Re: Why I think mainstream Christianity is a joke.
I agree that politics in the US is a joke. Didn't you see my Elizabeth Warren thread? Lol.
Don't remind me.
Though I agree that Headdress is a joke.
Anyway, I proved my case. This mainstream Christianity(televangelist in general) are just money grabbers. It's ridiculous. Churches will have some extravagant building then have the nerve to ask for more. Why do you need a mansion to praise God? Why do you need a 65 million dollar jet to spread your religion? Oh... Because God told him to.
You didn't prove your case.
You cited one instance of a man who is asking for money for a jet and people are giving it to him.
That isn't mainstream Christianity. Mainstream Christianity is found at the dozens of local churches dotted across many towns in the midwest and south.
Now, as someone who has been privy to Church politics - I can tell you exactly how churches end up with extravagant buildings and not enough money for mission trips.
When donors give money, legally, they can mark it for certain funds. They set up trusts that can only be used in certain ways. This is often in the case of wealthy people who pass away or just retired people who like to feel like they are important.
These often represent relatively few members of the congregation - some of them are "founders" of that particular church, others are/were relative big-wigs. Either way - the money they set up in trusts can only be used in certain ways. Others who are still living often like to make pledges to donate ever how many thousand dollars if things are done their way.
Example - when my family moved into a new town and became members of a church, there was an electrically induced (due to dehumidifiers) fire in the sanctuary. My father, having come from a church where he was one of the architects for the sanctuary built there, ended up on the building committee (because we are a denomination that forms committees for everything). While not a massive donor in terms of money (he had us kids and all) - the man had immense talent and I could see the influence of his design decisions (he was a practical and functional person - not a frilly or traditionalist person).
Anyway - there wasn't too much trouble until it came to the issue of the Organ. Oh. Dear heavens. So-and-so was threatening to leave the church and take his/her donations with her if there wasn't a genuine pipe organ installed to replace the old one. Not only are 'real' pipe organs insanely expensive, but they are also high-maintenance. Not to mention - we didn't even have a person in the congregation who knew how to play an organ (the one we did have died - which is morbidly hilarious).
The argument was that we could get an electric organ - which, for all intents and purposes, sounds like a real organ - has a wider range of things that can be done with it, and doesn't require temperature and humidity stability to keep its tune and state of repair.
Before long, several of the larger donors had taken their time to voice that they were in strong support of a real pipe organ.
I can see my father literally doing a face-desk in the meetings. Even -if- it were so that the donors would fully fund the organ and its maintenance; he disagreed with the policy of making decisions based on chasing donations and argued that if you made decisions based on spiritual guidance, God would provide in the long run. He saw the old pipe organ as a needlessly complicated expense to strap the congregation with and the fire as being an opportunity to get out from under such trappings rather than saddling a future congregation with things they neither desired nor truly appreciated.
Some argued that the pipe organ would attract some media attention and therefor membership - but... really... who goes to church over what type of ****ing organ they use?
I shit you, not - they formed an "organ committee" that met for nearly a year after the sanctuary was built before determining what to get.
Anyway - they got the damned pipe organ.
There was some initial pomp and flare over a new pipe organ being installed. Some notable regional organist came in from Kansas City (if I remember correctly) and performed. That lasted a weekend.
It took them a year to find anyone who really knew how to play. Half the people who wanted the damned thing in the first place were dead by then (I'm being facetious, there - I don't think there were really that many people who died in that time span), and then they were having issues with it because they couldn't maintain the humidity levels for the pipes.
It's kind of poetic justice, in a way. When you chase donations - that is what happens. The church ends up purchasing things for the sake of a few members' desire to have influence and is left with extravagant things that they have to beg and plead for families to donate to in order to maintain.
Then, it's like pulling teeth to get mission trips or local community charity projects started - especially when you appease traditionalists who just like having someplace to be on Sunday mornings.
I'm glad you believe that. Now if you were to tell me that gays were the devil in disguise(Or something along the lines Lol) I'd call you a hypocrite.
Gays are experiencing a neurological condition induced by developmental factors to include personal decisions. This condition is reversible in voluntary individuals and can be considered a disorder depending upon the goals of the individual.
I'm of the opinion it is a disorder and classifies as a sin. That said - there are sins that are not for humans to act in judgment upon. John 8 is very clear in this regard.
Likewise - I do not believe that all sin is irreconcilable even after death. There are arguments on both side of it - but I have difficulty envisioning a God who passes down judgment. I see God's justice as being more emergent from the nature of consequences. People who can't find it in themselves to forgive others will find themselves alone in the empty halls of the kingdom of their perfection. People who can't find it in themselves to discern between sin and virtue will forever suffer the consequences of poor decisions and harmful affiliations.
I actually believe we are already in Heaven - or the "Kingdom of Heaven." It is simply the fact that we believe we are capable of envisioning perfection that causes us to create hell for ourselves. The 'trick' to "on Earth as it is in Heaven" is to stop believing the two are separate entities and treat the experience as if it is Heaven.
This abridged episode of Twilight Zone's "A Nice Place to Visit" makes the case of what I envision our concept of a "perfect" world to be like:
[video=youtube;77ueTRaYTwg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ueTRaYTwg[/video]
Our concept of a "perfect" world is actually a sort of hell.
Because we have limited perspective and limited intellectual resources - our view of "how we would do it" is fundamentally flawed. Our idea of "if the world were perfect" is based upon the unfounded assumption that it is flawed.
When we attempt to usurp the experience and forces that govern our world - we are, in effect, rebelling against the one who created it. Within a biblical context - this is service to the devil. Within a philosophical context, we are attempting to control things fundamentally beyond our control and the laws of nature will not be trifled with.
That doesn't mean we can't work within the mechanics of the universe to improve our lives - but it is when we begin to believe that we as individuals can 'fix' something that isn't broken that we run into problems.
The "kingdom of heaven" is a world where we work freely within the laws of the universe to enrich our experience of life - from being able to travel and explore to overcoming injury and disease. Since we are only barely grasping the laws of the universe - we can only glimpse at what might be the full glory of that "kingdom." But it can only exist in areas where people do not seek dominion over each other - do not see the gift of free will as a mistake that need be rectified.
Of course, I've gone from explaining church politics to preaching. So - you know how that goes.
