Hello Christians:

In my last year of religious school (I'm a Jew), every Sunday we attended a different religious service. I'm sure we visited 30 churches during the year. We went to mass with the Catholics and we shared an incense filled room with the Shintoist’s. We rolled on the floor with Holy Rollers and lied on mats with the Muslims.

I loved it. It was the BEST part of my religious education. Would your church do that? Why not?

excon

My church sort of did that when I was a Junior and Senior in High School. Now I lived in a small town - only about 7500 people. So there was not a huge selection of churches, mostly mainstream, except for the Jehovah Witnesses (the most radical element in town at that time -1969-1970). It was fun as we got to interact with people that we had been told from early on were going to Hell. I was Catholic at the time. Of course the other churches thought we all were going to Hell because of the Pope. When I think back if there was a neighbor or friend who died and that person was a Lutheran, we actually had to get special permission to attend the funeral. So glad all that changed.

But going to those churches and learning about their beliefs was a real eye opener and led me to believe that my church had really been lying all along about Catholics being the only ones to get to Heaven. My parents were very distressed about my discovery and vowed to send me to a nunnery, which I escaped by saying I would go to a Catholic college.

Ran into the "Holy Rollers" in college. The Krishna's were there too. Yes, I got a liberal arts education allright. Lol

What did you love the best about it? Did the experience draw you closer to the LORD?

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Originally Posted by savedsinner7

What did you love the best about it? Did the experience draw you closer to the LORD?

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Hello saved:

Nope. It brought me closer to other people.

excon

Most Christian sects don't allow people to explore other religions and other books.

If all religious sects learned to accept each other instead of tolerating each the world would be a better place.

Does your religion allow you marry someone who is not of your faith?

Do you still feel close to others? Did this help you develop compassion? How did this change your relationship with God?

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello saved:

Nope. It brought me closer to other people.

excon

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Originally Posted by Marriedguy

Does your religion allow you marry someone who is not of your faith?

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Hello Married:

Yup, it does.

excon

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Originally Posted by savedsinner7

Do you still feel close to others? Did this help you develop compassion? How did this change your relationship with God?

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Hello again, saved:

I hope I still can relate and feel compassion for my fellowman. Much of what I believe today stems from that experience years ago.

It didn't change my relationship with God at all.

excon

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Originally Posted by Marriedguy

Most Christian sects don’t allow people to explore other religions and other books. .....If all religious sects learned to accept each other instead of tolerating each the world would be a better place.

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Hello again, Married:

That was the point of my question. Why are Christians so guarded? Are they afraid that if their people get exposed to some other line of thought, they'll be lost forever? I think they do. If that's so, doesn't THAT diminish the message in the first place??

excon

I did a similar thing in school my favourte place of worship was the Hindu temple. It was massive and made of white marble. One of the most peaceful places I've been. The place had a strange resonance about it I really enjoyed. I was told you could visit even if you weren't a Hindu but I felt too alien to go on my own.

Not as alien as I feel in churches though- I always feel someone is going to jump out at me with holy water and chase me out of the place!

Anyway to the original question, I think it is really important for children/ young adults to learn about and in some way experience other religions. I think it helps breed understanding and respect.

Can I ask doesn't it say somewhere in the bible that you are not to learn about other religions? A baptist friend once told me about it but she said a lot of things most of them on the more fanciful side of truth so I don't know whether it's true or not.

I grew up in a small town in Arkansas that was mostly Prostestant, but had a healthly Catholic community and a handful of Jews.

I was raised Methodist, but had a Jewish godmother. Try to figure out that one!

My godmother made regular rounds to Girl Scouts, 4-H and Sunday Schools explaining things about her race and faith and taught us how to make a Kosher pizza and various other things she felt were important to share. She loved to come to our Christmas Eve church programs because of the music and the tree and the candles. We loved when she was preparing for Rosh Hashanah - good eats!

One of my fondest memories growing up was going to the Haunted House fundraiser each Halloween hosted by the Catholic Church. Only Nuns truly know how to scare the Hell out of you!

Sadly, most of the young Jewish families moved away when the Rabbi had to leave due to family issues. The congregation was too small to attract another.

Since we were in a small southern town, the thing that drew attention was if a white person attended the AME church or if a black person came to the 1st Baptist. It happened, but the people generally got stared a hole into them. I haven't been back in years - I hope that has changed.

As for being guarded. I'm going to go with what my mother has always told me (she's a bonafide Church Lady). People that do not have true faith in their belief fear that others may be able to change it.

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Originally Posted by Emland

I'm going to go with what my mother has always told me (she's a bonafide Church Lady). People that do not have true faith in their belief fear that others may be able to change it.

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Your mother sounds like a wise lady indeed!

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello again, Married:

That was the point of my question. Why are Christians so guarded?? Are they afraid that if their people get exposed to some other line of thought, they'll be lost forever? I think they do. If that's so, doesn't THAT diminish the message in the first place???

excon

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Learning about different religions and their practices can be very enriching. There is a difference; however in being an observer and a participator. I believe in worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I would not participate in any worship of other gods.

Even in Christianity there are numerous denominations. Some differences are small and some are major. Learning about these differences can bring a deeper understanding and appreciation to one’s own faith. At the same time, one needs to hold fast to what one believes to be true. By holding one’s own religion to be the truth, then one will reject all others. Still, it is good to recognize the truths that are held in common. I do believe it is good to be guarded about one’s own faith. The Bible reminds us many times to hold fast to what we have been taught.

As a Catholic, I attend Mass regularly. Now, most of my friends and even my in-laws are non Catholic Christians. For that reason, I have attended many different services over the years (not in place of going to Mass, but in addition to), and I can say I have grown a deeper understanding of my own faith as a result.

Hah. Sorry. Your orignail post made me laugh, the part about the Holy Rollers.
Anyway, My church probley wouldn't encourage it, but your Church shouldn't forbid it. It's a choice. I personally think it would be fun, to learn about other religions.

Hi excon, I was a Roman Catholic until I went away to college, and I remember being taught that I couldn't participate in any religious services in other Christian denominations (but could sit there in a marriage ceremony, though).

I was also taught that people in these other denominations were going to hell. No ifs, ands, or buts.!

Amen

There is absulutly nothing wrong with learning about other religion. That is just educating yourself on what other cultures believe. But I am not open to believing in other religions. Call me guarded if you want.

Hello excon the Sunday School mon,

I have to say I think that would be a hoot, but it would never happen in my church. We're not as strict as most Baptists in our group, in fact we seem to have a bit of an identity crisis. We're affiliated with both the Baptist Bible Fellowship and the Southern Baptist convention and have pondered dropping the Baptist name altogether.

The closest we've come to your experience is working a Franklin Graham crusade with Methodists, Presbyterians, Holy Rollers, a few Catholics and who knows who else. We would never sit in "an incense filled room with the Shintoists" or lie on mats with Muslims, though I think it would be a great experience. No, instead we'll do the same old (sometimes boring) things for Sunday School.

Why? I think you know - at least publicly - why we wouldn't go for that. Privately, I think it's a fear of getting out of one's comfort zone along with a bit of a superiority complex. I bet you weren't expecting that :D

Steve

I don't think you would find many churches who would do that simply because they are going to teach their teachings. After all this is what church is about. I don't think they should do it on Sundays, but I don't think it would be a bad idea if the church has a religion class outside of chruch service hours. Especially since they have taken Bible classes out of public schools. When I was in high school we had electives, Bible Old Testament and New Testament. I took them both and really enjoyed it. We did focus mostly on the Old and New Testaments but we did get insight on the basics of other religions. It was a great class. Now that children do not have the option to take those courses anymore it is up to the parents and churches alone. Since most churches do not offer any other teachings besides their own most of our children will now have to wait until college (if they choose to take theology courses). I don't want to get into the discussion about religion courses being taken out of the schools, but it really is a sad thing. Especially when the courses are electives and no one is made to take those classes. But because of that, a great opportunity has been taken away from our children to learn about religions and more in depth of their own. I mean how many of us have parents and others around us who knows something about all the other religions? Like I said, my intentions are not to turn this particular discussion to religion in public schools. Just saying that when it was taken out, great opportunity was lost to learn about other religions because most churches do not teach anything other than their own. I wouldn't attend other religion's worship services, but I do like to learn the basics of their beliefs. There is nothing wrong with that. If anything, it will only increase the understanding of my own beliefs.