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Goodbye Jesus

Pop Church


Guest worldofourown

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Guest worldofourown

hi everyone, am new here on the forums though i had been obsessed with this site for days, reading through all the comments on the main site and everything. sorry for being very long winded. but i am so filled with.. don't know what i just need to rant to somebody and most people are unable to take my constant obsession.

 

just came back from what i called a 'pop church' gathering today. i.e. churches that entertains teenagers and rich wives and sucks all the money out of them. where attending church services is like going to a pop concert. wanted to go to see what it is like so took up my friend's friend's invitation to see.

 

maybe i should just give a little of my background first. i am always changing my opinion about god (i say there is a 50% chance of him being there) but i am mostly agnostic and for some reason, very against the christian church (probably because it is the religion i understand the most about. once i have the chance i am going on to read about the others. my mum and her family are buddhists, they burn incense and paper and pray with beads etc. and i do go to the temple when my mum brings me and pray respectfully when asked to but mostly just out of respect for family tradition not beliefs. i went to christian kindergardens (2 of them), and a catholic primary school. i was really into my form teacher and she got me to church. i went every week, mostly for the company of friends but i almost fell into it (hey i was only 10). my mum drives me there every week, though she was secular at that time. she thought the experience will be good. she used to go to church when she was younger as well (she thought it was fun) but luckily a very good friend pulled her back into reality. and she did the same for me. thank god. lol.

 

my friends are always saying, as i start to talk about such stuff, that i sound like i am actually on god's side and is actually angry at men for putting words in his mouth. i am still thinking through that observation. to me, there is a 50/50 chance of him existing or not. out of 50, 50%=good god, 50%=bad god. if he is bad god (as my impression of the christian god is), i'd rather go to hell and know that at least I won't give in to evilness. if he is good, he shall forgive me for i had put the good brains he had given me to good use. my general idea is that whether he exist or not, i shall deal with him when i die. i shall have nothing to lose.

 

anyway, just came back from this 'service' which in a way, speaks a lot of truth. somehow if you go in with a critical mind there are so many ambiguity with the words they used, you just want to laugh. as in they were silently laughing at the 'lambs' ( i am sure the crowd will be happy to be called that). just remembered one where somewhere along the guy said '... save us... from corruption' (or something like that). and (see * in the middle)

 

this canadian guy supposedly 'heals' people, people were walking up from wheelchairs, and fainting when he touches them, and crowds just falling back and speaking in tongues and wailing etc. it was a whole stadium of people. me and my friend (who is from a more traditional christian church and is against such practice) were freaked out. but i am confused. they couldn't possibly hire so many actors right? so how did they do it? was just wondering if anyone could point me to some scientific research ( know i read something about some mind thingy on the site) that can explain to me this.. phenomenon? i am really curious.

 

basically, the guy said so many bullshit that i can't believe anyone could actually take him. and i thought they might be discreet enough to make it sound like they are seriously there for god and i was seriously godsmacked (couldn't contain my astonishment and i think i pissed the people around me off quite a bit) when the guy talked about this fabulous story about how he gave his last 10cent to god when he was in debt (apparently, before that, he had a message from god to give all his money to all the other churches etc.) and in a few days time he was out of his debt. and then he just started telling the audience that they should do the same tonight! they had already provided envelopes for people to put cash or cheques or write credit card details etc.

 

roughly what he said:

i began to learn the art of giving when i was younger

when i was a young minister, i learnt the truth*

found out how bad it is for minister to be in debt

"emotional giving is cursed by god (referring to giving different amounts every sunday). the law of giving is fixed by god" (would like to see where it says so baby)

you owe god 20%

if you would pay god's bills (i.e. donating money to THEM) , he will pay yours

 

and he was encouraging people to give give give because they OWE GOD money. and i was asking my friend - how could they actually buy that? and she told me they are all already brain washed there is no need to be discreet. could not contain my anger that all these foolish people could actually fall for that! the woman beside me, obviously very rich, was giving lots.

 

and they were like, brain washing everybody! (just as i sorta expected). they make people repeat (just like those self-help programs where they ask you to repeat your own goals etc.) 'i believe.. in jesus, god,he is my saviour etc.'

 

and when they want people to go for their normal church service, the pastor even got them to repeat after him (2 times) '4pm', 'i will be there' that sorta thing. he asked a whole stadium of adults, teenagers to repeat '4pm'!!

 

and there were quotes (i just refused to stand up and just sat with a notepad copying down things they were saying

"do not play games with your eternity

" if you say no, and i am going to say this lovingly, it is foolish to say no to jesus

" god has done all that can be done to save your soul

" tonight is decision night. tommorow might be too late. you might die tonight.

 

from a song or something: trust and obey, there is no other way

- sounds like a tyranny to me

 

and you can see how.. childish? weird? the crowd is. they CHEERED when the violinist explains that he ties a piece of scaft to his violin (to make it happier) and changes it according to the occasion.

 

when they did that, i was like... oh they are hopeless.

 

i am filled with anger and i know that is not necessarily a good thing. sorry for the really long post. i do have a tendency to nag a lot and i really need someone to talk to someone right now besides an imaginary friend.

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Welcome to the forum. I know what you mean by "pop church". There is a mega church in my area that has ultra-modern services. They have around 5 meetings on the weekend, serving thousands of people. They don't have a sanctuary, it's an auditorium. Songs are provided by a worship team, not a choir. No hynms to sing and hymnals to fumble through; just follow the words to the worship chorus up on the screens. Everything takes place on a stage, and there isn't a permenent pulpit or altar. The minister just sits on a stool, or walks around with his Bible while preaching. I know, because I visited the church a few times before I left Christianity for good. Pop church is just a new way to suck people into an old belief system. They claim it's the Holy Spirit that leads people to God through church; phooey, it's just marketing at work.

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