I am not looking for any particular salvation. I was raised a Catholic and DO believe in Jesus Christ. But I have stopped going to church many years ago because I found myself to be just as hypocritical as many of those at mass. I attend mass on mother's day recently with my mother and father because it made them happy. Although the building was beautiful and very "God Like", I could not get the thoughts out of my head that this is all so phony! I truly believe my parents possess true faith and although I do not believe in the all the pageantry of the "service", I still believe in Jesus. I just don't feel I have to go to a building to pray or worship. And where is it written that worshipers are to give "money" in baskets? I'm not sure where I'm going with all this but I would like to get some kind of response to my thoughts. Are the Dead Sea Scrolls real? Is there some time in history when the TRUE words of Christ were put in print?

I can really sympathize with your dilemma. You believe in Jesus but His  representatives - the Church folk fall short of their vocation to represent Him well. But hypocrisy is not the special attribute of Church people alone. Lots of people - perhaps everyone! - play games. It may be that the discipline of going to Church and relating to all the lovely - and unlovely - people in it may actually be helpful in the process of learning to represent Him well - and to discover Him among the needy of His people.

The loveliness of the building IS important. Part of that loveliness and the mystique is due to the Holy Presence of the One who TRULY is there among His people! What you experience as loveliness may be just the Divine Attribute that God is awakening you to in His temple! 

The Dead Sea Scrolls are most definitely real. There are some divergencies in their interpretation, but they do point out a community over two millennia ago who were taking the path of discovering God and serving Him together as a community - very seriously! We are challenged to do the same.

The words we find in the Gospel are, I believe, Jesus' authentic words - coming through different prisms of people who heard them and meditated on their significance for their lives and the life of the world.

And as for money - well that is needed to pay the bills, to have a building, to provide financially for Church workers (including priests such as myself) so they can dedicate themselves the more fully to that splendid task taken up by the ancient inhabitants of the Dead Sea communitiy.

I hope I have been at least a little helpful. Bless you for wanting to communicate about such truly worthwhile matter.

Click here for more questions and answers on the True Words of Christ.