Opening Words

Thank you for checking out my site! My name is Stan and I'm a self-proclaimed Atheist/Buddhist. I was sitting around with one of my Christian friends about going back to church. I thought to myself, "Wow, wouldn't it be great to tell my friends that I've tried every church in my city and none of them interested me!" During this blog, I'll be talking about my experience being a Christian for 15 years to becoming an Atheist. I have been an Atheist for around 6 years now.

Note: I am a very un-biased person and I will try my hardest to give critiques that actually people will appreciate. I am not here to slander any denomination or faith. I think it really takes a person that does not believe in a particular deity to really understand what a particular church is trying to project to the audience.

I will be grading these churches that I go to (just for fun) in an effort to help people choose the type of church they would like to go to. My grading scale will be measured like so.

• Welcome/Friendliness: 10 Points. I think it is important to feel welcome to a church. If not, you really feel like you are not welcomed there.

• Attire/Dress Code: 5 Points. This will be very subjective score.
  

• Singing/Praise Service/Band/Special Music: 20 Points. I think that this part of service would set you in the mood for having a great experience at church.

• Involvement for Children: 10 Points. Having something for the children to do is very important. Sometimes the children may not Understand the context of the sermon.

• Amount of scripture used: 20 Points. I think that this is one of the most important things about a church service. If you cannot back up what you preach with scripture then to me its pretty much just lip service. The amount of Scripture used (I will be writing down the verses in each blog) creates the experience that the preacher knows what he is talking about. *Please Note* some churches don't believe in using scripture so I will take that into account.

• Sermon/Talk: 25 Points. I think that this is the core of every church service. The minister is speaking to the masses about a topic that will have to reach everyone. The way the minister goes about this is very important.
  

• Appeal/Benediction: 10 Points. The appeal is something that will make someone feel like they want to go to the church and be a member. I'm pretty sure i'll know what the appeal score is halfway through the sermon. The Benediction sends us off for the week, keeping a mind focused on what was spoken about.

• Total: 100 Points. There will be +/- points given depending on the experience.
  

I really hope you enjoy this blog. Feel free to comment!