I hear this question often. Usually preceded by "If God is a God of love, and loves everyone..."
This is usually asked by those who are not Christians. They play the hypocrite card when invited to church - "Everyone there is a bunch of hypocrites - that's why I don't go."
I believe the people who ask the first question don't fully understand. God, a God of love, created a perfect world for us to live in. He created Adam because he desired companionship. And he created Eve so Adam would have companionship. But God didn't desire demanded companionship - he wanted it to be a choice that was made, and man was given free will. In the world God created, everything worked and coincided perfectly. There was only one stipulation - don't partake of one tree. And you know what the most tantalizing tree was? That one tree. And satan convinced Eve that by eating from that tree, she would be as knowledgeable as God Himself.
Once she and Adam had eaten from that tree, they immediately knew satan was a liar. It didn't fill them with knowledge, but instead, shame. Shame for disobeying God. And sorrow for ruining their perfect relationship with God. And their curse for that mistake was that all of mankind would be born with a sinning nature. All of mankind would now suffer physical pain, sickness and eventual death.
But our God of love is a God of second chances. He provided a way for our souls to have eternal life beyond the day of our physical death. He sent His only son, Jesus Christ, a perfect, sinless man to be tormented and crucified as a blood sacrifice to pay the debt of our sin, that debt being eternal damnation. But He still gave us free will. The choice to accept this way to eternal life in Heaven, or the choice to reject it.
The answer to this question is, bad stuff happens to good people because good people sinned. And still sin. But our God of love gave the opportunity to escape this world of sickness and death. So that is how His love is displayed to us. Everyone experiences trials and temptations in this temporary world. But through God, we have hope for a future and peace in our hearts that a non-Christian simply cannot understand.
So to the latter question, I would ask, do you go to work every day? Isn't that place filled with hypocrites? Do you shop at Wal-mart? Aren't there hypocrites there? For some reason, people seem to think churches should be full of saints. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's kind of like a hospital. People who feel fine usually aren't occupying the rooms. The same holds true with churches.
First, those people filling the church are just people. Human, sinful people like everyone else. The difference is that the Christians enjoy God's grace and mercy, and forgiveness for their sins. Should Christians live differently than non-Christians? Of Course! But not all of them do, unfortunately. And though we strive (or should) to live a life free of sin, our fleshly nature causes us to fail many times over. We are instructed to ask for forgiveness for our sins and try, with God's help, not to repeat them. And my best guess is the ones who refuse to go to church probably haven't been, and don't actually know first hand just who goes there.
Second, churches have a couple of purposes. One, is to be able to come together and fellowship with Christian brothers and sisters and worship God. Another is the hospital effect. Your pastor's job is to preach the word of God. And throughout time, the true word of God has the power to uplift you, convict you of sin in your life, and encourage you to walk closer to God. So, if you are experiencing a "storm" in your life, you can find comfort at church. If you are living outside of God's will, hopefully your conscience is convicted to repent and come back into walking closely with God.
And the church is the place where most people who aren't Christians hear the word of God, and about His grace and mercy, and the plan of salvation.
Why not give it a try, if you've never been, or if it has been a while?
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