WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

[◊ Weezer ◊]

Traveling out of state recently I was going through my home town.  Called 3 people (we are all in our 70s now) who were dear friends as we grew up, and went to church together.  Hadn't seen them in several years.  They knew I graduated from a Christian college.  I don't think they knew I no longer go to church.  We met for lunch and visited for about 90 minutes.  They are all 3 very involved with church, and when meal was served one asked if I wanted to say the prayer,  and I replied, "you go ahead."   A few minutes later one ask me if I still went to the Church of Christ.  I replied "no".  Then I was asked where I went to church, to which I replied, "nowhere".  After a short silence the conversation continued very cordially and we reminisced the rest of the meal.  When leaving they told me we should do this again, and to call them next time I was in town.  There was no further discussion or questions about my religion, or lack of it.  That was 2 weeks ago.

 

A part of me wants to text them and tell them I would be happy to answer any questions they might have about not going to church.  Another part says to leave it alone.  What would you do?

[TEG]

Leave it alone.  Call them the next time you are in town.  Facebook friend them if you want to.

[Derek]

I'd leave it alone, too. But leave the floor open for discussion about it, if they so desire.

[TABA]

I’d say leave it alone too.  If they are open to questioning Christianity in any way, knowing that you no longer go to church may lead them to ask you questions of their own accord.  If they are not, they likely won’t, and might even resent you bringing it up.  But most likely they aren’t open to questioning so they’ll either not bring it up or they’ll try to bring you back to the Lord.  Best thing you could do, in my opinion, would be to bear silent witness that you are good and contented without religion.  

[TheRedneckProfessor]

Will any good come from pursuing the matter?

[◊ Weezer ◊]

1 hour ago, TABA said:

Best thing you could do, in my opinion, would be to bear silent witness that you are good and contented without religion.  

 

Well put!  They are good hearted people who do not push their religion on others.  Deep down I know I should hold my cards until one of them makes the first play.  But it is frustrating to keep quiet went you finally see something so clearly.  And it just keeps getting clearer.  Hardly a day goes by that another insight comes to mind.

[older]

I vote with the leave-it-alone group, and for reasons already stated. One of the things that annoys us about Christians is that they want to push their religion upon us — some strongly and some subtly. So in the same vein, we should not do anything that they might interpret as pushing a point of view upon them.

 

I recall once going to lunch at a fast food joint with someone I hadn't known before that day. As we sat down with our burgers, he asked if I minded if he said grace. I said fine, and he put out his hands wanting me to grab on. I did but was extremely uncomfortable with that, and in retrospect I should have said that I was not a Christian but didn't mind if he went forward on his own. It was a one-shot meeting so there was no future to think about.

[Prometheus]

On 8/24/2019 at 9:35 AM, older said:

I vote with the leave-it-alone group, and for reasons already stated. One of the things that annoys us about Christians is that they want to push their religion upon us — some strongly and some subtly. So in the same vein, we should not do anything that they might interpret as pushing a point of view upon them.

 

I recall once going to lunch at a fast food joint with someone I hadn't known before that day. As we sat down with our burgers, he asked if I minded if he said grace. I said fine, and he put out his hands wanting me to grab on. I did but was extremely uncomfortable with that, and in retrospect I should have said that I was not a Christian but didn't mind if he went forward on his own. It was a one-shot meeting so there was no future to think about.

He had to ask for your permission to say grace over his own meal? Weak...

[Tsathoggua9]

On 8/23/2019 at 9:35 PM, older said:

I vote with the leave-it-alone group, and for reasons already stated. One of the things that annoys us about Christians is that they want to push their religion upon us — some strongly and some subtly. So in the same vein, we should not do anything that they might interpret as pushing a point of view upon them.

 

I recall once going to lunch at a fast food joint with someone I hadn't known before that day. As we sat down with our burgers, he asked if I minded if he said grace. I said fine, and he put out his hands wanting me to grab on. I did but was extremely uncomfortable with that, and in retrospect I should have said that I was not a Christian but didn't mind if he went forward on his own. It was a one-shot meeting so there was no future to think about.

 

Wow, that was pushy !  I don't know why these people can't be content with a silent prayer. Odd!

[nontheistpilgrim]

On 12/6/2019 at 5:50 PM, Tsathoggua9 said:

 

Wow, that was pushy !  I don't know why these people can't be content with a silent prayer. Odd!

According to the scriptures!

I'm waiting for the next Christian to tell me that they will pray for me .... I shall remind them of Matthew 6.6: "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." I'll not remind them that the last bit won't happen.