Oklahoma Divorce Rate

[kd5rjz]

Because if the churches arent providing those services, you'll be finding more gov't programs via taxes. I'm not a big fan of "mission trips" to other countries, so I will agree on that. But the irrefutable issue is that some of these things that this money goes towards pays for very good things.

I can also understand the begging part. If it comprise a majority of the time that should be praise, worship and learning, then there is something wrong. *That* church's leader has lost touch with what it means to shepherd a flock. Im fortunate to attend a place where the offering plate is the only plea for money and maybe a short 1 minute discussion about where the money goes.

I'm definitely supportive of charity towards the community, perhaps I have just attended places that are too commercialized.

 

[jumpman250r]

I couldn't agree more with the statement WFT made

"Churches are full of sinners my friend, that's what churches are for. Get your eyes off the people and put them on Christ. It's all about Jesus."

 

[JB Books]

Whitey, my comment is to the "why" of this situation. I believe the "why" is that so very many people here in Oklahoma are extremely repressed by the need to conform to the worldview presented by the religious fundamentalists here. So, very ogften they make poor life choices based on how others see them. They get married too young or to the wrong person. Sometimes that repression manifests itself in a complete rebellion and they go wild.

 

[JB Books]

I couldn't agree more with the statement WFT made

"Churches are full of sinners my friend, that's what churches are for. Get your eyes off the people and put them on Christ. It's all about Jesus."

This is oft said, but little practiced. It's a cop out. You say get your eyes off people, but if these people are claiming to be Christians and, as such, Christ-like, what else are we supposed to go by?

 

[gregorius]

People here care too much about what others think of them. There is a social pressure created, in large part, by the religious fundamentalism that pervades daily life in Oklahoma. One has to wonder why a state with a church "on every corner" has such a high divorce rate, high rate of child abuse (including child sexual abuse) and such high rates of meth and prescription drug abuse.

I agree. I got married to my first wife (who I met in church) due in large part to pressure I felt from my family and social group. I was young and I was still really wrapped up in the church and it was expected. It never seemed to be a question of "if" but "when". We had been together quite a while so there started to be a lot of questions about why we hadn't pulled the trigger. Well, the reason was we shouldn't have been together, let alone married - but I succumbed to the pressure and we finally got hitched. I was such a basket case on the day of the wedding that I had to take xanax to get through it - I was ready to run away like I was on some bad reality TV show or something. In retrospect, that would have been better. Much better.

Needless to say it was a complete disaster and I ended up divorced about a year later. Had it not been for the pressure from my family and the church, that failure would not have happened. I let the church dictate what I was going to do rather than doing what was right. I certainly grew up a lot after that experience, but something tells me there are easier ways to get there than the way I chose.

 

[WFT]

This is oft said, but little practiced. It's a cop out. You say get your eyes off people, but if these people are claiming to be Christians and, as such, Christ-like, what else are we supposed to go by?

You keep you eyes on Jesus Christ, He's the ONLY one without sin. Every born again believer has his spirit living in him, and can know him personally. Not sure what Church you fellas hang out in, but it's been my experience the far majority (not all), but the majority of the believers I know are the best people in the world. Don't know what I would have done in some of the darkest days of my life without my churches support and my Lords.

 

[Okie4570]

This is oft said, but little practiced. It's a cop out. You say get your eyes off people, but if these people are claiming to be Christians and, as such, Christ-like, what else are we supposed to go by?

True this is little practiced, but where it is practiced, it stands out, because it is out of the norm with what most see in most churches. Those proclaiming to be a Christian are still not going to be perfect, they (I) will still fail, offend, and come short of what Christ would have us be. That's why I believe that salvation is by grace and not by works.

 

[JB Books]

You keep you eyes on Jesus Christ, He's the ONLY one without sin. Every born again believer has his spirit living in him, and can know him personally. Not sure what Church you fellas hang out in, but it's been my experience the far majority (not all), but the majority of the believers I know are the best people in the world. Don't know what I would have done in some of the darkest days of my life without my churches support and my Lords.

I have no doubt of what you say. However, how do you address the spirit of condescension that many churches have towards others?

 

[bootsbaker]

people here get married to young they don't even know who they are much less have the maturity to deal with someone else.
Drugs & alchoholism and all that goes along with it, abuse, infidelity, financial etc is a major problem.
Men & Women get sick of putting up with ******** usually related to the above so they get divorced, Marriage is disposable these days. Nobody wants to work at it because its to hard and time consuming and most people don't want to face reality. People give up on each other to quickly because we are the right now generation.

 

[JB Books]

^^^ Sad, but unfortunately very true.^^^