial way but at the same time you are not clothed within a coccoon of protection and bliss.
But okay, maybe you were speaking of worry and fear of ONLY one’s self.
haha
I’m not trying to be funny here, james, but would you say that a gathering of hyenas going at a carcass is a church?
Well, for them it might be. Who knows.
But again, I know what you mean.
james you need to say more about yourself…it sounds like you are in heaven
Where are YOU turtle? 
I am a down on earth sinner…very skeptical of heaven stuff