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Is visiting other church's 'inappropriate'


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2 minutes ago, pogi said:

You don't want to know what I was doing as a teenager in the 80's!

Uhhhh, yes I do! Spill your guts man. Nothing can be as bad as taking books into a book store and leaving them there, only a Mormon would do that😂

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1 hour ago, JAHS said:

Your family are jerks 😉 ☺️
I remember as a teen my Sunday School teacher actually took his whole class to an episcopal  church meeting just for the experience and to learn about how other faiths do it.
I have been to churches of different faiths to support someone who was invited to sing there. 

I had a similar experience with a Sunday School class when growing up   The teacher later became the bishop. 

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12 minutes ago, AtlanticMike said:

Uhhhh, yes I do! Spill your guts man. Nothing can be as bad as taking books into a book store and leaving them there, only a Mormon would do that😂

We were opposites in many ways.  You would bring something to the mall and leave empty handed, whereas I would come empty handed and leave with...things.  I am not proud of it now (and have fully repented and made recompense where possible), but my friends and I would have competitions on who could lift more stuff with a 10 minute time limit.

If Flanders was a Mormon, you would be his kid. 

I was definitely more of a cross between Bart and Jimbo Jones, skateboard and all. 

 

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2 minutes ago, CA Steve said:

Wouldn't it be cool if on some sort of rotating basis, members from other churches attended a service different than their own? 

Maybe every time there was a fifth Sunday, people could attend another church.

Do you remember when our chapel was rented out to the local Jewish temple for holidays? I always liked the ecumenical feeling of that. 

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Just now, pogi said:

We were opposites in many ways.  You would bring something to the mall and leave empty handed, whereas I would come empty handed and leave with...things.  I am not proud of it now (and have fully repented and made recompense where possible), but my friends and I would have competitions on who could lift more stuff with a 10 minute time limit.

If Flanders was a Mormon, you would be his kid. 

I was definitely more of a cross between Bart and Jimbo Jones, skateboard and all. 

 

I was definitely the opposite of you as a youth. My brother said I was the poster child for good Mormon boys. Now look at me.

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I know some members who would think it inappropriate but I don't know where they got that idea from.  They are very rigid however in their ideas of doctrine.   I also know non members who go to other churches who would refuse to come to any kind of LDS event or service.  Personally, I think it would be right to visit other churches, on occasion, for specific reasons  such as supporting family.   Maybe its because ive attended different churches before becoming a member but I don't think church leaders would think this inappropriate, after all they do encourage interfaith dialogue and service and regularly meet those of other faiths.  I've often gone to other churches than my own before I was a member.  And as a member I've attended services at other churches, often with the knowledge and encouragement of my bishops and stake presidency.  So, I wouldn't say your family are jerks but I do think they are being very rigid and are wrong.  That said, I think going regularly to another church than your own is a different matter.  I did that and it led me to make a permanent membership change!

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1 hour ago, HappyJackWagon said:

Are my family jerks or has the church somehow created a fear based mentality about attending other churches or experiencing "counterfeit spirituality" (my father's phrase). OR are they right in refusing to attend other churches and are appropriately indignant at the invitation?

I find it strange to refuse given we want others to be open about attending our services.  I have never understood the belief that somehow they will be tainted by attending. I can better understand the feeling it isn’t worth their time and have come across that in ‘real’ life while only heard of the taint version online...but getting offended at being invited is very unusual in my experience. I haven’t read the rest of posts yet and will be interested to see if this is something others have encountered.

I do believe that church culture has contributed to a view of other churches as worthy of being dismissed. In the past I heard many more negatives or derogatory humor about other faiths at church than positives, but it has been better for quite sometime in the wards I have been hanging out in. 

Edited by Calm
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8 minutes ago, jkwilliams said:

Do you remember when our chapel was rented out to the local Jewish temple for holidays? I always liked the ecumenical feeling of that. 

Yes. I asked why once and I was told they liked our buildings because of the lack of religious iconography inside or out.

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Just now, CA Steve said:

Yes. I asked why once and I was told they liked our buildings because of the lack of religious iconography inside or out.

Yeah, as far as I can remember there was just that painting of Lehi’s dream out in the foyer. My mom said everyone was really upset that the church got rid of that painting when they renovated the building after the ‘94 earthquake. Sadly, it was replaced with a Del Parson print. 

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29 minutes ago, Calm said:

I do believe that church culture has contributed to a view of other churches as worthy of being dismissed. In the past I heard many more negatives or derogatory humor about other faiths at church than positives, but it has been better for quite sometime in the wards I have been hanging out in. 

I have more than once heard mainly older members be dismissive or worse about other churches.   As a former member of other churches and still having family and friends who go to other churches,  I have always spoken up to support other churches.  Over the years, the views of even the most die hard have softened!

Edited by sheilauk
Spelling!
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3 minutes ago, jkwilliams said:

Yeah, as far as I can remember there was just that painting of Lehi’s dream out in the foyer. My mom said everyone was really upset that the church got rid of that painting when they renovated the building after the ‘94 earthquake. Sadly, it was replaced with a Del Parson print. 

I love that painting!   It was in the foyer of my old ward until this year when it was removed and replaced because Lehi's dream painting isn't on the official church list and all foyer art work had to be on that list. 

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Just now, sheilauk said:

I love that painting!   It was in the foyer of my old ward until this year when it was removed and replaced because Lehi's dream painting isn't on the official church list and all foyer art work had to be on that list. 

This was a one-off painted by one of the members who helped build the chapel. I shudder to think that it’s probably in a landfill. 

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22 minutes ago, jkwilliams said:

Do you remember when our chapel was rented out to the local Jewish temple for holidays? I always liked the ecumenical feeling of that. 

On my mission in northern california the local Jewish community would use a chapel in one of my areas for their holy days because it was bigger.  I loved that.

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48 minutes ago, sheilauk said:

I know some members who would think it inappropriate but I don't know where they got that idea from.  They are very rigid however in their ideas of doctrine.   I also know non members who go to other churches who would refuse to come to any kind of LDS event or service.  Personally, I think it would be right to visit other churches, on occasion, for specific reasons  such as supporting family.   Maybe its because ive attended different churches before becoming a member but I don't think church leaders would think this inappropriate, after all they do encourage interfaith dialogue and service and regularly meet those of other faiths.  I've often gone to other churches than my own before I was a member.  And as a member I've attended services at other churches, often with the knowledge and encouragement of my bishops and stake presidency.  So, I wouldn't say your family are jerks but I do think they are being very rigid and are wrong.  That said, I think going regularly to another church than your own is a different matter.  I did that and it led me to make a permanent membership change!

Agree with this. Especially for children or youth It probably should not be a regular thing to attend other faith's services. But once in a while if invited by a friend or for another specific reason I see no harm in it. 

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1 hour ago, bluebell said:

Uh, no.  This is not what the church teaches.  Some wonky members might believe it, and some wonky ex-members might repeat it, but it's not what the church actually teaches on the subject.

Rep point just for the use of the word wonky!
 

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I would say it was shortsighted instead of being jerks.  I think most people if they understood more would go.  Jerks are intentionally mean.  

We were in Grenada for Father's Day a few years ago.  There was no bus going to our meeting house from the North end of the island where we were staying so we went to the local church.

It was great to see how this kind of church worked and I can tell you the most over done mother's day I have seen was absolutely nothing compared to that Father's day.  My husband was invited, not just once, but twice to the front of the chapel to be honored.  The second time after about 3 songs and a case of vertigo he sat down a couple of songs early.  There were many musical numbers, talks and even dancing honoring fathers.  

We'd been told we could leave early which we were grateful for.   After about an hour and a half with our ears ringing from the loudness of the music we felt we could leave.

But I'm glad we went and glad we took our children.   

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2 hours ago, HappyJackWagon said:

This past weekend I had a fairly negative experience with family members about church attendance. I had been invited by a friend to do some special music at a non-LDS church service and since music is my jam, I was happy to contribute. 

I invited my parents to attend since they live nearby. They said they couldn't go because it would be "inappropriate". They won't attend a non-LDS service. My mom said she has never been to another church except to attend funerals. I was pretty surprised and a bit disappointed.

I also invited my brother and his family who were staying with us from out of town. My brother's wife said it was "unacceptable" and actually became upset that the invitation was extended and that my brother briefly considered going. In any case, no one attended to watch my musical contributions. Fine.

But it quite irked me that instead of a simple "no thank you" I received more of an "absolutely not" kind of response. It strikes me as extremely rude and small minded to be that opposed to attending another denomination's services for a special occasion even when it would have had no impact on their own services. If they had invited a friend or family to attend their service and received the same kind of response I am quite sure they would have found the rejection of a simple visit, distasteful.

Are my family jerks or has the church somehow created a fear based mentality about attending other churches or experiencing "counterfeit spirituality" (my father's phrase). OR are they right in refusing to attend other churches and are appropriately indignant at the invitation?

 

Sounds like a personal problem with certain members who might be descending into Phariseeism. And inventing new pseudo-commandments in order to make themselves feel more righteous than others who don't keep their own version of Kosher (or Halal). Maybe they're "orthodox Mormons". It's ridiculous to call attending non-LDS services inappropriate. It might be questionable to start regularly attending non-LDS services in place of LDS services, in terms of keeping one's temple recommend (one of the questions asks about attending one's meetings), but the question of whether you attend non-LDS church services is definitely not in the temple recommend question list. 

I keep wanting to attend a Church of England service (we've got some lovely thousand-year-old churches around here), but since they always occur when my sacrament meeting occurs, it has been problematic. When I was on my mission we visited a few different church services, and found doing so to be valuable experiences. One of the branches that I worked in had a branch president whose wife was a member of another church, but they both attended each other's meetings. Possibly more church than their little daughter wanted to experience in one day, but nevertheless, there was absolutely nothing inappropriate going on by so doing.

I would not go so far as to call your family jerks. But ask them if they think a non-member attending one of our church meetings is inappropriate? Shouldn't they be attending their own churches and stay out of ours? The sign outside church buildings, "Visitors welcome", would need to be taken down and "Members only" put up in its stead.

Sheesh.

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24 minutes ago, Stargazer said:

I keep wanting to attend a Church of England service (we've got some lovely thousand-year-old churches around here), but since they always occur when my sacrament meeting occurs, it has been problematic.

If/when you do, bear in mind that Church of England services vary substantially and one service isn't as representative as attending one LDS service would be. To start with,  there is the high church/low church split.  Some are very traditional,  others can be very evangelical,  or very modern.  The nature of the service very much depends on the style of the vicar and the wardens. There are 3 C of England churches in the town I recently lived in.  I've been to services in all of them and they were all very different,  even different hymn books! I'm sure it will be interesting though! And they have some very beautiful buildings. I enjoy photographing churches and cathedrals. Christmas  would be a good time to visit,  the services are often at different times and there will be one on Christmas day whether its a Sunday or not. Midnight Mass on Christmas eve is often very enjoyable.  Or a christingles service which is often held in the evening.

Edited by sheilauk
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1 hour ago, jkwilliams said:

Yeah, as far as I can remember there was just that painting of Lehi’s dream out in the foyer. My mom said everyone was really upset that the church got rid of that painting when they renovated the building after the ‘94 earthquake. Sadly, it was replaced with a Del Parson print. 

 I vaguely remember the painting. However I can tell you exactly what the crawl space under the stage looked like with its small exit out to the backyard patio or where the roof attic access is to get into the attic over the stage when all the other entryway doors are locked, or how far out into the cultural hall you can swing on the stage curtains, or how quickly the fire extinguisher in the kitchen can be sprayed all over the kitchen and how long it takes to clean that all up, or the exact number of small black dots/holes in each ceiling tile in the bishop's office or how long it takes to slide on your back under the pews along the wall from the front where the deacons sit to the back chapel exit door or how to crawl out of the funky windows we had in the classrooms. I am also absolutely certain the clock on the side wall in the chapel ran much slower than normal clocks.

Edited by CA Steve
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1 minute ago, CA Steve said:

 I vaguely remember the painting. However I can tell you exactly what the crawl space under the stage looked like with its small exit out to the backyard patio or where the roof attic access is to get into the attic over the stage when all the other entryway doors are locked, or how far out you into the cultural hall you can swing on the stage curtains, or how quickly the fire extinguisher in the kitchen can be sprayed all over the kitchen and how long it takes to clean that all up, or the exact number of small black dots/holes in each ceiling tile in the bishop's office or how long it takes to slide on your back under the pews along the wall from the front where the deacons sit to the back chapel exit door or how to crawl out of the funky windows we had in the classrooms. I am also absolutely certain the clock on the side wall in the chapel ran much slower than normal clocks.

I remember our young men’s president had one of those tiny 2-cylinder Honda N600s, and while he was doing something else, we picked up the car and carried into the gym. And I remember climbing up on the roof and picking fruit from the loquat tree. 

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