When most people hear the word "church," they may immediately visualize a preacher reading his Bible to his congregation, a study group meeting during Sabbath school, or a group of people getting together to promote a good cause. In Ephesians, a church can be defined as a group of apostles, evangelists, or prophets who has a spiritual purpose of preparing God's people for service until all reach unity in the faith of God (New International Version, Eph. 4:11-13). Since many modern churches focus on their outward appearances, they neglect this responsibility of ministering to those in need and become more ungodly than they ever intended to be. Many people today recognize this issue and leave the church because their spiritual needs are not able
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Although the central figure in "Take Me to Church" desires to have a relationship with the church and appears to need its blessing, he is drawn away from it because he recognizes that his sinful lover makes him feel like a far better person than his hypocritical church ever would. Although she may be a bad influence on him, she turns into his safe haven when he sees his church as an enemy who makes him feel like he is too "sick" and worthless to ever be loved by it. Through the actions of the protagonist and his lover, Hozier makes it obvious that he chooses to worship her because she temporarily fills in for the church's negligence of feeding his spiritual hunger and offers him the love that he wants to receive from the church but does not. Hozier writes this song, not with the intention of attacking the church or its religious practices, but to make modern churches more aware of their ability to either turn people away from Christ or encourage them to lay down their lives for Him. Just like the protagonist felt hated and discriminated by the church, most individuals who feel excluded from the church are the most likely to walk away from it. Since the protagonist is more faithful to the sinful woman than the church because she shows him more compassion and acceptance than it does, Hozier suggests that the man is more attracted to her caring character than her willingness to sin. Thus, by showing true love, churches may be more likely to lure in those who are spiritually sick and influence them to turn to them for comfort instead of their darkest
Although the central figure in "Take Me to Church" desires to have a relationship with the church and appears to need its blessing, he is drawn away from it because he recognizes that his sinful lover makes him feel like a far better person than his hypocritical church ever would. Although she may be a bad influence on him, she turns into his safe haven when he sees his church as an enemy who makes him feel like he is too "sick" and worthless to ever be loved by it. Through the actions of the protagonist and his lover, Hozier makes it obvious that he chooses to worship her because she temporarily fills in for the church's negligence of feeding his spiritual hunger and offers him the love that he wants to receive from the church but does not. Hozier writes this song, not with the intention of attacking the church or its religious practices, but to make modern churches more aware of their ability to either turn people away from Christ or encourage them to lay down their lives for Him. Just like the protagonist felt hated and discriminated by the church, most individuals who feel excluded from the church are the most likely to walk away from it. Since the protagonist is more faithful to the sinful woman than the church because she shows him more compassion and acceptance than it does, Hozier suggests that the man is more attracted to her caring character than her willingness to sin. Thus, by showing true love, churches may be more likely to lure in those who are spiritually sick and influence them to turn to them for comfort instead of their darkest