Forum 2

Instructions

Respond to two discussions which I have written regarding a research study I have been working on. Write it like a conversation. Label each 1 and 2 and then should be 150 words in length each. I will provide a sample response so you have an idea of how to reply to each. Here are the two discussions:1.  There was a relationship between church attendance and doctrinal belief based on my data set. I really enjoyed reading the answers and how they differed person to person. I feel like some people answered strongly agree to every single question. I was not wrong in my prediction on discussion board forum 1. I think my results are probably pretty general. In fact, I think everyone in the class probably got the same kind results. I think my results do match the Quarles (2011)  excerpt. I think that pastors, Sunday school teachers, and other church leaders can take this information and just see that they need to get more people in church. I think church not only teaches you about God but it also teaches you about yourself and how to be better. Church leaders could use this information and even conduct another survey asking what would make one attend church more. For instant, time it is offered, feeling of warmth, feeling of not being judged, etc. These are all reasons that I started regularly attending my church home, because I felt like I was part of their family and that I was not being judged as soon as I walked in.  2. After my survey, I did find a strong correlation between the knowledge of sound Christian doctrine and church attendance. I did my survey at the Christian school I work at so there were some people that did not go to church regularly that knew the Christian doctrine well. Yes, these results do coincide with how I felt the survey would go in my initial discussion post. I figured that going to church would help people to understand the Bible and what it means to be a Christian. I do believe that these results are applicable to a larger audience. I think that in general, if someone goes to church they will be well versed in most of the main Christian doctrine. Obviously, there will be a lot of people that go to church that do not understand the basic Christian doctrine, but if I were to guess more than fifty percent of those people know the very basics. Now, the percentage will probably not be as high as it was in my survey, but Im willing to guess it would still be above fifty percent. I would have to say my results did not at all coincide with the results Quarles received. My group that was surveyed was different, although similar. A lot of the kids I surveyed go to a baptist school, but they knew Christian doctrine well. The kids I surveyed were good kids and care about knowing the Christian doctrine. Honestly, his results do surprise me. It perplexes me how people can go to church on a regular basis and not know the most basic things about the Bible. Maybe some of these pastors and churches are not preaching about some of the more basic things like they should be. This could force pastors to change some of their sermons. Like I mentioned, they may want to start preaching more about more of the basic principles of the Bible and Christian docrtrine. However, if their congregation is mostly older people, that may be a problem to them. Although they might not like it, it is so important for the younger generation to know basic Christian doctrine. EXAMPLE OF REPLY:Your post reminded me of Hebrews 10:25, which states: Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing nearTo neglect Christian meetings is to give up the encouragement and help of other Christians.  We gather to share our faith and to strengthen one another in the Lord.  As we get closer to the day when Christ will return, we will face many spiritual struggles, and even times of persecution.  Anti-Christian forces will grow in strength.  Difficulties should never be excuses for missing Church services.  Rather, as difficulties arise, we should make a greater effort to be faithful in attendance. However, as I mention in my initial post, I believe the understanding of our faith should not be limited by Church attendance.  There are other factors which directly impact our understanding Of Christian doctrines. Commitment, obedience, devotion, accessibility, and disposition are other factors that influence the proper understanding of our faith and it is of outmost importance to cultivate these virtues in our lives.I was excited and surprised at the same time when the results of my test yielded a non-significant correlation.  I was almost convinced that the variables were significantly correlated at the start of the Discussion Board.The results of my survey reflected the statements made by Quarles (2011) that there is little to no correlation between these variables.

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