Mike D Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Mega Megachruch I wonder if they offer valet parking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Broke Free Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 I don’t know if she is still around, but we did have member here who was a member of that church. If I remember correctly the church was “requesting” $2500 from each member to cover the cost of renovations. This was above and beyond the usual tithing amount. For those members who were strapped financially, the message was clear; we don’t care how you get the money, just do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted July 17, 2005 Author Share Posted July 17, 2005 If I remember correctly the church was “requesting” $2500 from each member to cover the cost of renovations. Are you serious? That's crazy. If someone is already giving 10% of their before-tax income, then they have to shell out $2500 (after tax) on top of that, someone could easily end up in the poor house by going to this church. Ooops I forgot, tithing is a slot machine, whatever you put in pays off 10x that amount in blessings Silly me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Broke Free Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 I found the information. Now with his super-star celebrity status Osteen is moving Lakewood Church into the Compaq Center, the 18,000-seat arena where Houston’s basketball team has played. They have entered into a lease and are busy remodeling the entire center which they will rename "the Lakewood International Center." A fund-raising campaign to raise the $70 million dollars for the improvements is asking supporters to sponsor a seat for $2500 each. http://cultlink.com/ar/osteen.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted July 17, 2005 Author Share Posted July 17, 2005 I found the information.http://cultlink.com/ar/osteen.htm Wow, Joel Osteen looks like a successful corporate executive. And he has a very pretty wife. They're the model of the white urban professional Christian. Jesus would be very proud indeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checkmate Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 At the risk of sounding like "Judas Iscariot", but, $75 MILLION fucking dollars?!? To build a fucking church? (Or in this case, refurbish an arena.) COULDN'T that money have been better spent feeding and clothing the poor bastards that went into debt funding that insane asylum? And where in the bible are Xians taught/commanded to BUILD a church or a church building? (Could have sworn Jesus said "I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH".) That money is SUPPOSED to go to feeding, clothing and supporting women, orphans and widows. In the early church, even the presbyter/pastor lived off of this charity. (And it wasn't fucking much.) Today's pastors feels it is their duty to fleece as many sheep as possible. Fuck it! It ain't MY fucking money. Not my problem anymore. "A fool and his money were lucky enough to get together in the first place." -- Harry Anderson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted July 17, 2005 Author Share Posted July 17, 2005 TK, I know where you are coming from. Did you read that link from IBF? It seems they are not shy about the fact that material wealth means quite a bit to them.....the Olsteens are millionaires, just like the other high-flying televangelists of the world. On the one hand I feel sorry for the poor saps who give their money to places like this, but then on the other hand, nobody is holding a gun to their head. As you said... a fool and his money... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveL Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Hey 30,000 in one room shouting 'hooray for Jesus' must make them right...wrong. Hey $75m on one Church must make their cause really special and important right...wrong. So much for sharing and caring. Oh well...the middle class have to praise the Lord as well. And that 10% of your wage really adds up. That Pastor doesn't look too worried about where his next scrap of food is coming from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted July 17, 2005 Author Share Posted July 17, 2005 You know how it is, if the Lord leads a pastor to spend $3 billion constructing an entire master planned Christian community with residential housing, megachurch, store, hospital, etc. (this will probably be next, just give it some time), then the flock will gladly keep the tithes flowing. If the Lord led him to do it, then it must be the Lords work, and who are the flock to question the Lord? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roamin' Lion Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 Gov. Rick Perry praised the church's new look and told the crowd, "As lawmakers we do a lot of things, but only the church can teach people to love. Interesting, he says the church can teach people to love. So far, it is not working out real well. This is another guy who is part of the gab it and grab it crowd. Yeah, they are crucifying the flesh alright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Priapus Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 It seems they are not shy about the fact that material wealth means quite a bit to them.....the Olsteens are millionaires, just like the other high-flying televangelists of the world. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> And the brilliant con bound up in all this is that God has blessed them, and who are you do question whom God will bless or curse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ML13 Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 I can't help but wonder how long it would take for people to greet each other before the service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleDee Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 Joel Osteen gives me the hibeejeebeez My prediction is the slick talking rightwing nut case will be running for president one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtdude Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 This is just shameful, with all of the problems in the world, all the suffering. Pitiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roamin' Lion Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 I saw him on Larry King Live. I was not impressed. Same ole same ole. Americans are big suckers. They always lap at the feet of those who pretend to be all they wish they were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynomatastic Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 I watched one of his "sermons" on television one Sunday morning with my mother. He's full of himself--all the stories he told were about him and how the Lord helped him out in certain situations (he does have a sense of humor, I'll give him that). He hardly read from the Bible at all! In fact, I think he read all of two verses from the book. No wonder why so many people wanted to go to this church. I wonder how much of that 70 mil. actually went into the church? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynomatastic Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Damn, the Osteens and Lakewood church were on CNN tonight. I was just going to post about it, when I clicked on this thread. The intervewer didn't seem to impressed with them. I applaud her for asking this smiling barbie and ken couple the hard questions. She asked them if they thought the 90 mil spent on their building would have been better spent helping the poor and people who don't have health insurance..etc! Finally, someone pins one of these smiling suit mega church pastors down with the important stuff. The smile melted off the Mrs. Osteen's face like butter in the hot sun, and she just turned and looked at her husband. I was like, "yea bitch answer that!" Then she came back with this plastic smile and announced to the interviewer that the 90 mil was worth it because their church is inspirational and the sermons give people hope. Then the pastor, whose smile was laminated on I do believe, declared that God wanted them to expand and that it would have been selfish for them to stay at 8000 seats. Then the wife chimed in some b.s. about people coming there with cancer and such and god providing healing..etc. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> He should've said, "Our lavish church helps the poor not burn in hell, you bastard. God hates you! No more questions." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nirrti Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 I watched the the "Grand Opening" of Lakewood World the other day. (Isn't the term, "grand opening" only used for businesses?) Imagine the Georgia Dome mixed in with Staples Center with this big, gold spinning globe in the background, what looked like purple skylights on the ceiling, these marble twin choir lofts with the band and orchestra in the center, looking like something off of Lawrence Welk and this pulpit the size of most churchs' construction footprint. Then add "Ken and Barbie" along with the heir to the throne, Olsteen's 10 year-old son and the "spare", his 6 year-old daughter. Then they, Olsteen's mother, brother and about 10 grandkids were on stage holding some piece of memorabilia from their church's history. This included Olsteen's father's shoes, an old chair from the first church, a magazine article featuring Olsteen, and his father's bible. Then they showed this feature film-quality presentation on three, yes, three jumbo screens about how......... "God brought us from this tiny little church and against all odds, God had favor on us to get this huge 18,000 seat sports arena where I had season tickets for the Houston Rockets over there in section 10-B and this is where I took my wife on our first date." And Olsteen repeated this story a million times throughout the service, how god's blessed their church, how they're going to reach more people throughout the world, how ironic it was that the first Christians where slaughtered in arenas and now, they own an arena........Oh wait a second, weren't Roman arenas for entertainment? Does this mean that Lakewood is their holy theme park and arena for Jezus except this time, they're going to slaughter................ What did I think of this grandiose spectacle after I watched the whole 90 minute service? First of all, why the hell does any church on earth need a stadium-size building to worship god? Since when did going to church require three Jumbo Trons, three(yes three) children's areas for different age groups that rival DisneyLand(I'm not kidding) a skate park, a fountain that looks like a rock formation behind the pulpit, and 18,000 seats? In Memphis, that's twice the amount of people attending a Memphis Grizzlies game. I'm afraid what we're seeing is the result of ministers competing against each other in some big, giant, out-of-control contest to see who has the biggest dick. Except they're using their church facilities, number of members, who has the biggest Mansion, private jet, Rolls Royce and amenities to outpace each other. And most of all, who can sway the most people to give them the most cash, "doing the will of God" of course. And Joel Osteen has, for the present, won........with a damn basketball stadium! I guess he won't be needing any male enhancement pills for a while. It takes a basketball stadium to win in this "who's got the biggest dick" contest? What's it gonna be next, their own mega cruise ship, the "Cruise-Aid for Christ" church? Let me be quiet before I give them any ideas. Joel Osteen & Co. are either so deluded themselves, they doen't see their screwed up priorities for what they are or more likely, they know exactly what's going on and keep up smiley, squeaky clean personas to hide the filth that's underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Benson Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Christanity is nothing but a business plain and simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-COG Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 I wonder sometimes if these super-mongo-mega-churches will be able to keep up. After all, constant growth seems to be the rule of thumb for these congregations, but there's got to be a saturation limit. You can only sucker in so many people at a time. However, I sometimes fear that for every person that wises up, there's ten more coming through the doors, wallet in hand, ready to put their last greenback in the offering, and claiming their hundred-fold return on the investment. And what about the small churches in the area that lose members to the new superchurch down the road? Surely they must feel threatened. I know in my town there are pastors who are upset and bitter when people switched to the local Willow Creek copy-cat mega-church. What do you think; will the day come when these churches can't keep the fish on the line? Or will they forever be the Walmart of churches, even driving the "mom-and-pop" congregations out of business? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Priapus Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Maybe we need to start Church-Aid and round up all the aging rock & roll stars to put on a benefit concert to help out the little corner Mom & Pop church. The one-room church that seats 50 people singing hymns as the Pastor's wife plays the the beat up old upright piano. They don't even have enough hymnals for all the parishoners and the Corporate Mega Churches are buying up all the rights to the hymns so little church-goers can't sing 'em. No we gotta lobby congress and...I dunno, maybe the Vatican and make a trip to Africa. Always have to involve Africa if these things are gonna be a success. Where's Bob Geldof and Bono? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted July 20, 2005 Author Share Posted July 20, 2005 I was watching something recently on a business channel on these megachurches, it seems many of them have boards that are made up of people not with degrees in theology from Christian schools, but MBA's from places like Wharton and Kellogg who specialize in marketing and business management. What does that tell you? Are we watching Christianity evolve into a commercial, consumer-driven business right in front of our eyes? How soon before megachurches start partnering with corporate sponsers and we see banners in church for companies like Walmart or Citibank? It might sound crazy, but why not? If nobody is bothered by spending $75 million on a church, why would they be bothered by corporate sponsors if it brings in more money to the church? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vixentrox Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 I was watching something recently on a business channel on these megachurches, it seems many of them have boards that are made up of people not with degrees in theology from Christian schools, but MBA's from places like Wharton and Kellogg who specialize in marketing and business management. What does that tell you? Are we watching Christianity evolve into a commercial, consumer-driven business right in front of our eyes? How soon before megachurches start partnering with corporate sponsers and we see banners in church for companies like Walmart or Citibank? It might sound crazy, but why not? If nobody is bothered by spending $75 million on a church, why would they be bothered by corporate sponsors if it brings in more money to the church? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It's hardly anything new. The Catholic church was pioneerig the best ways to fleece people out of money over 1000 years ago. "Buy this indulgence and your sins will be forgiven". "Pay a free to touch this holy relic and a miracle will happen". "Give to the lord and you'll surely reap treasures later". It's not just Xtians though. I think the majority of religions going back to the dawn of time practiced this. The tribal priest/withc doctor was supported by the people or the gods anger would be let loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtdude Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 I went back to my old church several years ago in Auburn, Washington...it had morphed into this huge multipurpose room. Blech. They even sell lattes and mochas on Sundays. It's all about gettin' the youngin's into the fold out chairs (no pews any more), playing b-ball on Friday nights, and snaggin' the tithe. My evangelical parents don't even like to go there...too impersonal. Too "Now." Not that I miss the religion, but I recall the services were at least moderately tasteful, with quietness and respect. Not some show. Oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalidasa Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 *shakes head* That's sick... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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