Me and my buddy Phil spoke about this frequently, Its because we challenge the norm, We dont sit down and shut up and just listen, God does not require this of us, God did not make us in his image to be puppets, If this were true what is the church them saying about God...

Below is a piece taken from christian goth .com that relates to these conversations me and Phil are having more and more frequently

by The Lady Michaela

Every "christian" church I have gone to has shunned me away. A lady, today in a dress came up to me and my friends and handed us some flyers and said "here you go dears I think you need to bring Christ into your lives." I just wanted to scream: I DO HAVE CHRIST IN MY LIFE! I love God with all of my heart and yet I'm being told I'm a satanist because I wear black.. Help please, help me understand this, what do I do, where do I turn?
It's too bad there are some ignorant Christians in the world but there are far more wonderful loving Christians out there, and it's a shame because of the few ignorant ones that so many nice kids should get turned off to church. I do know exactly how you feel...I too have been stared at and even prayed over by a visiting evangelist at a church I use to attend. I think he thought I was a witch or something! I really hope you all will be encouraged to continue looking for a good church because going to the "right" church is very important. If you do not allow God to help you grow through this painful experience it will continue to hurt and stunt your growth as a Christian. Give the rejection and hurt to Him. Jesus promised that offenses would come and the best thing I can do for you, is to be honest and help you grow through this pain and rejection, otherwise I really wouldn't be operating in His love. (Although it makes me quite upset when I receive stories like this.) A lot of our brothers and sisters in the Lord are blinded by the fact that we all do not fit into the Christian Cookie Cutter Mold they believe we should fit into. We are all individuals and the Lord uses those unique qualities in us to reach others like us. Some suggestions I might want to offer you would be to perhaps mail a letter to the pastor (of the church that rejected you) and tell him LOVINGLY exactly what happened and then tell him that Jesus Christ is your Lord and savoir and that because of your attire, some in his church thought otherwise, and that is not right to judge on the outward appearance. You could tell the pastor to visit ChristianGoth.com to better understand where you are coming from. You could quote 1 Samuel 16:7 to folks who give you flyers suggesting you need the Lord. "For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7.....if memorization or nervousness is a problem, you could carry this scripture printed out on cards to hand to those rejecting and judging you (in Christian love.) I have that scripture on a picture holder keychain on my coffin shaped purse for such an occasion! When you ask "why is God putting you through this".....like I said earlier, Jesus did say offenses will come, even sometimes by our brothers and sisters in the Lord. I also asked myself that very question when it happened to me. The answer, I soon found out was: SO I WOULD KNOW WHAT IT FELT LIKE! It was a painful lesson for me that I too needed to work through as you do now. I can honestly with all my heart say, I understand, how you are feeling....I know the pain and hurt of that rejection....but, what you need to do (and it is not easy, you need to forgive those folks) God will deal with them....you need to rise above the situation, and be the best Christian you can possibly be. That way you know that YOU KNOW you are right with the Lord and He is looking with eyes of approval on you. Your walk with the Lord will eventually shut the judging mouths of those who hand you flyers or say nasty remarks. Above all, to finally answer the question of where do I turn? You go running straight into the arms of Jesus!! You cry...you yell...you tell Him whatever is on your heart concerning this whole ordeal and then turn it over to Him. Leave it there with Him at the cross...and if it happens again, do the same thing! Run to Jesus, but NEVER, never run away from Him because of what others do to you.

I can relate to this so much, i have had it happen to me since day on of me being a christian, and sadly it will never stop

I got turned off by the church as a young child being sent to christian summer camps by my parents. These camps were nothing more than mind-numbing religious studies and psychical abuse, kids would get beaten viciously if they didn't follow the rules of the camp. This turned me off religion for a long time, by the way one of the leaders of the camp who was a pastor finished up in jail for abuse of a 6 year old boy. These types of experiences do nothing to enhance the word of god.

Also, my wife and her parents have been going to a local church here their whole lives. I usually can't go because i get the job of babysitting our kids but i have talked to the pastor at this church several times and all he ever talks about is the money the church makes. Seems like he treats it like a business more than a place of worship.

same, i grew up hating god because the few times i tried to find out about him i was cast away by his supposed people due to the way i dressed, my hair, etc

awesome

F the church, Its a joke, Has nothing to do with God, It's all about money

God doesnt have to be found in a church. Best quoted in Stigmata "The Kingdom of God is inside you, and all around you, not in mansions of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood... and I am there, lift a stone... and you will find me."
I grew up in a Baptist church.. Sundays were always the most boring days of my life. Drowned out by the smell of
overdressed old people's perfumes to the point of passing out in the pews.. It's was not a very spiritual experience. I only truly came to Love and Appreciate God after leaving the church. I found him close to my own death.. I embraced the overflowing feeling that came over me as Him.. saving me, and not just me being a sheep - a zombie blindly following something i didnt understand..
I dont have to go anywhere to find Him. I will always have Him.

Nice, same here, God found me, And it was not in a church, It was at a Dark Funeral concert

Considering the situation that's amazing!!

Piss on the church, I do dig God though

Right on

Same, though i do have a church, but its not a crappy church

I have found a couple of churches *few and far between* that are so diverse and open minded. But of course not any where i live so i just keep up my personal relationship with God myself . . Would be nice to find a place to go be around more people of the same faith and not be judged. I am a single mom and would like it as a better influence for my son... I dont want him to grow up despising it like i did.

The church is not for me, When i speak to God i do it at home, I dont need a room full of people judging me to find God

That's just it.. I want to find a group of like minded people that are just as non-judgmental as me to get together with. The power of God in numbers really is great thing to experience honestly. Doesnt have to be a church..

Ms.DoomBringer wrote:

The church is not for me, When i speak to God i do it at home, I dont need a room full of people judging me to find God

Same here, the last time i went to Church. The pastor did this whole speech on the evils of rock music, i know he did because i was in the audience and he knows what i am into. I don't need to be preached to in such a way.

This is something that I just can not relate to. I have gone to church my entire life and I have never had this happen to me. I have gone to church wearing jeans and random band shirts (including the old Napalm Death vampire witch thing holding the skeleton and the old Frost Like Ashes "When This Place is Filled With Corpses" one), leather jackets, long hair (in fact there are quite a few guys with long hair at my current church, including an old guy with a huge beard, he looks like a metalhead santa claus, he's cool), I used to sit around with my friend in his car and listen to everything from Vengeance Rising to Godflesh to Morbid Angel and no one cared, there are lots of punky gothy kids at my church, including my daughters godsister. And I do not go to some super contemporary, 'goth' church or whatever, I go to an old fashioned 'ultra religious' LCMS Lutheran church, one filled with old German speaking people and yet none of them have any problems at all with the punky / gothy / metally people there.

Maybe, the fact that it is an old fashioned church is why I have never had problems though, since most of the people I have had problems with have gone to the contemporary "sing the chorus of shout to the lord 20 times in a row" type of churches.