A
female
age
30-35,
anonymous
writes:Lately I've been becoming more and more religious despite my agnostic family and I have wanted to change my ways. I read Genesis and I've stayed celibate for about a year now and I want to start going to church as well, but I have a hard time deciding what kind of chuch would be best for me.I agree with Baptists' views like not getting baptized when you are an adult and are able to make your own decisions and look to only Christ for guidance, but I like how catholics believe in purgatory.I have this gut feeling that I would not belong or be accepted in a Catholic church though because I didn't get baptized as an infant and I've only ever been to church twice in my 19 years if life. Am I right with that assumption?Genesis and The Old Testament are the religious aspects that interst me, if there is a church that just focuses on the life before Christ, let me know because those are the sermons that I would really want to go to.Hopefully I can ask this without biased answers, but what type of church would you suggest to be the best fit for someone like myself?
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male
reader, anonymous, writes (2 June 2011): You will be welcome in the Catholic Church. I encourage you to make an appointment with a priest at a local parish and go speak with them. Tell them you'd like to learn about the RCIA process.To become Catholic you must learn about the faith. You will go through the RCIA process. I encourage you to search wiki and read up. You will make great friends, get baptized, and the whole thing is very moving.Please don't allow what you hear from non-Catholics and the media program your view on Catholicism. Go get the information for yourself from the Church itself. As for finding a CHRISTian church that emphasizes the OLD testament only, you might have trouble. If you have no interest in Christ, and only interest in the old Testament, I suggest you find yourself a Jewish Synagogue. Good Luck.
A
female
reader, chigirl  +, writes (2 June 2011):
 Catholics are strict. If you want to practice your religion under a set of rules, then this is for you. It is very intimate in the way that all catholics follow the same rules, which will make you and other catholics become closer in the community. Whereas you might not feel the same feeling of "belonging" in a protestant community.
I also don't know if you would be as easily accepted in a catholic church, because of the same reason. They're more "closed and intimate", but still, it is not a religion you need to be born into to be allowed to have. I do believe you can convert. I would suggest that no matter what church you decide on, speak to the leader of that church first and talk about how it will work out. Such as a priest of the church.
If you've only read the Bible and been to church a couple of times, are you familiar with the rituals? What types of churches have you been to these two times?
Catholics are more serious.. if I can put it like that, in their belief. If you do choose to be a catholic, you're one for life. No going back really. Familiarize yourself with all the differences in rituals and beliefs and rules.
The only churches I am actually familiar with is the Lutheran/protestant church. I used to work in one, and I don't know how other branches of Christianity do it, I don't know all the in's and out's. Our churches include both the old and new testament in the sermon. But with a focus on Christ. The texts for each sermon, however, is decided by the quite old system of what texts are for what Sunday (it isn't random, and the texts are repeated each year, so you don't go through the entire Bible).
We work to include people from the community in many ways. Church isn't just about the sermons on Sunday, there can be sermons on other days, or community work. The deacon of my church for example arranges several types of groups. One group for those who are in sorrow and gather to talk. One group bake cakes and bring them to centers for elders where we play the guitar and sing songs, and arrange games.
On national holidays we arrange things too. Then there's church choir, Sunday school for the children, volunteer work to gather money for a good cause (often sent abroad).
Church to me is much much more than just the sermon. This is how the church operates in my community, but it will vary depending on where you are, what country you are in and so on. So if you want to make a good decision on where to go, think not only of what the sermon will be about, or the matter-of-fact beliefs of which church, you should also find a church where you feel at home. A church where you join a community, meaning the people you go with will have much to say for your religion.
I think you should primarily look into what is in your area, and then see if any of those feel comfortable to you with the things you believe in. Once you have decided that one is more interesting to you than the other, or feels more at home to you, talk to the leader of that church and have a deeper conversation about you joining that community.
Be careful not to send out signals that you are "church shopping". Weird as it is perhaps, religion is often looked upon not as something you choose, but at something that chooses you... meaning you should either have grown up in it or naturally found your way to the right community. I don't think that is always the case though, like with you. Some of us need to seek out where we belong, and don't always find it immediately.
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