Giving thanks in restaurants! (page 4)

zenpunk

I always thought that prayers out loud in a restaurant were an imposition on the other people eating. There are two born-again Christians at my work that are dating and, every day at the lunch-table, they hold both hands accross the table, bow heads, and the guy says a loud prayer. It really makes all of us uncomfortable.

orangefatcat

Lady Lee, I must be your kid!! My father also prayed before we went to an assembly and conventions and even on any lengthy road trip to make sure our trips were safe. Funny thing my ex husband started doing the same thing when I told him that that is the way we did things in our family. I think though he did it just to show off and say he was a good Christian following the fine example of Terry's(orangefatcat) father, Brother Nixon. You know for some reason my ex thought by being married to a fourth generation JW brought him some prestige. Boy was he wrong, I shattered that image for him!

And as for the large gap on my post, I guess I was in la la land or maybe your right I was praying,

Beck_Melbourne

Interesting responses about public prayers....it made me think about school and how we were encouraged to pray in an unashamed fashion in front of our class mates....i never did it....was I weak or did I just lack faith??

dmouse: my family were all translators for the deaf also. Both my brothers and my only sister used to translate at assemblies, meetings etc....it was a fascinating world being part of the hearing impaired community. I used to do the songs at meetings but never actually translated any talks....don't ask me how to do it now....i've lost the art now.

Beck

dottie

Well being a former witness, and former waitress, I would know that the praying customer always asked for something when they recieved their food, then I would always returns a minute after with their request, and they would be PRAYING!! At first I would always just run by them,then come back after I noticed when they were all done. After a while I would justput the stuff on the table while they were still praying. I wasn't the only one at work who found this annoying, we thought that they should pray before they left the house; or, after they ordered the meal.

Dottie

Mulan

I am so glad others feel as I do about this. We never prayed in restaurants, publicly, with our kids, nor while I was growing up a dub, and we were very involved.............pillars, actually. And whenever I see 'Christians' doing it, it makes me feel like they are trying to call attention to themselves. It's a big turnoff. One brother, that we went out to dinner with, would say it in the car before we went inside.............that was fine. Another one said it out loud, but we all just looked at him while he talked, without bowed heads, so as not to draw attention to ourselves. I liked that idea too.

My son married into a family of devout Christians and we went to a pizza parlor with them one time, and they all joined hands and prayed out loud. We declined, and just watched. It does make a spectacle. Why not just do it discreetly? I understand wanting to pray over the food, but why draw attention to it?

Undecided

Hi Again,

This thanking God, as though he is directly responsibile for the meal is a little far fetched to me. I am thankful that food is available and that it was provided through the creation, but do any of you really think he directly provided McDonalds hamburgers?

If you really think God is providing your food, why doesn't he do it for the poor Christain children in the third world countries? If they sit down to the table with nothing to eat, should they blame God?

Ken P.

JT

I had a bus group up to visit me when i was at bethel , that night a large group wanted to go out to eat

so me and some of my boys took them on the trains downtown to Beef Steak Charlie's

and after waiting for what seemed like 2hours to get all of us seated AT ONE BIG TABLE-

this old elder stood up and annouced he would bless the table, man i felt like dirt

all my boys dogged me for Man where did you get this elder from

james

ISP

When we was in New York...we went into the nearest restaurant...which turned out to be a Korean one. The menus were in Korean and the restaurant was full of koreans ( I guess). We noticed that at one table , one of the party had stood up to ask a blessing. JWs are therefore not the only ones!

ISP

GentlyFeral

When I was a dub, I would gaze meditatively down at my plate while praying. Restaurants aren't as quiet as home, though, so it was difficult to concentrate, and sometimes I just skipped it.

Now I believe that "All acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals," so my "grace" consists of, "This is GOOD! Would You like some?"

GentlyFeral

Marilyn

What about when you are in hospital and a visiting elder hangs around when your meal turns up? This happened to my father when he was in intensive care. My b-i-l did the sermon like prayer thing that resulted in my fathers accute embarrassement and cold food. As if having Jehovah's Witnesses taped to the bed head isn't enough!

Giving thanks in restaurants!

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