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AMA
Original poster

I am a Christian (presbyterian with a 'Wee Free' background). AMA

194 replies

NoHaudinMaWheest · 01/05/2023 12:43

This is a follow on from the brilliant orthodox Jewish threads to enable people to ask questions about Christianity without derailing those ones.

I was brought up in the Free Church of Scotland. It is often known as the Wee Frees so I have put that in the title but it is a somewhat derogatory term and not one I would usually use.

I left the Free Church when I was about 30 for really complicated reasons. I spent a long time as an Anglican but having recently moved back to Scotland I now go to the mainstream established Church of Scotland.
I have also attended various independent evangelical and Baptist churches in my time.

So I am happy to try to answer any questions but please note I really am not qualified to speak on behalf of Catholics, or many other Christian branches.

OP posts:
Itwasnaeme · 01/05/2023 16:26

OP what are your views about women's role in the family and in the world? Do you think the man is the head of the family? (My family would be scunnered if that was the case)

StraightOuttaContext · 01/05/2023 16:35

@Cottagecheeseisnotcheese that's interesting, thank you (sincerely!), but it doesn't answer my questions.

I agree with @Itwasnaeme that the terms @CraftyGin are very loaded. It would be helpful and constructive if these could be expanded on.

I'm not sure it's a good idea for this thread to become a forum for people to air their misconceptions and prejudices about other denominations. I'm sure OP created it in the spirit of the Orthodox Jewish threads, a spirit of respectful learning about other people and their particular religio-cultural practises Flowers

StraightOuttaContext · 01/05/2023 16:36

I'm aware my last point contradicts my second... 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️oops!! @

Maireas · 01/05/2023 16:36

Itwasnaeme · 01/05/2023 16:23

That's a very loaded set of definitions

Show quote history

Indeed. Quite a statement about Catholics

Original poster
NoHaudinMaWheest · 01/05/2023 16:37

I was very much brought up to believe that the man is head of the family and that was how it worked in my family.
Women are not allowed to have any teaching or governing role in the church (other than teaching children and other women). When I was growing up that meant teaching Sunday school and making tea were about the only roles for women. Some Free churches now allow women to take on more roles now but they still cannot be ministers or elders.
Working outside the home was perhaps seen as less than ideal but often necessary and lots of women including my own mother did, especially once children were school age. Their careers would be seen as supplementary to the man's though.

I have a more equal partnership view of marriage now myself.

OP posts:
Original poster
NoHaudinMaWheest · 01/05/2023 16:39

straight you are right that learning about each other was my aim.

OP posts:
Maireas · 01/05/2023 16:42

My parents were RC, as I said upthread, my mother in a Wee Free area in the West of Scotland. She also remembers job adverts with "Catholics need not apply" on them, fortunately a thing of the past! Unfortunately when the Pope visited in about 1982, things got fairly unpleasant. Sectarianism of course.

Maireas · 01/05/2023 16:44

I'm interested in Sunday School, something we RCs never have. Is it basically Bible study, or do other activities happen?.

Maireas · 01/05/2023 16:45

ps- I love your user name! I hope you never haud your wheest!

Itwasnaeme · 01/05/2023 16:49

Thanks for answering my question.

Oakbeam · 01/05/2023 16:53

My mother was brought up in the West of Scotland in a Wee Free area, and she said that on a Sunday even the parks were closed and the swings chained up!

I once rented a house on the West Coast and among the (many) conditions of the let were that no washing should be done or any games played in the garden on Sundays. Over thirty years ago.

Cottagecheeseisnotcheese · 01/05/2023 16:55

@StraightOuttaContext what was your question again I was only commenting on the Supremacy of the Word of God or Scripture, I am not in a postion to comment on whether or how much Catholics vary from that theologically.
I am avoiding popular misconceptions of Catholicism (including but not limited to invalliability of the Pope or claims that they worship statutes etc) I know the traditions of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches do not hold equal weight to scripture but am not sure how much weight they are given as I am not a Catholic theologian

LlynTegid · 01/05/2023 16:56

I remember a Scottish judge who belonged to the Free Presbyterian Church being shunned or even ostracised, for going to the funeral of another judge who was Roman Catholic. Would that happen were it the case today, or has that changed?

Cottagecheeseisnotcheese · 01/05/2023 16:59

Sunday schools were originally started centuries ago for working children so they would learn to read and write as well as learning bible stories. Now sunday school would generally be in the main service, the first bit is joint, singing psalms or hymns a prayer bible reading maybe a short talk fromt he minster to the children , then they leave the main service about 3rd hymn/psalm and have age appropiate classes and stories while adults stay in main service for the sermon
in Presbyterian churches the sermon or teaching is very important and would in Free church last 30-40 minutes though in some places 20 would be more common but it is certainly the focus, the pslams hymns would be chosen by preacher to fit in with his theme, mostly Sunday school is for children or Primary school age though some churches may have something for younger teens too.

Cottagecheeseisnotcheese · 01/05/2023 17:01

it was Lord Mackay of Clashfern it may still happen in Free Presbyterian church but not in the Free Church
Please note the Church of Scotland is also Presbyterian not Anglican

Maireas · 01/05/2023 17:02

That's interesting. 30-40 minutes is a long sermon indeed!

Cottagecheeseisnotcheese · 01/05/2023 17:05

in Lewis it would be thought average though I think the days of hour long sermons are past but it would not have been uncommon 40-50 years ago at all,

Presbyterian churches are governed at a local level which sends representatives more centrally but they are not governed from top down each congregation choses there own minister they are never imposed on them ( this is what the disruption of 1843 was about)

TheShellBeach · 01/05/2023 17:07

Sorry, I think I missed a few lines in my explanation! (That’ll teach me to keep typing while DH is trying to explain the ins and outs of his Amazon return to me )

My old Baptist preacher would definitely tell you that the Devil was doing his best to distract you.

I actually believe that myself.

StraightOuttaContext · 01/05/2023 17:08

@Cottagecheeseisnotcheese no it's okay, my questions were specifically for another poster as it was their wording I was wondering about.

I'm not going to debate the inaccuracies I've read about Catholicism on these threads this weekend, because it would derail them and frankly it's plain energy-sapping that these prejudices are still being wtitten out by people who otherwise seem thoughtful and respectful.

My opinion is, if you (the global "you", not any one individual on- or off-line) don't really know about something, then you should ask about it respectfully and not assume the bits and pieces of received opinion you've picked up along the way are definitive, even if they seem trivial to you, they can be deeply offensive to others.

Maireas · 01/05/2023 17:08

Tell me about the disruption of 1843, that sounds intriguing.

TheShellBeach · 01/05/2023 17:10

When DH and I are on holiday and it happens to be a Sunday, we go to the nearest church which seems to be a good fit.
But sometimes we have encountered churches where the people are not fired up at al. The minister does not seem to be questioning anyone's lifestyle and the sermon is generally about something banal - like one we hear (from a woman preacher) which was about how many bottles of gooseberries she had bottled.

I cannot bear sermons like that. I get nothing from them and I do not understand why such ministers think they're acceptable.

Maireas · 01/05/2023 17:12

Do you think the Minister is trying to be chatty and informal?

TheShellBeach · 01/05/2023 17:13

I have a friend who is a Catholic and I have stayed with her and attended services at her church.
Truly, the priest was more of a Christian than some of the lack-lustre ministers I have occasionally encountered on my travels. He was extraordinary. I felt so at home in his church.

He even let me take Holy Communion. I daresay the Pope would not approve? I am not a Catholic............but this priest said that committed Christians who took Communion at their own churches were welcome at his Table.

RandomGeocache · 01/05/2023 17:14

I have quite a lot of Wee Free friends/acquaintances - I live in Glasgow. Also several N Irish friends who attend the Wee Free churches but were brought up in a similar tradition, although their church had a different name. Few things over the years.

  1. What's the issue with mindfulness/yoga? Children of Wee Free friends weren't allowed to do either at school - they didn't approve.
  2. Are your kids allowed to attend birthday parties on a Sunday? (daughter's Wee Free friend wasn't)
  3. Do you pull your kids out of PSE type education in school which teaches that homosexuality is OK and nothing to be ashamed of?
Maireas · 01/05/2023 17:16

I think that the ruling is that you may take Holy Communion if you receive it in good intent ie if you believe that it is a sacrament, or you partake in that spirit.