What I Heard In The Apple Barrel

[Godless Wonder]

Ok, not the apple barrel (10 points to whoever gets the reference) but the BookStop, a book store chain bought by Barnes and Noble some time ago.

 

Well, sitting there reading magazines, and there's this guy wearing ostrich skin boots sitting a little ways down, reading a magazine and talking on his cell phone. His side of the conversation goes something like this (from memory, so this is an approximation, but the salient bits are there.)

 

"hey, you want to hear something wild?"

 

"You know we've been going to Sean's church for awhile. I've been learning from him, but nothing I didn't already know, mostly. But, there is one thing that's bothering me. It's really floored me. You know all that he's money collected for charity? None of it -- NONE OF IT -- is going to charity. Sean's using it all for himself. He's bought million dollar homes, boats, trips to Africa -- supposedly mission trips, but the trip cost $3000 and he claimed it cost $30000, $27000 more than it really cost. (figures may not be exact, but in the ballpark of $25000 overcharge). All of this money everyone thinks is being used for charity, and NONE of it is. I'm not going to abandon him though, I need to learn things, his speaking style, how he convinces people to give money, so that when I get stronger and can go out on my own, I can help out real charities."

 

Actually there was a lot more god-talk sprinkled throughout, but I can't emulate it or remember it.

 

I thought about going and fetching a copy of Smith's "Atheism: the Case Against God" from the shelves and dropping it in his lap, or saying to him, you thing Sean's running a con? Yeah, he is. It's known by the name of "Christianity." and the whole thing is a con. But I didn't. I didn't do anything.

 

Note: I guessed at the spelling of Sean. It might be Shawn, or some other variant. The bookstop in question is at the corner of Kuykendahl and FM 1960 in Houston, TX, in case anyone knows someone attending this church and wants to make a stink.

[HoustonHorn]

With the size of some of the churches in Houston, I could certainly see a few thousand dollars go missing and nobody know it. One trait I've seen among pretty much every Christian I've known is that they were trusting, which makes them easy targets for cons. That guy from Second Baptist Church - err, sorry, it's just "Second", they leave off the "Baptist Church" part - could ask for 10 bucks from every member for pretty much anything and make a killing.

[LosingMyReligion]

Hey I live in the area of that bookstop! LOL!

 

I agree about the trust aspect. When you are a Christian you truly want to believe that every other christian is good and has your best interest at heart.

That is, sadly, hardly ever the case. For every Billy Graham there are 200 Benny Hinns, T.D. Jakes, and every other crook.