As a JW, did you eat at any religious restaurant?

Where I live we were not allowed to go to Albertson's grocery store when I was in my early 20's because rummer had it Joe Albertson was a Mormon. I have no idea if it was true but the reason given for avoiding the store was that Mormon's tithe and so ten percent of what we paid for our food would go to the church and we just could not do that. It was so crazy and stupid to me. The store had really good prices and I was young and on my own and needed to spend my money wisely so I would seek in hoping no one from my hall saw me.

Now it seems to be OK to go there.

LITS    

I practically lived in the Second Avenue Deli in Manhattan, which was located on Second Avenue, a few blocks from home. The East Village's remaining character is small Slavic restaurants with pierogies, etc. from church groups. I have eaten at Ukrainian and POllish festivals.

I ate an Indian Krishna restaurants in Ithaca, NY. The food was abysmal.

The Second Avenue Deli is the best deli in all of NYC. It is better than the Stage, the Carnegie, Katz, and Junior's. Jews don't proslyetise. The deli owner was murdered during a bank deposit run. The family relocated to Carnegie Hill but it is still called the Second Avenue Deli. The food is worth  hours of driving.

Also, there is semi famous place called The Ukrainian National Home. It is packed.

These restaurants just happen to have religoius owners. There are many Mennonite restaurant owners here. The food is deplorable. Certain nationalities have better food than others. I love Italian and French. Some Britsh food.

What if the restaurant you frequent is owned by religoius people and you don't know. Maybe some secret antiWitness prayers are said over the food. You would never know.

Oh, St. Bart's in Manhattan, a large forward society church, had a cafe on its premises. It was a very popular brunch/lunch destination. Awesome food.

1 Corinthians 8

Explain...

I was a pioneer. All I could afford was the golden arches - a religious community if ever I saw one!

Explain

Well it's very simple. We as Jehovah's Faithful Servants would never willingly partake of food sacrificed to idols. So since Chick Fil A takes Sunday's off to sacrifice their chickens on Sundays which is not really the sabbath but a pagan sun worshipping day we would not eat there as True Christians.

This goes along with the reason True Christians do not celebrate birthdays.

I think FaithfulBrother is referring to the discussion Paul was having regarding the eating of food sacrificed to idols...and that eating it was not wrong, in and of itself. What was wrong was if it stumbled your brother...

With that being said, I guess JW's didn't worry too much about eating the sacrificed burgers of In n' Out!

I think FaithfulBrother has nailed the essence of Paul's words at 1 Corinthians 8!!

Religious considerations never got in the way of money when the WTS would buy churches to convert into KHs.

Actually according to my sources Chick Fil A products do not actually contain chicken but human baby meat which goes against the bible's teaching not to sacrifice your children to Molech.

Sounds kinda smurfish to me

I haven't ever heard of a religious restaurant.

We have a vegan restaurant here. It is run by Buddhists, and the profits go, in part, to the temple.   There are various items in the restaurant, such as a Buddha statue, and other scrolls and stuff. 

This may be the kind of place that the OP refers to.  I don't know if JWs could eat there, but I have yet to meet/hear of a vegan JW.

t

Not exactly a restaurant.....but it is not unknown for Churches to run coffee and tea shops, staffed by volunteers and profits to the Church (that is the crucial thing)...No!..Self respecting dubs who value their congregation status do not go in them.

A charity shop or stall in aid of the church would not be acceptable either. However a private restaurant that just served kosher or halal food would be acceptable to most . At least the meat is blood-free, they say

There's a restaurant in my hometown that is named Saint ________'s. It has a Catholic monk prominently displayed everywhere...menu's, uniforms, etc. I've seen so many dubs eating there (and drinking), it isn't funny. Seems they had no problem with it.

Chinese/Asian restaurants usually have prominently displayed shrines and other religious totems, along with the fortune cookies and placemats...Never saw a dub turn down an eggroll. 

Indian restaurants usually have some sort of Hindi decorations...Ganesh, Vishnu, etc. No issues eating there, either.

One coffee shop had scriptures and crosses printed on their cups...It was known they were Born Again. I know many JW's who had no issue getting their coffee and donuts while out in Feild Circus.

Yes, BB,,, good point.

t

Chick-Fil-A is a popular chicken chain here in the States, and the owner I believe has a Penacostal background. Occasionally when I stop in there, there will be Gospel music playing in the background. I remember the first time I stepped into one, and sat down to read the newspaper I couldn't help but notice some singing in the background about Jesus.  Some people actually refer to their food as, "Jesus Chicken."  Regardless, they've got some good chicken strips, and their vanilla milkshake is serious business. Oh, and they're also closed on Sundays which is probably related to the owner's Christian background.

We've got a church across the street from where I work at, that has awesome fish sandwiches on Friday during lunch hours. I know this only from word of mouth, as the JW thing has me leary about entering a church to purchase a fish sandwich. I know it's silly but I have this hangup in the back of my mind that Jehovah is gonna be pissed at me for getting a fish sandwich from this church. Again I acknowledge the stupidity of thinking that way, but it's not an easy thing to shed this JW upbringing.

Oh go on, get that fish sandwich.  You won't melt on the threshold.

I shed that feeling about entering churches when my father took a contract to clean some church offices (I had to go along and help).  It's just a building.