Quote Originally Posted by Noblejanobii View Post
It actually wasn't that bad. Longer church service than I'm used to (2.5 hours MY GOD. I was dead by the end) and I got some dirty looks for not taking communion (it's a catholic thing that non-practicing Catholics can't take communion at a Catholic Church so as a general rule of thumb the reverse is true, no communion from non-catholic churches) but not all that bad. The singing was actually really cool! It was all acapella and it sounded like we were an official choir or something, which was neat. Everything was fine until the message. A bit more fire and brimstone than I am used to. Like whoa. They laid that guilt on thick. Said something to the effect of "if you aren't reading from the Bible and praying daily you're damning the souls of your children and grandchildren." And I told my mom that and she laughed then said, "Well you're screwed." And I was like "apparently." Also apparently if you didn't take the bulletin then you don't care about the people whose requests are in it and I was like "it's not that I don't care, it's that I don't know any of these people."

Also it says something when the person who puts the most money in the collection plate is the one time visitor. They may have disliked I didn't eat their cheap crackers and grape juice but the fact that I gave more money at tithes than most of them says something about all of them.

But overall an interesting and fun experience. Other than the few glitches here and there I enjoy it. It's not the first time I've church hopped like that so it wasn't entirely a culture shock. Plus it was a favor for a friend.
Yeah... and they wonder why church attendance is down and atheism is on the rise. Well, when they slather on the guilt trip stuff and make threats like that, there you go. And Jesus said not to render judgment onto others. Whoops! And it doesn't make sense if they say to read from the Bible daily, but then don't do what it says and totally ignore its messages. But really, if what they're saying is true and it takes that little to be thrown into Hell, then Heaven must be a very empty, vacant, and hollow place where you can begin to question if anyone is really happy there.

But yeah, that doesn't sound like a pleasant church community and from what you told me, it doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'd want to check out either. That's my thing if I ever go to a place where I don't feel like I'm welcome. Don't look back and go to the places where you do feel welcome. But like George Washington said, it's also better to be alone than be with bad company.