DS63
10/10/2015 07:57
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
NP here. I do not understand what Kentucky has to do with anything. With that said, My (jewish) DD (13 yo) was invited by a "friend" to a similar night. She pressured me to let me go. I told her if there is anything that makes you uncomfortable, call. Well, before the movie, they had the new kids stand up and tell something about them selfs, including there religion. After that my DD was repeatedly asked about accepting Jesus.
She is a strong kid, and endured.
She later found out the kids wee supposed to bring non-christians to the movie.
She is a strong kid, and endured.
She later found out the kids wee supposed to bring non-christians to the movie.
Anonymous
10/09/2015 13:05
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
Anonymous wrote:This is everything that is wrong with America right here. OP, if you have questions about the event or the kid, call up the mom. Say, "I heard you guys are new here. Let's have coffee." Instead, you gossip about this mom you've never met on an internet forum. You check with the other liberals to find out what the correct PC response is. The correct human response is to get to know the other family, particularly if they're new to the area. Have them over for dinner. Welcome them to DC.
+1
Anonymous
10/09/2015 12:01
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
Anonymous wrote:It might very well be a great church, a fun activity, and a chance to hang out with a new friend. But there are indeed churches that encourage their teens to bring friends to activities and then put them on the spot by asking them to "pray the prayer of salvation" and publicly proclaim their love for Christ. It can be an awkward situation for any teenager.
I think the people who are suggesting you check out the church online beforehand have the right idea. And talk with your daughter ahead of time to give her some idea of what to say in case she's suddenly faced with over the top evangelizing.
And learning to deal with aggressive evangelizing is a good skill to learn!!
Anonymous
10/09/2015 11:58
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
It might very well be a great church, a fun activity, and a chance to hang out with a new friend. But there are indeed churches that encourage their teens to bring friends to activities and then put them on the spot by asking them to "pray the prayer of salvation" and publicly proclaim their love for Christ. It can be an awkward situation for any teenager.
I think the people who are suggesting you check out the church online beforehand have the right idea. And talk with your daughter ahead of time to give her some idea of what to say in case she's suddenly faced with over the top evangelizing.
I think the people who are suggesting you check out the church online beforehand have the right idea. And talk with your daughter ahead of time to give her some idea of what to say in case she's suddenly faced with over the top evangelizing.
Anonymous
10/09/2015 11:41
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
Anonymous wrote:I'm one of the PPs whose church shows movies. Its just a movie. Projected on the side of one of the buildings, outdoors in the summer and fall. Bring your blanket and s'mores. There is zero evangelizing. Truly. Its just a movie. At my church at least.
Same here. This Monday the youth group at our church is going to the animal shelter, where they will talk about... animals.
Anonymous
10/09/2015 10:24
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
Anonymous wrote:You font want your daughter to get friends with this girl because she is fom Kentucky and she is a Christian? I don't even know where to start...
Replace Kentucky w/ black or christian with Muslim and then it's outrageous
Anonymous
10/09/2015 10:22
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What denomination is the church?
This. Is your daughter being invited to watch a movie at church, or is she being invited to watch a movie, confess her sins, and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal savior?
This. Is just a youth group activity or is it an activity where the youth group is supposed to be evangelizing their friends?
Your daughter wants to go because she wants to hang out with her friend. That's normal for a kid.
This. If they're baptists, avoid. If they are Methodist or Lutheran or Presbyterian USA, not big deal.
Really that last comment is just more of the same. What about going to a Baptist Bible Study and then discussing what is learned there in a calm manner. This would teach your child how to think critically about things and make up his/her mind up about the validity of different points of view. We are talking about teens here and soon they will be off on their own making all kinds of decisions!
Anonymous
10/09/2015 10:13
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Good Lord, OP, google Unbroken. It's the Louis Zamparini story - incredible survival story from WWII. The book was written by the same person who wrote Seabiscuit. It's supposed to be good.
I go to a hippy dippy liberal church and we have movie nights where people often bring friends. It's a nice free night. No religion needed.
Do you pray at any point during movie night? Does Jesus get brought up at any time during movie night? If the answer to either of those is "yes" then I would not let my kid go.
Well if the idea of Jesus, God, prayer is a problem for you, yes, you don't allow your child to go the friend's church to watch a movie. Even if they don't pray or mention God or Jesus this is still a religious group meeting at a church. Some of the people (gasp!) might pray.
I would definitely do some research on the church if I was unfamiliar with it.
Anonymous
10/09/2015 10:06
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
Anonymous wrote:You font want your daughter to get friends with this girl because she is fom Kentucky and she is a Christian? I don't even know where to start...
Ditto. OP, just terrible.
Anonymous
10/09/2015 00:37
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What denomination is the church?
This. Is your daughter being invited to watch a movie at church, or is she being invited to watch a movie, confess her sins, and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal savior?
This. Is just a youth group activity or is it an activity where the youth group is supposed to be evangelizing their friends?
Your daughter wants to go because she wants to hang out with her friend. That's normal for a kid.
This. If they're baptists, avoid. If they are Methodist or Lutheran or Presbyterian USA, not big deal.
Anonymous
10/08/2015 23:38
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
OP is a judgmental jerk
Anonymous
10/08/2015 20:06
Subject: Re:Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
My husband has a PhD and a great career and grew up in rural Kentucky. The bane of his existence is people like you. One of my asinine friends said to me "oh I can't believe someone from Kentucky would be good enough for you when we got engaged--what does that even mean?
While his upbringing was quite a bit different from mine in many aspects, as I grew up in an upper middle class family (attorney father, mother with a masters degree, lived in affluent suburbs with good public schools, went to a private college) and he grew up more in a working class family (father had a blue collar job, grew up in a place where a lot of his peers didn't even go to college) and my in-laws are much more religious than my family, it's not like his family is a weird alien species with whom it is impossible to communicate (ok, maybe my FIL is, but he just has a lot of issues). It's also not like this is unique to him being from Kentucky; he could have grown up in rural Maryland or Virginia and we would have a similar difference in upbringing in terms of class, etc.
Kentucky is also culturally different depending on where you are in Kentucky. There's a huge difference between the demographics of some neighborhoods in Lexington or Louisville (which can be extremely educated and cosmopolitan) and the dirt poor Appalachian areas in Kentucky. I would think that if someone just moved from Kentucky, they probably have educated parents who relocated to the DC area for work, and in all likelihood, are more likely to value education, careers, etc. in a way that isn't all that different from the way most parents on this board value these things.
Also as someone who grew up in a non-religious family, I attended mass, synagogue, and church with friends from time to time. There's nothing wrong with being exposed to the fact that other people have different religious traditions than you do. I also think this sounds like a completely innocuous social gathering to me.
While his upbringing was quite a bit different from mine in many aspects, as I grew up in an upper middle class family (attorney father, mother with a masters degree, lived in affluent suburbs with good public schools, went to a private college) and he grew up more in a working class family (father had a blue collar job, grew up in a place where a lot of his peers didn't even go to college) and my in-laws are much more religious than my family, it's not like his family is a weird alien species with whom it is impossible to communicate (ok, maybe my FIL is, but he just has a lot of issues). It's also not like this is unique to him being from Kentucky; he could have grown up in rural Maryland or Virginia and we would have a similar difference in upbringing in terms of class, etc.
Kentucky is also culturally different depending on where you are in Kentucky. There's a huge difference between the demographics of some neighborhoods in Lexington or Louisville (which can be extremely educated and cosmopolitan) and the dirt poor Appalachian areas in Kentucky. I would think that if someone just moved from Kentucky, they probably have educated parents who relocated to the DC area for work, and in all likelihood, are more likely to value education, careers, etc. in a way that isn't all that different from the way most parents on this board value these things.
Also as someone who grew up in a non-religious family, I attended mass, synagogue, and church with friends from time to time. There's nothing wrong with being exposed to the fact that other people have different religious traditions than you do. I also think this sounds like a completely innocuous social gathering to me.
Anonymous
10/08/2015 19:39
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
Anonymous wrote:My 13 year old has become really good friends with a girl who moved her from Kentucky. I'm sure her lifestyle in Kentucky is very different from the one we have here, so I'll admit I haven't been super excited about this new friendship. The girl invited my 13 year old to a church event this Friday called "night at the movies." I asked my daughter to find out what movie was being played and she told me "Unbroken." Is anyone familiar with this movie? Is it extremely religious? My daughter has never been to church and I honestly don't know that any of her other friends do either. My daughter is ibegging me to go, which of course makes me even more uncomfortable since she has never showed interest in any religious activities before. I sometimes wonder what this girl is telling my daughter to make her want go so bad. Am I overthinking this or should I just tell my daughter she can't go.
For someone trying to make this girl sound undesirable because of where she is from and her religion, you are the one coming off as narrow minded, unsophisticated and paranoid.
Anonymous
10/08/2015 15:30
Subject: Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
I'm one of the PPs whose church shows movies. Its just a movie. Projected on the side of one of the buildings, outdoors in the summer and fall. Bring your blanket and s'mores. There is zero evangelizing. Truly. Its just a movie. At my church at least.
Anonymous
10/08/2015 15:19
Subject: Re:Would you allow your teen to go to church event with friend?
Anonymous wrote:Absolutely - I don't care the denomination or where they are from. It is good for my child to see how other teens in other religions are. I think my child is strong enough about her own mind to know what she believes or not. Also good to go to other churches/temples for the simple fact that she starts to understand that we're not that different underneath it all.
+1 Also, as part of the confirmation class at our Methodist Church, the kids (generally 13 year olds) attend services at a wide variety of places of worship, including other Christian denominations, Jewish, Muslim. Exposure to different points of view is a good part of the process IMO.