I grew up secular but in the last several years have been trying to live my life in synch. with the teachings of the Torah as much as possible. The one thing that has bothered me more than anything, even when I find an excuse to not keep Kosher, is driving to services on Shabbat.
I do not have the convenience of close distance and am curious as to what the very general view is on this?
First off, congratulations on your steady growth and kudo’s for realizing that one cannot take on all Mitzvos at once. It requires time to incorporate changes [especially of this magnitude] into one’s lifestyle and the most important thing is that one keep studying and slowly adding to his/her performance of Mitzvos.
As far as your question goes re: driving when one is out of walking distance of a synagogue allow me to explain it as best as I could.
First off, did you know that attending synagogue is not one of the 613 Mitzvos? There is no scriptural obligation to do so. It is a ritual that was incorporated into our lifestyle [wherever possible] only once the second Temple was destroyed and there were no longer sacrifices brought on behalf of the people. At that time, communal prayer took on a new significance and attending services on a daily basis became more popular. But, one must understand that this custom applied to every wekday as well as Shabbat.
Contrast that with the fact that driving to synagogue on Shabbat entails violating literally a dozen or more scripturally ordained prohibitions each week!
Thus, to drive to synagogue on Shabbat would be akin to a patient with a serious heart defect who was warned by a doctor not to take any blood-thinning medication lest it kill him, take just such a medication because he has an ingrown toenail. He may well heal the toenail problem but it would be at the penalty of his life.
Driving to synagogue on the Shabbat is a very serious prohibition and attending synagogue is hardly worthy of mention in the same breath.
I would also advise you to focus on attending more during the week which is equally important and you can rest assured that if you are attending services throughout the week, you will not be nearly as tempted to attend on Shabbat if it means that you must drive.
Another point that I’d like to mention is that if you email me your location I could probably help you get invited to people who live close to synagogue and obviate the need to drive altogether.