Do you skip church if you have guests?

[TheOrigFV45]

Just that - if your guests are not church goers do you still go?
We are the guests, leaving for home at 11am.
DS2 said he doesn't want to go to church and it got me wondering what people generally do.

I was replying to Crafts post.

Sorry.
But still annoyed MNHQ deleted my post. I think that was out of order.

I don't know what you said I think they should delete Crafts post and I have reported it so I hope they do!

I agree. It wasn’t a personal attack. It was aimed at the institution rather than the people.

If someone wanted to defend it, it could have been done on the thread.

How can it possibly be specifically anti-Catholic, when some of us are ex-Catholics and are speaking from personal experience?

This thread has drifted far away from the original OP - which has been answered. It was the Religious Fanatics who first posted their "God is Love, Jesus is the only One, Worship Him and Him only" crap, and then don't like it when that viewpoint is challenged. That argument should be on the relevant group (the name of which I can't remember, apologies. Something like Religion and Philosophy??)

Good grief!

Most sensible people would agree with JacquesHammer who said In the unlikely event of me staying with people who regularly go to church (I’m not sure I know anyone who does!) I would absolutely not mind them going to their service.
I would also absolutely expect them not to try to get me to come with them!

The debate on the rights and wrongs, whys and wherefores of any religious views should be taken elsewhere, possibly. If you feel so strongly either way, then don't stay with those people, or have those people to stay with you.

Alright @GoldenEvilHoor, what kind of church do you go to? I am intrigued

I didn't see abacucat 's post. I expect I may have agreed with it.
I have read Craft 's post - and it should not be deleted. It is a very valid point.
Should debate be shut down? No. How else will we ever learn, if we are not permitted to discuss the issues of the era?

@EvansOvalPies

I don't think that we can simply blame it on the 'Religious Fanatics' but also 'Non-Religious Fanatics' with their 'athetist crap' who have vehemently made their position clear. The point I'm making is that it works both ways and language is important.

I certainly have felt attacked on this thread by merely stating my religious perspective on the topic and I haven't called names or disparaged anyone elses belief or perspective.

Anyway, I don't like a whole 'us' and 'them'. I would like to think most (myself included) people religious and non-religious enjoy having our viewpoints challenged and discussed in a respectful way.

I must admit I haven't had to think about this as it's not the 1940s any more

I really don't think there is any respect on this board for other people's views. @busybarbara has just posted something that illustrates this perfectly.

Who are you that you think you're life choices are more valid than mine.

It's not the 1940's people can choose to go to church or not.

People in the 1940's lost their lives fighting on battlefields so we could have that choice!

I think that’s an issue right across social media on all sorts of topics, somewhere. Be nice to think we could keep it off MN, but I think that’s a losing battle.

@somewhereovertheroad

Craft1905 This is a ridiculous post. Very blatantly anti Catholic and it would never be allowed to stand if it was anti semetic or anti muslim.

This. People seem to happily bash Christianity, and berate and ridicule people who follow Jesus/follow Christianity, but never ever attack any other religions... ESPECIALLY Islam.

Yet these same people will kick off if someone says anything remotely negative about non-whites or immigrants. They go on a real rant, calling people bigoted, and small-minded, and full of hate.

Irony in its purest form. Spouting bile and hate and vitriol at Christians, but having a go at anyone who dares say anything even slightly negative about non-whites and immigrants.

Crafts post deserved to be removed, as did abacucat's. They were both very insulting towards Christianity.

I am quite happy to criticise many elements of islam as commonly practised in Britain including Sharia Courts.
The truth is you simply you don't want anyone criticising the catholic church - and believe me there is a lot to criticise.
Totally disingenous to claim this is about criticising christianity.

Crafts post deserved to be removed, as did abacucat's. They were both very insulting towards Christianity.
I criticised the catholic church, not christianity as a whole - although that okay to do too. I know catholics believe there version of christianity is the only true one, but there are actually other versions of christianity apart from the catholic church.

Back to the original post. I would probably still go, as I often have some sort of responsibility with children or music. I would invite my guests to join me, but I wouldn't expect it or try and make them go. If I didn't have any responsibility and guests were likely to be up and about in the morning and up for doing something together then I would miss the service and spend the day with them. If they were thinking of leaving at 11am, I would hope they'd suggest leaving half an hour earlier.

I’ll admit to feeling uncomfortable with RC attitudes. You should go to church because you want to, not because you are bribed to. The Holy Spirit makes church worship irresistible, not a guilt trip.

My DH grew up in a RC household, and I have found his family to be very rude when they have come to stay, as if some calamity would happen if they came to our COfE church. OTOH, they expected us to go to their completely inhospitable mass - I rather enjoyed the friendly Episcopal church across the road, with its BCP to guide you through the service (and let you join them in the Lord’s Supper).

I rarely miss church because I have warden duties most Sundays, but also because our church does a sermon series and I like to follow it. Fortunately, we have a live stream which means I can take part, even if I am not there.

When I am travelling, I will look for an Anglican/Episcopal church to go to, just because I love to experience the breadth of Anglican worship.

If fellowshipping with non-church goers, I would always take their wishes into account, which could mean anything from skipping church to inviting them along.

Like most things, isn't it obvious that the answer is 'it depends' and a multitude of answers could be right.

• it could be right to tell the guest that you usually go to CHurch at Xtime and ask if they would like to join you.
• it could be right to not mention Church and decide not to go (and his could involve going to a later service or not)
• it could be right to tell them that you are involved in the service on a rota of some kind and need to go, but they are welcome to join you/stay at home/potter round town.

There is no definitive right answer. It all depends on who the guests are, the circumstances of the visit and day, if any commitments are vital to meet, and both hosts and guests having willingness to be a bit flexible and also friendly.

Some guests would hate to go to church. It's fine to ask them as long as it's clear its their choice. Some guests would love to go and others, well you might not know unless you ask. Some guests are the type that need constant entertainment 24/7 and can't be left behind or to potter for a while, so they either need to go to Churchbor the host needs to not go, whilst others are much more flexible and can be both guests and do their own thing. Some guests might be on a flying visit - the only one for 10 years and every moment to is so precious that choices are made to suspend usual commitments of all kinds. Other hosts have commitments at Church whichbtheybcant avoid - they might be down to preach or to lead a session which no-one else can do and it's really important and most guests will understand about this.

Isn't it all about being friendly hosts, being open about yourself and what you do, being willing to include others in an invitation to Church but also understanding not all may want to come and recognising when it's possible to be a bit flexible about going and when it's not. And isn't being a good guest about appreciating that your host might be involved in Churchbor another activity which you might not be, and understanding they might invite you along and that sometimes as a guest you go along to something you might not usually, but feeling you can say if you don't want to. And isn't it about recognising that a host might host you but also have some other commitments of any type which they have to meet - that means they have to go and meet them and you either join them or don't, but 24/7 attention as a guest isn't always possible, but not a sign your host isn't being a good host.

It doesn't seem that difficult. We all have regular commitments which we can probably miss very occasionally without it being a problem, but want to be involved as much as possible. Guests may well mean some change of plans or not necessarily.

@abacucat

I am quite happy to criticise many elements of islam as commonly practised in Britain including Sharia Courts.

You say that, but I don't see you doing it!

Catholicism isn't perfect, and neither is Christianity, and both Catholics and Christians have their flaws. But what grates on me is how the people who berate, and bash, and pour scorn all over Catholicism and Christianity NEVER, EVER, EVER slag off Islam, or Sikhism or Hinduism or Judaism.

It's always, the Christians and Catholics. Don't you DARE tell me that Catholicism and Christianity is any worse than these religions. It's not. Yet you bash those 2 but not the others. Doing that is incredibly disingenuous, bloody cowardly, and downright pathetic.

Upshot is, if you have no interest in MY Religion, I don't give a shit.

But kindly bore off with your toxic and vitriolic bile about it.

Why don't you just stay out of other peoples business and let them live their lives as they see fit, without vicious and cruel remarks about them. They're not doing YOU any harm. So bore off. Find something else to occupy your time.

Hiding the thread now, as it's pissing me off, and I have notifications turned off. So you'll be wasting your time @-ing me!

First and last time it was my mum, and she came with us. She’s never been particularly religious (I went with a neighbor as a child) but she enjoyed the hymns.

My dad's church is important to him so he goes to church regardless which I think is fair enough. It's just factored in to our stay, much like my SIL will go for a 45 min run on a morning regardless of whether people are visiting or she is visiting people. I don't think normal life should stop for visitors otherwise no-one wants visitors or to be visited.
I usually keep my dad company even though I'm an atheist whilst my husband lounges around the house. He'll often take his bike and do a long bike ride whilst we are there anyway.
All being shut up together for long weekends can get claustrophobic. If I lived nearer my dad I'd just go home Sat evening.

God is omnipresent so of course one can skip church, it is far more Christian to spend to time with real life loved ones than conforming to theological expectations.

I'd be offended if ppl I'd travelled to see went to church, for the above reasons. Pray later, a loving God would approve. A God who expects you to abandon friends isn't worth having.

winterfell You know nothing about me. You are very very wrong. I am not actually criticising Christianity, I am criticising the Catholic Church. I get that you are very defensive about any criticism of the Catholic Church, but that does not mean people's criticisms should be shut down. That is what used to happen in Britain, and it led to some terrible abuses.