this is located a couple blocks from where I grew up....
I just did a google image search for "megachurch" and now have even fewer doubts that the bible belt is the real axis of evil... Absolutely.....all throughout the Bible Belt these churches kidnap Jews, Muslims and anyone else who isn't down with their brand of religion and behead them in secret "Church Dungeons" that have pictures of GWB, Adolph Hitler and Kenny G adorning their walls.
They also sexually mutilate anyone with limp wrists, lisps or really good fashion sense(this is why I wear white throughout the Winter). There are large pits in places like Sherman, Texas and Talequah, Oklahoma that contain the skeletons of 50,000+ victims ranging from young "Trick or Treaters" to Satan possessed Truck Stop workers.
These churches are evil and say very hurtful and insulting things that should be against the law.(Read this line in your best little whiney Jerky Boy voice).
And you see all those black folks in the above "Megachurch" photo....every last one of them have tattoos of Ann Coulter on their wrist so they can be easily identified when the Rapture finally comes.
Absolutely.....all throughout the Bible Belt these churches kidnap Jews, Muslims and anyone else who isn't down with their brand of religion and behead them in secret "Church Dungeons" that have pictures of GWB, Adolph Hitler and Kenny G adorning their walls.
They also sexually mutilate anyone with limp wrists, lisps or really good fashion sense(this is why I wear white throughout the Winter). There are large pits in places like Sherman, Texas and Talequah, Oklahoma that contain the skeletons of 50,000+ victims ranging from young "Trick or Treaters" to Satan possessed Truck Stop workers.
These churches are evil and say very hurtful and insulting things that should be against the law.(Read this line in your best little whiney Jerky Boy voice).
And you see all those black folks in the above "Megachurch" photo....every last one of them have tattoos of Ann Coulter on their wrist so they can be easily identified when the Rapture finally comes.
After the scandal was publicized, Haggard entered three weeks of intensive counseling, overseen by four ministers. On February 6, 2007 one of those ministers, Tim Ralph, stated that Haggard "is completely heterosexual."[3] Ralph later said he meant to say that therapy "gave Ted the tools to help to embrace his heterosexual side."
I would point out that you can be Pro-Zionist and anti-Semitic at the same time.
& vice versa
& not to forget that many an evangelic theology looks for the DESTRUCTION of Israel to fulfill prophesy (& you can't destroy what does not exist)
i do suppose you could be pro-zionist and anti-semitic, though i can't say i've ever seen this.
there are a few major schools of thought within chritianity of the events surrounding the second coming of christ...and then definite variations within each.
the school of thought regarding the necessity of their being an israeli state for the return of christ (this is the one i'm most familiar with) doesn't believe it will be destroyed, but believe it will be nearly destroyed by the anti-christ with another campaign of mass genocide (against christians too). it is believed by most (if not all in this camp) that the jewish nation by and large will have become christian during this time of huge persecution and jesus will return to save them from destruction when all looks lost.
to sum up...those zionist christians by and large believe a mass persecution of the jews is coming and inevitable, but don't endorse the persecution or look forward to those events in particular. just the ones that come immediately after. they look forward to the resulting salvation of the jews, not their destruction.
i realize this could all sound patronizing and i agree it is probably romanticized a bit much by a lot of us. i'm just wanting to accurately represent what i think is the dominant viewpoint of christian zionists. of course mainstream protestant, catholic and orthodox christians mostly don't hold to these interpretations of the end times, so i'm primarily talking about evangelicals.
I especially hate it when those fricking Christians try to shove their ideals and morality down my and everyone elses throats by using chalk to deface public property, writing out bible verses on the sidewalk.
Absolutely.....all throughout the Bible Belt these churches kidnap Jews, Muslims and anyone else who isn't down with their brand of religion and behead them in secret "Church Dungeons" that have pictures of GWB, Adolph Hitler and Kenny G adorning their walls.
They also sexually mutilate anyone with limp wrists, lisps or really good fashion sense(this is why I wear white throughout the Winter). There are large pits in places like Sherman, Texas and Talequah, Oklahoma that contain the skeletons of 50,000+ victims ranging from young "Trick or Treaters" to Satan possessed Truck Stop workers.
These churches are evil and say very hurtful and insulting things that should be against the law.(Read this line in your best little whiney Jerky Boy voice).
And you see all those black folks in the above "Megachurch" photo....every last one of them have tattoos of Ann Coulter on their wrist so they can be easily identified when the Rapture finally comes.
It would be funny if it weren't all true ...
Dude....I was kidding about the Kenny G pictures!!
The Hartford Insitute For Religion Research defines "Megachurch" as "any Protestant congregation with a sustained average weekly attendance of 2000 persons or more in its worship services."
Here's a database of megachurches, although it could be argued that a modern church containing less than 3000 average attendees is fairly par for the course. Below is the second-largest megachurch, located in my state.
From Wikipedia:
Willow Creek's new, state-of-the-art Worship Center (completed in 2005) seats over 7,200 people, making it over twice as large as the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and the largest theater in the United States. The second largest is Indiana Wesleyan University's new chapel (opening in 2009), with nearly 4,000 seats. It is the first church in the world to make use of two cutting-edge, Mitsubishi "Diamond Vision" LED screens 14'x 24' in size, usually seen in new sports stadiums. Each screen is movable on its own track systems and can be combined into one giant screen. (The approximate cost per screen is $750,000.) The Worship Center also has innovative dual, stacked-deck balconies. Wheelchair seating has a "1 person to 1 LCD ratio" for disabled attendees. Back rows have 62-inch LCD screens at an approximate "10 seats to 1 LCD ratio." Every TV broadcasts the service across the room utilizing 8-12 standard definition cameras. Although the room is HD ready, only one HD camera is currently used for weekly services. It is estimated that the auditorium cost more than $50 million dollars to construct.
This is the megachurch that my brother goes to. I'd pray for him, if I was A) a Christian, or B) believed in the the power of prayer to affect anything but the present emotional state of the one praying.
I would point out that you can be Pro-Zionist and anti-Semitic at the same time.
& vice versa
& not to forget that many an evangelic theology looks for the DESTRUCTION of Israel to fulfill prophesy (& you can't destroy what does not exist)
i do suppose you could be pro-zionist and anti-semitic, though i can't say i've ever seen this.
there are a few major schools of thought within chritianity of the events surrounding the second coming of christ...and then definite variations within each.
the school of thought regarding the necessity of their being an israeli state for the return of christ (this is the one i'm most familiar with) doesn't believe it will be destroyed, but believe it will be nearly destroyed by the anti-christ with another campaign of mass genocide (against christians too). it is believed by most (if not all in this camp) that the jewish nation by and large will have become christian during this time of huge persecution and jesus will return to save them from destruction when all looks lost.
to sum up...those zionist christians by and large believe a mass persecution of the jews is coming and inevitable, but don't endorse the persecution or look forward to those events in particular. just the ones that come immediately after. they look forward to the resulting salvation of the jews, not their destruction.
i realize this could all sound patronizing and i agree it is probably romanticized a bit much by a lot of us. i'm just wanting to accurately represent what i think is the dominant viewpoint of christian zionists. of course mainstream protestant, catholic and orthodox christians mostly don't hold to these interpretations of the end times, so i'm primarily talking about evangelicals.
I wish Christians would spend more time trying to live according to Jesus' teachings in the Gospels and less time obsessing over nutty ideas of what Revelations mean. Revelations is the most meaningless and incoherent book of the 2 Testaments. The Gospels on the other hand are filled with wonderful teachings on Peace, Forgiveness, Non-violence and Charity. Jesus said those who feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, comfort the sick and visit the imprisoned will sit with him in heaven. Yet so many Evangelicals believe that being born again, evangelizing, and sending Jews to Israel is the only path to heaven.
Willow Creek's new, state-of-the-art Worship Center (completed in 2005) seats over 7,200 people, making it over twice as large as the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and the largest theater in the United States. The second largest is Indiana Wesleyan University's new chapel (opening in 2009), with nearly 4,000 seats. It is the first church in the world to make use of two cutting-edge, Mitsubishi "Diamond Vision" LED screens 14'x 24' in size, usually seen in new sports stadiums. Each screen is movable on its own track systems and can be combined into one giant screen. (The approximate cost per screen is $750,000.) The Worship Center also has innovative dual, stacked-deck balconies. Wheelchair seating has a "1 person to 1 LCD ratio" for disabled attendees. Back rows have 62-inch LCD screens at an approximate "10 seats to 1 LCD ratio." Every TV broadcasts the service across the room utilizing 8-12 standard definition cameras. Although the room is HD ready, only one HD camera is currently used for weekly services. It is estimated that the auditorium cost more than $50 million dollars to construct.
Seems like a helluva place to show 'The Passion Of The Christ'. Surround sound bitch!
The Hartford Insitute For Religion Research defines "Megachurch" as "any Protestant congregation with a sustained average weekly attendance of 2000 persons or more in its worship services."
Here's a database of megachurches, although it could be argued that a modern church containing less than 3000 average attendees is fairly par for the course. Below is the second-largest megachurch, located in my state.
From Wikipedia:
Willow Creek's new, state-of-the-art Worship Center (completed in 2005) seats over 7,200 people, making it over twice as large as the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and the largest theater in the United States. The second largest is Indiana Wesleyan University's new chapel (opening in 2009), with nearly 4,000 seats. It is the first church in the world to make use of two cutting-edge, Mitsubishi "Diamond Vision" LED screens 14'x 24' in size, usually seen in new sports stadiums. Each screen is movable on its own track systems and can be combined into one giant screen. (The approximate cost per screen is $750,000.) The Worship Center also has innovative dual, stacked-deck balconies. Wheelchair seating has a "1 person to 1 LCD ratio" for disabled attendees. Back rows have 62-inch LCD screens at an approximate "10 seats to 1 LCD ratio." Every TV broadcasts the service across the room utilizing 8-12 standard definition cameras. Although the room is HD ready, only one HD camera is currently used for weekly services. It is estimated that the auditorium cost more than $50 million dollars to construct.
This is the megachurch that my brother goes to. I'd pray for him, if I was A) a Christian, or B) believed in the the power of prayer to affect anything but the present emotional state of the one praying.
That's some scary shit... don't even want to draw any parallels to buildings for events of orchestrated mass hysteria out of german history that unwillingly come to my mind...
That's some scary shit...don't even want to draw any parallels to buildings for events of orchestrated mass hysteria out of german history that unwillingly come to my mind...
Well, I'd agree with you, if Hitler was a yacht-class suburbanite whose greatest achievement in life was getting a new Country Club membership or mounting his wife rather than sacking Poland or murdering millions of Jews.
For real: Willow Creek Senior Pastor BIll Hybels once used a sermon illustration involving his personal watercraft to allegorize humility. I know this to be true, for I was there when he told it to the audience of Moody Bible Institute Founder's Week in 1998. Specifically, it was his recollection of the (if I recall correctly) Beatitudinal section in Matthew that led to his not purchasing a second large boat. I was stunned. No one else who was in the audience that afternoon seemed to take umbrage, and that sunned me all the more.
The sheer mass of America's Christians would be a frightening force for religious extremism in the world if they weren't such domesticated armchair quarterbacks who focused on hot-button issues like abortion rather than global influence. As it is, they merely fund the politicians who pander to their most obvious compulsion. I suppose that's bad enough.
That's some scary shit...don't even want to draw any parallels to buildings for events of orchestrated mass hysteria out of german history that unwillingly come to my mind...
Well, I'd agree with you, if Hitler was a yacht-class suburbanite whose greatest achievement in life was getting a new Country Club membership or mounting his wife rather than sacking Poland or murdering millions of Jews.
For real: Willow Creek Senior Pastor BIll Hybels once used a sermon illustration involving his personal watercraft to allegorize humility. I know this to be true, for I was there when he told it to the audience of Moody Bible Institute Founder's Week in 1998. Specifically, it was his recollection of the (if I recall correctly) Beatitudinal section in Matthew that led to his not purchasing a second large boat. I was stunned. No one else who was in the audience that afternoon seemed to take umbrage, and that sunned me all the more.
The sheer mass of America's Christians would be a frightening force for religious extremism in the world if they weren't such domesticated armchair quarterbacks who focused on hot-button issues like abortion rather than global influence. As it is, they merely fund the politicians who pander to their most obvious compulsion. I suppose that's bad enough.
I couldnt be further away from making any direct comparsions between american christian extremists and adolf hitler... its more a feeling that I get when a large group of people acts in the same hysteric and insane manner. Like flashbacks to this old n??nberg reichsparteitag footage. Thousands of people acting completly brainless and sort of remote controlled by some higher power...
Also, antisemitism and ethnic genocide has been a christian tradition long before the nazis...
My grandparents attend a church that looks much like this one in Memphis. Next to the church is a three-floor gymnasium, available only to church members. And a massive "bookstore" (actually devoted to keychains, posters, and bumper stickers much more than books) that you have to pass before enterting the sanctuary.
I'm always shocked when I find giftshops inside churches. One of the main things I retained from being forced to go to bible school as a kid was Jesus kicking all the vendors out the temple, saying commerce had no place in a church. I guess fundamentalism's literal reading of the Bible is put on hold when it comes to making a buck.
...and I guess everyone associated with these megachurches are counting on this happening?
That's some scary shit...don't even want to draw any parallels to buildings for events of orchestrated mass hysteria out of german history that unwillingly come to my mind...
Well, I'd agree with you, if Hitler was a yacht-class suburbanite whose greatest achievement in life was getting a new Country Club membership or mounting his wife rather than sacking Poland or murdering millions of Jews.
For real: Willow Creek Senior Pastor BIll Hybels once used a sermon illustration involving his personal watercraft to allegorize humility. I know this to be true, for I was there when he told it to the audience of Moody Bible Institute Founder's Week in 1998. Specifically, it was his recollection of the (if I recall correctly) Beatitudinal section in Matthew that led to his not purchasing a second large boat. I was stunned. No one else who was in the audience that afternoon seemed to take umbrage, and that sunned me all the more.
The sheer mass of America's Christians would be a frightening force for religious extremism in the world if they weren't such domesticated armchair quarterbacks who focused on hot-button issues like abortion rather than global influence. As it is, they merely fund the politicians who pander to their most obvious compulsion. I suppose that's bad enough.
It is bad enough.
What I was saying earlier was they don't need to go off and kill Jews or anybody else. Most Germans in Nazi Germany did not kill Jews. Most were nice people you wouldn't mind sharing a beverage with. What they did is enjoy their growing prosperity and sit in their armchairs and ignored the bad and enjoyed the good. And they sent their sons off to war.
Much like what is going on in America today. I am sure some sons and daughters of Willow Creek are fighting a war that most parishioners believe in. If their president panders to their most obvious compulsions what would it take for them to get up out of their armchairs?
An unnecessary war? Suspension of habeas corpus? wire tapping? indefinite imprisonment? killing of civilians? use of mercenaries? tracking of bank accounts? Execution of mentally disabled murders? torture? war profiteering? the perfecting of Jews? registering of Muslims? the expulsion of Muslims? Mandatory relocation of Jews to Israel? use of nuclear weapons? rounding up and imprisonment of gays?
In fact if their president talked their talk and pandered to their most obvious compulsions they would support these things.
People have to get over the idea that the German people were evil. They were not. They supported an evil man because things were good, they were being protected, and he believed what they believed. People also need to get over the idea that we shouldn't speak up until there are 50,000 dead in Texas and Oklahoma.
That is why we should not turn our backs and ignore Ann Coulter or defend her.
My grandparents attend a church that looks much like this one in Memphis. Next to the church is a three-floor gymnasium, available only to church members. And a massive "bookstore" (actually devoted to keychains, posters, and bumper stickers much more than books) that you have to pass before enterting the sanctuary.
I'm always shocked when I find giftshops inside churches. One of the main things I retained from being forced to go to bible school as a kid was Jesus kicking all the vendors out the temple, saying commerce had no place in a church. I guess fundamentalism's literal reading of the Bible is put on hold when it comes to making a buck.
...and I guess everyone associated with these megachurches are counting on this happening?
I especially hate it when those fricking Christians try to shove their ideals and morality down my and everyone elses throats by using chalk to deface public property, writing out bible verses on the sidewalk.
You must be extraordinarily proud of yourself for that one. Congratulations.
People have to get over the idea that the German people were evil. They were not. They supported an evil man because things were good, they were being protected, and he believed what they believed. People also need to get over the idea that we shouldn't speak up until there are 50,000 dead in Texas and Oklahoma.[/b]
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine had discovered a smear of cum on the back of her overcoat after using the NYC subway. The way she described her feelings to me sounded somehow exactly like I feel every time I have to see one of those "jesus loves you" bumper stickers: Soiled by the love of someone you don't know and someone you really do not want to get to know. And it's already too late, you've read the damn bumper sticker, you've been made the object of someone's love just like that. It's irreversible, no matter how loud you cry out "but I don't love you back jesus fuckin cunt!". In the hellish mind of the owner of the car, you're already one more victim to his lord's love.
Dear christians: Love your ugly wifes, love your inbred children but leave alone your neighbors and keep you filthy thoughts away from me.
Any car with a "jesus loves you" bumper sticker needs to be firebombed. That would be my way to show some hot love.
I couldnt be further away from making any direct comparsions between american christian extremists and adolf hitler... its more a feeling that I get when a large group of people acts in the same hysteric and insane manner. Like flashbacks to this old n??nberg reichsparteitag footage. Thousands of people acting completly brainless and sort of remote controlled by some higher power...
Also, antisemitism and ethnic genocide has been a christian tradition long before the nazis...
You and LW are right. I shouldn't have linked the two; it was a faulty comparision.
The Nazi salute and the "hand to God," though, is a tad of a stretch, considering those with their hands out to their god are in an internally focused, trancelike prayer state. They are really closed to the world, save for two things: their god and themselves. If they're sincere (because Only-For-Looks Christians don't matter in this frame), most Christians are going to come out of a sermon or prayer meeting wanting to change their own lives first and the lives of others second (usually through witnessing or, in a stretch, voting). Being witnessed to is certainly annoying, but it's not going to change this country. Not with the TV screen and plenty of distracting toys. I know this to be true, because I lived this reality, day-in and day-out, for the first 20 years of my life. In Wheaton, IL, no less. Voting can change a country, though, and that's what concerns me more. The emergence of America's Christians as a political entity really started full-force in the 80s with the Reagan campaigns and came to full fruition with the dual elections of George W. Bush. As the most recent spate of elections in this country have shown, though, a Christian base of electors isn't enough to sway Americans from voting their conscience when they know damn well that the President isn't doing his job. It's the sustained 6-year emotion- and media-driven bursts that work for influencing elections. George W. Bush is not Hitler, either; that's not a fair comparison. But the chipping-away of our nation's check-and-balance system through legislation like the PATRIOT Act could lead to potentially unstoppable Empire-building Hitler-types 30 or 40 years in the future. When even our nation's voters can't stop our President, then you've got serious trouble. At that point, though, it's more of a political issue than a religious one. I'm not convinced that this country could ever have a theocracy in place, and I never thought that when I was a believer, either. Still, it's cause for concern when millions of Christians can be politically manipulated for several years at a time. Also consider this: catastrophic sea changes in a nation's mindset occur after extraordinary events. if The 11th hadn't have happened, Bush might not have been elected for a second time, much less have gone on to attack another country through lies thrust the PATRIOT Act through Congress. Nope. Not without the big emotional push provided by what happened in New York. By now, the "War on Terror" is looking really tired to most Americans. I'm not sure that the coming inevitable "Our Christian Nation Cannot Afford A Woman President" push by the GOP will suffice in getting the Christian Right sufficiently roiled. It's going to take the further development of Christian Churches into political entities for that to happen. We're several decades off. Things are getting tense.
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine had discovered a smear of cum on the back of her overcoat after using the NYC subway. The way she described her feelings to me sounded somehow exactly like I feel every time I have to see one of those "jesus loves you" bumper stickers: Soiled by the love of someone you don't know and someone you really do not want to get to know. And it's already too late, you've read the damn bumper sticker, you've been made the object of someone's love just like that. It's irreversible, no matter how loud you cry out "but I don't love you back jesus fuckin cunt!". In the hellish mind of the owner of the car, you're already one more victim to his lord's love.
Dear christians: Love your ugly wifes, love your inbred children but leave alone your neighbors and keep you filthy thoughts away from me.
Any car with a "jesus loves you" bumper sticker needs to be firebombed. That would be my way to show some hot love.
Frank, with all due respect, that's some deep-seated hate. I am fully Agnostic, but I can assure you that most Christians (like I once was, like my brother and family are) are only sincerely blinded by their faith and simply think that they're acting out of love. Their ranks are not strictly comprised of their worst adherents, just as not all gay men are child molesters, not all black men are potential rapists, and not all Sudanese are part of genocidal, militant hate groups. "God loves you" is like "Enjoy Coca-Cola" or "Eat At McDonald's." It's really a branding device that, although pervasive in this culture, is something you have to simply tune out if you've chosen to live against that lifestyle. Simply walk past the Christian, Catholic, Hare Krishna, JW, Mormon, or 7th-Day Adventist on the street or at the airport. Either that, or engage them in conversation about the way you live your life. If at all else, the ultimate conversation-ender is "I respect your right to believe as you do, but I simply do not believe in your god or your faith. I do not feel the need to explain otherwise." As I stated above, there is certainly cause for concern as it relates to Christians being used of politicians for their Empire-building. But don't let your annoyance with their ways turn to spite and bitterness. No good can come of that, least of all for you.
don't take my ramblings too seriously, a lot of it is meant rather symbolic.
What annoys me about christians is the way they involve everybody else into their view of the world. "Jesus loves you" for me is a serious insult and an offense because I despise everything that organized and especially christian religion stands for.
There is nothing I value more than the freedom of the individual. Now if someone confronts me with some crazy religious theory that involves me as being one of his god's loved ones, I feel pestered. Change those fuckin bumper stickers into "jesus loves me" or "jesus loves my family" or "jesus loves all idiots like myself" and everyhting is fine.
The difference to "eat at McDonalds!" or "enjoy coca cola"is that both are suggestions. I'd have no problem with "please love jesus", I'd just think to myself "no, thank you".
I feel a violent hate towards the christian arrogance to assume that everybody is one of their god's loved ones. Step the fuck back motherfuckers and keep your sticky idiotic jesus love amongst yourselfs!
In this case I even prefer the islamistic nutcases who hate people like me because I too, hate everything they stand for.
You might think I'm a fanatic and maybe I am but alone what I've seen here in Africa during the past two years, how islamic and christian religions ravaged this continent like a plague, turning peoples minds upside down, making them neglect and eventually forget their original, animistic religion (that is much, much older than christianity) for some cheap parody theater bullshit, it's just sad.
The new german nazi pope even took it so far to publicly proclaim that christian relief organisations in Africa should focus much more on evangelisation and spreading the gospel than on hands on relief work. His point was for example that AIDS can only really be cured by accepting the christiian lifestyle.
Pardon my french but this motherfucker should burn in hell.
Ah. I'd neglected to see your perspective as one living in Africa. In my myopia, I focused on my country only. I do believe that the main reason why AIDS is not seeing a downturn in Africa is because of deliberate misinformation spread by religious groups and the government. For South African President Mbeki to question whether HIV really causes AIDS, and his health minister to promote "good nutrition" rather than drugs to treat HIV can only be described as aiding the savagery that is AIDS in their country. Additionally, the centuries-old "you can receive the medicine only if you convert" strategy is well-documented for missionary groups around the world and is plainly disgusting. Anyone who puts their religion before others' lives cares about neither. If you see "Jesus loves you" as slang for the mistreatment you've seen put into practice in Africa, then I suppose that I can't really blame you for your response.
"Fire bombing" is a touch strong, though. Just saying.
People have to get over the idea that the German people were evil. They were not. They supported an evil man because things were good, they were being protected, and he believed what they believed. People also need to get over the idea that we shouldn't speak up until there are 50,000 dead in Texas and Oklahoma.[/b]
Please speak on this more. I am not knowing...
I refer back to an earlier flippant remark by Rockadelic. His point being that he see nothing frightening about AC and her ilk because there are not mass graves in Texas and Oklahoma.
Comments
I just did a google image search for "megachurch" and now have even fewer doubts that the bible belt is the real axis of evil... Absolutely.....all throughout the Bible Belt these churches kidnap Jews, Muslims and anyone else who isn't down with their brand of religion and behead them in secret "Church Dungeons" that have pictures of GWB, Adolph Hitler and Kenny G adorning their walls.
They also sexually mutilate anyone with limp wrists, lisps or really good fashion sense(this is why I wear white throughout the Winter). There are large pits in places like Sherman, Texas and Talequah, Oklahoma that contain the skeletons of 50,000+ victims ranging from young "Trick or Treaters" to Satan possessed Truck Stop workers.
These churches are evil and say very hurtful and insulting things that should be against the law.(Read this line in your best little whiney Jerky Boy voice).
And you see all those black folks in the above "Megachurch" photo....every last one of them have tattoos of Ann Coulter on their wrist so they can be easily identified when the Rapture finally comes.
It would be funny if it weren't all true ...
Wouldn't this be like blinding the blind?
Best post in this entire thread.
Frank's post usually are. Though I am uncomfortable, in a liberal Clintonian kind of way, with the implicit insult to shemales.
SOUNDS HOT
Why cant the jew run media get it together to take this chick of the air? I mean, c'mon, i thought they were supposed to be running shit!
wasn't leaving anyone out...just saying 'brothers' in a general way, like mankind.
:thatssexist:
Indeed.
i do suppose you could be pro-zionist and anti-semitic, though i can't say i've ever seen this.
there are a few major schools of thought within chritianity of the events surrounding the second coming of christ...and then definite variations within each.
the school of thought regarding the necessity of their being an israeli state for the return of christ (this is the one i'm most familiar with) doesn't believe it will be destroyed, but believe it will be nearly destroyed by the anti-christ with another campaign of mass genocide (against christians too). it is believed by most (if not all in this camp) that the jewish nation by and large will have become christian during this time of huge persecution and jesus will return to save them from destruction when all looks lost.
to sum up...those zionist christians by and large believe a mass persecution of the jews is coming and inevitable, but don't endorse the persecution or look forward to those events in particular. just the ones that come immediately after. they look forward to the resulting salvation of the jews, not their destruction.
i realize this could all sound patronizing and i agree it is probably romanticized a bit much by a lot of us. i'm just wanting to accurately represent what i think is the dominant viewpoint of christian zionists. of course mainstream protestant, catholic and orthodox christians mostly don't hold to these interpretations of the end times, so i'm primarily talking about evangelicals.
I especially hate it when those fricking Christians try to shove their ideals and morality down my and everyone elses throats by using chalk to deface public property, writing out bible verses on the sidewalk.
Dude....I was kidding about the Kenny G pictures!!
The Hartford Insitute For Religion Research defines "Megachurch" as "any Protestant congregation with a sustained average weekly attendance of 2000 persons or more in its worship services."
Here's a database of megachurches, although it could be argued that a modern church containing less than 3000 average attendees is fairly par for the course. Below is the second-largest megachurch, located in my state.
From Wikipedia:
Willow Creek's official site.
This is the megachurch that my brother goes to. I'd pray for him, if I was A) a Christian, or B) believed in the the power of prayer to affect anything but the present emotional state of the one praying.
I wish Christians would spend more time trying to live according to Jesus' teachings in the Gospels and less time obsessing over nutty ideas of what Revelations mean. Revelations is the most meaningless and incoherent book of the 2 Testaments. The Gospels on the other hand are filled with wonderful teachings on Peace, Forgiveness, Non-violence and Charity. Jesus said those who feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, comfort the sick and visit the imprisoned will sit with him in heaven. Yet so many Evangelicals believe that being born again, evangelizing, and sending Jews to Israel is the only path to heaven.
Seems like a helluva place to show 'The Passion Of The Christ'. Surround sound bitch!
That's some scary shit...
don't even want to draw any parallels to buildings for events of orchestrated mass hysteria out of german history that unwillingly come to my mind...
Well, I'd agree with you, if Hitler was a yacht-class suburbanite whose greatest achievement in life was getting a new Country Club membership or mounting his wife rather than sacking Poland or murdering millions of Jews.
For real: Willow Creek Senior Pastor BIll Hybels once used a sermon illustration involving his personal watercraft to allegorize humility. I know this to be true, for I was there when he told it to the audience of Moody Bible Institute Founder's Week in 1998. Specifically, it was his recollection of the (if I recall correctly) Beatitudinal section in Matthew that led to his not purchasing a second large boat. I was stunned. No one else who was in the audience that afternoon seemed to take umbrage, and that sunned me all the more.
The sheer mass of America's Christians would be a frightening force for religious extremism in the world if they weren't such domesticated armchair quarterbacks who focused on hot-button issues like abortion rather than global influence. As it is, they merely fund the politicians who pander to their most obvious compulsion. I suppose that's bad enough.
I couldnt be further away from making any direct comparsions between american christian extremists and adolf hitler... its more a feeling that I get when a large group of people acts in the same hysteric and insane manner. Like flashbacks to this old n??nberg reichsparteitag footage. Thousands of people acting completly brainless and sort of remote controlled by some higher power...
Also, antisemitism and ethnic genocide has been a christian tradition long before the nazis...
My grandparents attend a church that looks much like this one in Memphis. Next to the church is a three-floor gymnasium, available only to church members. And a massive "bookstore" (actually devoted to keychains, posters, and bumper stickers much more than books) that you have to pass before enterting the sanctuary.
I'm always shocked when I find giftshops inside churches. One of the main things I retained from being forced to go to bible school as a kid was Jesus kicking all the vendors out the temple, saying commerce had no place in a church. I guess fundamentalism's literal reading of the Bible is put on hold when it comes to making a buck.
...and I guess everyone associated with these megachurches are counting on this happening?
It is bad enough.
What I was saying earlier was they don't need to go off and kill Jews or anybody else. Most Germans in Nazi Germany did not kill Jews. Most were nice people you wouldn't mind sharing a beverage with. What they did is enjoy their growing prosperity and sit in their armchairs and ignored the bad and enjoyed the good. And they sent their sons off to war.
Much like what is going on in America today. I am sure some sons and daughters of Willow Creek are fighting a war that most parishioners believe in. If their president panders to their most obvious compulsions what would it take for them to get up out of their armchairs?
An unnecessary war?
Suspension of habeas corpus?
wire tapping?
indefinite imprisonment?
killing of civilians?
use of mercenaries?
tracking of bank accounts?
Execution of mentally disabled murders?
torture?
war profiteering?
the perfecting of Jews?
registering of Muslims?
the expulsion of Muslims?
Mandatory relocation of Jews to Israel?
use of nuclear weapons?
rounding up and imprisonment of gays?
In fact if their president talked their talk and pandered to their most obvious compulsions they would support these things.
People have to get over the idea that the German people were evil. They were not. They supported an evil man because things were good, they were being protected, and he believed what they believed. People also need to get over the idea that we shouldn't speak up until there are 50,000 dead in Texas and Oklahoma.
That is why we should not turn our backs and ignore Ann Coulter or defend her.
PS: Luck i know you were doing neither.
Yeap.
You must be extraordinarily proud of yourself for that one. Congratulations.
Please speak on this more. I am not knowing...
Dear christians: Love your ugly wifes, love your inbred children but leave alone your neighbors and keep you filthy thoughts away from me.
Any car with a "jesus loves you" bumper sticker needs to be firebombed. That would be my way to show some hot love.
You and LW are right. I shouldn't have linked the two; it was a faulty comparision.
The Nazi salute and the "hand to God," though, is a tad of a stretch, considering those with their hands out to their god are in an internally focused, trancelike prayer state. They are really closed to the world, save for two things: their god and themselves. If they're sincere (because Only-For-Looks Christians don't matter in this frame), most Christians are going to come out of a sermon or prayer meeting wanting to change their own lives first and the lives of others second (usually through witnessing or, in a stretch, voting). Being witnessed to is certainly annoying, but it's not going to change this country. Not with the TV screen and plenty of distracting toys. I know this to be true, because I lived this reality, day-in and day-out, for the first 20 years of my life. In Wheaton, IL, no less.
Voting can change a country, though, and that's what concerns me more. The emergence of America's Christians as a political entity really started full-force in the 80s with the Reagan campaigns and came to full fruition with the dual elections of George W. Bush. As the most recent spate of elections in this country have shown, though, a Christian base of electors isn't enough to sway Americans from voting their conscience when they know damn well that the President isn't doing his job. It's the sustained 6-year emotion- and media-driven bursts that work for influencing elections. George W. Bush is not Hitler, either; that's not a fair comparison. But the chipping-away of our nation's check-and-balance system through legislation like the PATRIOT Act could lead to potentially unstoppable Empire-building Hitler-types 30 or 40 years in the future. When even our nation's voters can't stop our President, then you've got serious trouble. At that point, though, it's more of a political issue than a religious one. I'm not convinced that this country could ever have a theocracy in place, and I never thought that when I was a believer, either. Still, it's cause for concern when millions of Christians can be politically manipulated for several years at a time.
Also consider this: catastrophic sea changes in a nation's mindset occur after extraordinary events. if The 11th hadn't have happened, Bush might not have been elected for a second time, much less have gone on to attack another country through lies thrust the PATRIOT Act through Congress. Nope. Not without the big emotional push provided by what happened in New York. By now, the "War on Terror" is looking really tired to most Americans. I'm not sure that the coming inevitable "Our Christian Nation Cannot Afford A Woman President" push by the GOP will suffice in getting the Christian Right sufficiently roiled. It's going to take the further development of Christian Churches into political entities for that to happen. We're several decades off. Things are getting tense.
Frank, with all due respect, that's some deep-seated hate. I am fully Agnostic, but I can assure you that most Christians (like I once was, like my brother and family are) are only sincerely blinded by their faith and simply think that they're acting out of love. Their ranks are not strictly comprised of their worst adherents, just as not all gay men are child molesters, not all black men are potential rapists, and not all Sudanese are part of genocidal, militant hate groups. "God loves you" is like "Enjoy Coca-Cola" or "Eat At McDonald's." It's really a branding device that, although pervasive in this culture, is something you have to simply tune out if you've chosen to live against that lifestyle. Simply walk past the Christian, Catholic, Hare Krishna, JW, Mormon, or 7th-Day Adventist on the street or at the airport. Either that, or engage them in conversation about the way you live your life. If at all else, the ultimate conversation-ender is "I respect your right to believe as you do, but I simply do not believe in your god or your faith. I do not feel the need to explain otherwise."
As I stated above, there is certainly cause for concern as it relates to Christians being used of politicians for their Empire-building. But don't let your annoyance with their ways turn to spite and bitterness. No good can come of that, least of all for you.
Most respectfully,
-W.
don't take my ramblings too seriously, a lot of it is meant rather symbolic.
What annoys me about christians is the way they involve everybody else into their view of the world. "Jesus loves you" for me is a serious insult and an offense because I despise everything that organized and especially christian religion stands for.
There is nothing I value more than the freedom of the individual.
Now if someone confronts me with some crazy religious theory that involves me as being one of his god's loved ones, I feel pestered. Change those fuckin bumper stickers into "jesus loves me" or "jesus loves my family" or "jesus loves all idiots like myself" and everyhting is fine.
The difference to "eat at McDonalds!" or "enjoy coca cola"is that both are suggestions. I'd have no problem with "please love jesus", I'd just think to myself "no, thank you".
I feel a violent hate towards the christian arrogance to assume that everybody is one of their god's loved ones. Step the fuck back motherfuckers and keep your sticky idiotic jesus love amongst yourselfs!
In this case I even prefer the islamistic nutcases who hate people like me because I too, hate everything they stand for.
You might think I'm a fanatic and maybe I am but alone what I've seen here in Africa during the past two years, how islamic and christian religions ravaged this continent like a plague, turning peoples minds upside down, making them neglect and eventually forget their original, animistic religion (that is much, much older than christianity) for some cheap parody theater bullshit, it's just sad.
The new german nazi pope even took it so far to publicly proclaim that christian relief organisations in Africa should focus much more on evangelisation and spreading the gospel than on hands on relief work. His point was for example that AIDS can only really be cured by accepting the christiian lifestyle.
Pardon my french but this motherfucker should burn in hell.
I do believe that the main reason why AIDS is not seeing a downturn in Africa is because of deliberate misinformation spread by religious groups and the government. For South African President Mbeki to question whether HIV really causes AIDS, and his health minister to promote "good nutrition" rather than drugs to treat HIV can only be described as aiding the savagery that is AIDS in their country. Additionally, the centuries-old "you can receive the medicine only if you convert" strategy is well-documented for missionary groups around the world and is plainly disgusting. Anyone who puts their religion before others' lives cares about neither. If you see "Jesus loves you" as slang for the mistreatment you've seen put into practice in Africa, then I suppose that I can't really blame you for your response.
"Fire bombing" is a touch strong, though. Just saying.
I refer back to an earlier flippant remark by Rockadelic. His point being that he see nothing frightening about AC and her ilk because there are not mass graves in Texas and Oklahoma.