"9 Reasons to Go to Church" By Thoedore Roosevelt.

The Assemblies of God USA posted this on Facebook today, from the Pentecostal Evangel (the AG's weekly magazine) from March 9, 1958.  This article by Theodore Roosevelt was of course not written in 1958, he died in 1919.  This was a retro reprint even back in 1958.  I can' find a date for when it was originally written, but this timeless wisdom bares repeating.

It was "Teddy" Roosevelt who said, "If a man is not familiar with the Bible, he has suffered a loss which he had better make all possible haste to correct."  From his writings the following document has emerged:


NINE REASONS FOR GOING TO CHURCH
1. A churchless community, where men have abandoned, scoffed at, or ignored their religious needs, is a community on the rapid downgrade.

2. Church work and church attendance mean the cultivation of the habit of feeling some responsibility for others.


3. There are enough holidays for most of us. Therefore, on Sundays go to church.

4. Yes, I know all the excuses. I know that one can worship the
Creator in a grove of trees, or by a running brook, or in one's own
home, just as well as in a church. But I also know as a matter of
cold fact that the average man does not thus worship.

5. One may not hear a good sermon at church.  One will hear a
sermon by a good man who, with his good wife, is engaged all week in
making hard lives a little easier.

6. One will listen to and take part in reading some beautiful passages
from the Bible. If a person is not familiar with the Bible he
has suffered a loss.

7. One will take part in singing some good hymns.

8. One will meet and nod or speak to good, quiet neighbors. He
will come away feeling a little more charitable toward all the world,
even toward those excessively foolish young men who regard church going
as a soft performance.

9. I advocate a mans joining in church work for the sake of showing
his faith by his works.

These are nine good reasons. There are more (including the fact
that the Bible itself commands us not to forsake the assembling of
ourselves together-Hebrews 10 :25). But please notice the last few
words of the ninth point, " . . . showing his faith by his works." It
is Scriptural to say that we demonstrate our faith by our works
(James 2 :18). It is also Scriptural to say that we are saved by our
faith and not by our works (Romans 4:s). Church attendance is an
excellent habit but it cannot take the place of saving faith. Each person
must be converted and experience the New Birth in order to become
a Christian. Therefore, when you go to church be sure it is
a church where the gospel is preached. Believe the gospel, accept
the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, and you will say
with the Psalmist, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go
into the house of the Lord."  (It's not clear whether this last paragraph was written by Roosevelt or the writer from the Pentecostal Evangel, I assume the latter.)

Well said Teddy!  I love this.  Truth, is truth, even 100 years later.

What are your thoughts?  Leave me comment!



Here's my source by the way.
http://ag.org/top/News/index_articledetail.cfm?targetBay=ea7fb5b4-34e2-4cd7-99a1-b7ce6556476b&ModID=2&Process=DisplayArticle&RSS_RSSContentID=14749&RSS_OriginatingChannelID=1184&RSS_OriginatingRSSFeedID=3359&RSS_Source=