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Goodbye Jesus

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Roxie

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I've been reading these testimonials on here, which are so heartbreaking-ly similar, so I thought I'd offer up something that I noticed in regard to how the church, and more particularly, preachers, work. This comes from my experience of having a step-father who became a preacher, after he retired from being a prison Warden.

 

I hope that this can help some of you who are struggling in your deconversion.

 

I can't speak for anyone who may be on here, who was, in fact a preacher and if your experience is different, then, please know that I mean you no disrespect.

 

My step-father was an absolute ass. He was extremely abusive to me and my two younger brothers. In fact, he eventually sent one of my brothers to live with my grandmother, when he was 9 and the other brother to live with my father, just before he turned 12. The only reason I wasn't sent away was because I was the maid, cook and full time babysitter for my half-sister who was born when I was 15. I had no life. I was the caretaker of everyone in the house, including his 2 daughters.

 

But, by god, we had our butts in church every time the doors opened. How pious my mother and step-father were while they were "in" church. No one knew what hell we lived in when we were "out" of church.

 

When he was a prison Warden, oh, how he loved the way everyone had to grovel at his feet. He ran our home like a prison. Any minor infraction resulted in 6 weeks solitary confinement, wherein we were banned to our rooms, to sit on the floor and not move, only to be allowed out when we were bathing, using the bathroom, cleaning, or going to church.

 

Anyway, many years later, when he retired he decided to become a preacher. After he got "his" church, as he called it, he bragged about how much money he was making and how easy it was and how if he had known how wealthy he could have been, he would have done it full time, long before.

 

But, he never displayed any genuine love or compassion for anyone.

 

Now, he had his parishoners grovelling at his feet. He was able to stand there and tell them all the bullshit I'm sure we've all heard over the years.

 

But, here's the thing: He had books, entitled something like, "52 Sermons for the Year" or "Christmas Sermons" or "Funeral Sermons". See, all he did was read these, take a few notes, and "perform" at church. There was no god-inspired sermon. There was no genuine desire to lead anyone to heaven.

 

All he wanted was people to come to "his" church and fork over the money. There was always a discussion, afterwards, (on the rare occasions I visited them, while he was preaching), about how much money he got that week. Something like, Brother John only gave me $20.00 this week, he usually gives me $35.00, cheap bastard," or "Good old Sister Mabel, she ain't got a pot to piss in but she gives me her $1.00 every week".

 

Do you see how greedy this ass was? Do you see how "godly" he was?

 

Oh, and if someone wasn't at church that day, after dinner he would call them, all sympathetic, wondering if they were sick and if they needed anything. After the call(s) he would grin and say, "Oh they were just sick" or whatever, with a sigh of relief! You see, he was making sure that they hadn't decided to stop attending (stop feeding the collection plate).

 

Why do you think these preachers are so intent on "bringing you back"? Why do you think they are always trying to recruit new members? Members = Money!

 

My mother and step-father lived in south Georgia. It rarely ever gets to freezing down here, but he bought my mother 2 full length mink coats, with matching hats and muffs. Who the hell uses a muff this day in time? They had his and hers matching Cadillacs. New ones every 2 years. My mother dripped in diamonds and gold. They had the most expensive anything they could buy. And poor old Sister Mabel is giving them $1.00, that she probably couldn't afford, to help them pay for all this! (we children were lucky to get a card for Christmas)

 

There is a mega-church that my husband attended as a child. When my husband was an adult and working as a jeweler, the preacher of this same church brought in bags of jewelry, that the parishoners had "donated" to him for whatever reason. My husband was asked to remove the diamonds from this jewelry, melt down the gold and make matching diamond pendants, earrings, rings and bracelets for the wife of the preacher. (I'm sure the donatees wouldn't have been happy about that.)

 

But see, they brainwash us into believing it's all about our souls and eternal damnation. It's really about how to make them rich, or live comfortably.

 

Were any of you involved in teaching at a Vacation Bible School? I was, in my teens. We would be given huge bags of candy to give to away. Any of the children who brought a "guest" to the next meeting, were given additional candy, a bribe. See, the idea was to get the children interested in church and hopefully the parents (who had money) would follow.

 

Don't you think that if there is a god and if he keeps his eye on the sparrow and all that rot, that he would certainly know what's in your heart? Why would you need to attend church?

 

Why? Because we have been brainwashed and conditioned to believe that we "have" to go. Apparently god doesn't work outside of a building. Apparently he doesn't work for free, either.

 

I know that some of your loved ones really believe that they are saving you from eternal damnation, and that's why they will hound you forever to return to their faith. But those parents, spouses, loved ones, whoever, are just buying into the bullshit. Maybe they can't help it. It's all they know.

 

I just wanted to offer you a little inside information on how, at least two churches really work and what they really want from us. MONEY!

 

I've said it before, on this site, that if it was illegal, and punishable by death, for a church or preacher to accept any money from anyone for saving their souls, there would be NO preachers. There would be NO churches.

 

And we would all live happily everafter.

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It's not just the money; there's also the ridiculous power than can be involved and the absurd things that power can do to people's heads. A few years ago a lawyer in my family worked on a case where a minister was coercing the young women whom worked at the church to perform fellatio before he would give them their paychecks. It's disgusting to see this type of thing happen, especially in places that are supposed to be based being good people.

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I know you don't mean to implicate all preachers in the kind of things your step-father did and neither do I mean to implicate all preachers with what I am about to say, either. I will freely acknowledge that there are some preachers who make next to no money at their churches and who have to work a part-time (or full-time) job to pay the bills and to allow them to preach at their rag-tag churches.

 

With that having been said, one of my earliest mental revelations right after I deconverted was the very issue you bring up. It's the issue of using the religion to guilt trip innocent people into giving "until it hurts" and having power and control over them. I think this is a motivation of church leaders far more often than we realize and they let on. And when many preachers pull the evangelism card on their congregations, it is often for exactly what you said. It is to get more cash paying members in the church.

 

I agree, "Church, it's all about the money, honey." At least with a lot of them.

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It's not just the money; there's also the ridiculous power than can be involved and the absurd things that power can do to people's heads. A few years ago a lawyer in my family worked on a case where a minister was coercing the young women whom worked at the church to perform fellatio before he would give them their paychecks. It's disgusting to see this type of thing happen, especially in places that are supposed to be based being good people.

 

You are absolutely right! Did you get the part about my step-father being a prison Warden? How much power can you have over the lives of individuals? He was a power-hungry, money-grubbing bastard who used his "power" over the vulnerable which included prisoners, my brothers and I and the "sheep" of his flock.

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I know you don't mean to implicate all preachers in the kind of things your step-father did and neither do I mean to implicate all preachers with what I am about to say, either. I will freely acknowledge that there are some preachers who make next to no money at their churches and who have to work a part-time (or full-time) job to pay the bills and to allow them to preach at their rag-tag churches.

 

With that having been said, one of my earliest mental revelations right after I deconverted was the very issue you bring up. It's the issue of using the religion to guilt trip innocent people into giving "until it hurts" and having power and control over them. I think this is a motivation of church leaders far more often than we realize and they let on. And when many preachers pull the evangelism card on their congregations, it is often for exactly what you said. It is to get more cash paying members in the church.

 

I agree, "Church, it's all about the money, honey." At least with a lot of them.

 

True, my husband's grandfather preached occasionally, and always without pay, for a small town church. He wasn't a "preacher" but he filled in when the preacher was out. I never met this grandfather, but they say he was a wonderful man.

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I know there are some evil preachers and I feel sorry for their victims, but really, they aren't all like that. My former pastor, whom I knew pretty well, was as altruistic as they come. If you saw his house and his car, you'd realize he wasn't in it for the money. Then again, I have an uncle who was an "itinerant" preacher most of his life and still has outstanding child molestation charges against him in Kentucky. He's either very old now and living in Florida somewhere, or dead; I don't know which.

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It's not just the money; there's also the ridiculous power than can be involved and the absurd things that power can do to people's heads. A few years ago a lawyer in my family worked on a case where a minister was coercing the young women whom worked at the church to perform fellatio before he would give them their paychecks. It's disgusting to see this type of thing happen, especially in places that are supposed to be based being good people.

 

You are absolutely right! Did you get the part about my step-father being a prison Warden? How much power can you have over the lives of individuals? He was a power-hungry, money-grubbing bastard who used his "power" over the vulnerable which included prisoners, my brothers and I and the "sheep" of his flock.

 

I didn't notice it anywhere in your story, but i assume you escaped from the step-father. If so, then congratulations!

That phrase "Power corrupts.." isn't just some old saying; Ther have been studies on power's effect on the mind:

People in power make better liars, study shows

Power breed hypocrisy

 

I do agree with Florduh, though. All the priests at my church have been genuine and thoughtful, schooled in both scripture and humility. People are people, and both good and bad people can spring up just about anywhere. The position of religious leader just has the unfortunate combination of ease of entry and inherent tools to control large groups of people.

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I know there are some evil preachers and I feel sorry for their victims, but really, they aren't all like that. My former pastor, whom I knew pretty well, was as altruistic as they come. If you saw his house and his car, you'd realize he wasn't in it for the money. Then again, I have an uncle who was an "itinerant" preacher most of his life and still has outstanding child molestation charges against him in Kentucky. He's either very old now and living in Florida somewhere, or dead; I don't know which.

 

I don't doubt that there are some sincere people out there that preach. I've just never met one, personally. When I went back to church, as an adult, I really did give "that" preacher the benefit of the doubt. Sadly, I was once again disappointed.

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I was a member of a kind of a state church that is an institution. Evangelic Lutheran church in my country has official permit of collecting taxes, a "church tax" from all of it´s members. It means that pastors and other workers of church are not collecting tithes. All funding is coming from taxes. It is actually a huge machine... church is giving education to its workers.. we have a diaconia university of applied sciences to give bachelors- degree education to deacons and youth councillors.. University is havin seminar for pastors.

 

When I was inside of that "machine" I saw pretty well the amounts of money that went through it. Church has a huge amounts of possessions, forests, funds.. etc. The budgets I ran in youth work were huge.

 

You know.. I guess about 70 % of members of a church didn´t have christian faith in a way how church teaches.. they were members just because of a habit. It suits for church because all members were paying taxes. Now.. few years back started a trend where people finally started to separate from state church.

 

My co- workers started to become alerted. But the worry was not about what will happen to the souls of the people who separate church, but instead what will happen to the church when the money flow will slow down !

There were few exceptions but, mainly people with whom I talked in seminars and meetings, were worried of the economy of the church.

 

When something becomes an institution and gets money and power it becomes corrupt... especially in religion.

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...but instead what will happen to the church when the money flow will slow down !

There were few exceptions but, mainly people with whom I talked in seminars and meetings, were worried of the economy of the church.

 

When something becomes an institution and gets money and power it becomes corrupt... especially in religion.

 

Exactly!

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I´m truly glad that I´m not there anymore.

 

It was like walking with bare foot in a broken glass.

 

Last seminars as a youthcouncillor were total pain. I knew I just couldn´t do that anymore and that the position where I was, was morally wrong.

 

It was not about power and money that made me nauseatic.. but the total concept of ignoring human rights.. using Bible as an excuse for calling homosexuals like dirt etc..

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Church is about self-perpetuation and self-promotion. So, simultaneously, church is all about the money, all about social control and all about group cohesion and organizational pride.

 

Someone in the church leadership will be the most focused on raking in offerings. If not the pastor, one of the deacons or church board officers. the dollars raked in and the decisions/new members per week are both sources of affirmation to one or more of the church leaders. for many pastors, these statistics indicate success and prominence within the denominational or associational organizations. They are bullet points on their resumes to indicate they are dynamic, "anointed" leaders.

 

And, of course, for many individuals its a matter of greed.

 

All in all, church is an all too human endeavor with evidence of supernatural transformation conspicuously absent.

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Any minor infraction resulted in 6 weeks solitary confinement, wherein we were banned to our rooms, to sit on the floor and not move, only to be allowed out when we were bathing, using the bathroom, cleaning, or going to church.

 

This is horrible child abuse. I'm so sorry you and your siblings had to go through this.

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It's not just the money; there's also the ridiculous power than can be involved and the absurd things that power can do to people's heads. A few years ago a lawyer in my family worked on a case where a minister was coercing the young women whom worked at the church to perform fellatio before he would give them their paychecks. It's disgusting to see this type of thing happen, especially in places that are supposed to be based being good people.

 

You are absolutely right! Did you get the part about my step-father being a prison Warden? How much power can you have over the lives of individuals? He was a power-hungry, money-grubbing bastard who used his "power" over the vulnerable which included prisoners, my brothers and I and the "sheep" of his flock.

 

I didn't notice it anywhere in your story, but i assume you escaped from the step-father. If so, then congratulations!

 

Well, that was over 30 years ago. After I, at 18 drove my youngest brother to Texas to live with my father, BY MYSELF (who in their right mind would send an 18 year old girl to drive from Georgia to Texas with only her 12 year old brother?), and came back home, I was told that I could no longer live there because I was 18 and therefore an adult. It may sound cruel, but it was one of the happiest moments of my life!

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Any minor infraction resulted in 6 weeks solitary confinement, wherein we were banned to our rooms, to sit on the floor and not move, only to be allowed out when we were bathing, using the bathroom, cleaning, or going to church.

 

This is horrible child abuse. I'm so sorry you and your siblings had to go through this.

 

Thank you for that. That is only a fraction of the abuse. The solitary confinement was really the "best" part of the punishment. It was the beatings and humiliation that came before it that were the worst.

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It's not just the money; there's also the ridiculous power than can be involved and the absurd things that power can do to people's heads.

My late wife was for a time abused by the "shepherding" movement -- I believe this was in the late 70's. This was an "accountability" meme that passed through some evangelical churches of that time, wherein you were supposed to lay your life bare to one or more fellow church members, normally a minister, associate minister, board member or other henchman -- less commonly, just a fellow member. But the idea is not unlike the vibe in communist countries where if you say or do something that could be remotely construed as subversive, someone's apt to "inform" on you. Shepherding basically just set up a network of informants who would call you out on some "sin" or other. So if you didn't study your Bible enough or if you were a woman who gave your husband some lip, you would be "lovingly confronted" about it. It got to the point where you not only were accountable to your shepherd but must obey them as you would obey god; disobeying your shepherd was equivalent to disobeying god.

 

In the particular church my wife was in (long before I met her), it got to the point where people were discussing very private stuff, even their sex lives, with their shepherd -- and sometimes in open meetings of other people in their "cell group". My wife rebelled and was excommunicated.

 

So yes, it's about lording it over people as well as fleecing them.

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It's not just the money; there's also the ridiculous power than can be involved and the absurd things that power can do to people's heads.

My late wife was for a time abused by the "shepherding" movement -- I believe this was in the late 70's. This was an "accountability" meme that passed through some evangelical churches of that time, wherein you were supposed to lay your life bare to one or more fellow church members, normally a minister, associate minister, board member or other henchman -- less commonly, just a fellow member. But the idea is not unlike the vibe in communist countries where if you say or do something that could be remotely construed as subversive, someone's apt to "inform" on you. Shepherding basically just set up a network of informants who would call you out on some "sin" or other. So if you didn't study your Bible enough or if you were a woman who gave your husband some lip, you would be "lovingly confronted" about it. It got to the point where you not only were accountable to your shepherd but must obey them as you would obey god; disobeying your shepherd was equivalent to disobeying god.

 

In the particular church my wife was in (long before I met her), it got to the point where people were discussing very private stuff, even their sex lives, with their shepherd -- and sometimes in open meetings of other people in their "cell group". My wife rebelled and was excommunicated.

 

So yes, it's about lording it over people as well as fleecing them.

 

This was horrible! Sounds like a cult, but then a lot of them do. Thank goodness she was excommunicated. What IS this obsession with these "leaders" wanting to know your every move? I was always interested in the Catholic church. Don't have a clue why. But, the whole idea of "confessing" to a priest or anyone was the biggest draw back for me. Not that I do anything remotely bad or interesting, it was the idea that if god is all-knowing, then any confession was useless at best and damn near nose-y at worst.

 

Like you said, I think it is something to use against the members. Shame and humiliation can do a number on our self-esteem, and I think that is exactly why they use it. Keep us vulnerable and we're more easily manipulated.

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What IS this obsession with these "leaders" wanting to know your every move? I was always interested in the Catholic church. Don't have a clue why. But, the whole idea of "confessing" to a priest or anyone was the biggest draw back for me. Not that I do anything remotely bad or interesting, it was the idea that if god is all-knowing, then any confession was useless at best and damn near nose-y at worst.

It's all based on "one another" type passages in the Bible -- love one another, confess your sins to one another, etc. Like all error there is a grain of truth to it -- accountability to people you have a legitimate and appropriate trust relationship with is perfectly fine and useful and good. It's an example of healthy interdependence. But it's easy to twist this into unhealthy codependence or just plain dependence. It's a fine line, particularly for people who have not yet properly defined some healthy boundaries for themselves.

 

It also plays off the "I'm a weak, lowly worm who is helpless against my besetting sins" vibe. The "thinking", if you can call it that, is if you give up your power to others you will be unable to sin, even when you wish to, because you'll never get away with it. All secret sin becomes open sin. You give up personal autonomy and freedom, something like if an addict says, "no matter what I say, no matter how much I beg or plead, don't let me have any more pills". Or even, "please punish me when I'm bad so that I will stop".

 

It's ripe for abuse. As one of The Five (the group of leaders who founded the movement) later put it in Fundie Speak, "we were guilty of the Galatian error -- having begun in the spirit, we were corrupted by the flesh". It was originally just a misguided response to some church scandal and a desire to prevent such things from happening.

 

At least two of The Five have openly disavowed / distanced themselves from the movement and it has basically burned itself out, though echoes of it remain in the church.

 

I think Catholic confession is based on the same idea but at least, properly practiced, it preserves confidentiality.

 

I suppose that organizations like AA are based on it as well but again you have anonymity and it's more of a focus on keeping a person outside themselves and their thought processes, on being present for each other but not controlling each other.

 

What's key is the presence or absence of attempts at control. In confession you're simply being helped to acknowledge your personal responsibilities and given a ritual way to face up to them; the implicit assumption is you'll need to go to confession over and over but at least you're not sweeping things under the rug. In AA the assumption is you'll do the work your whole life, maybe even have relapses, but there is no attempt to force or prevent a person from doing or not doing things and people are always welcome even when they screw up. In shepherding on the other hand there was the threat of the disapproval or withholding of acceptance or shaming being wielded all the time and that is the key difference. That and setting up your "shepherd" as a proxy for god.

 

--Bob

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...and setting up your "shepherd" as a proxy for god.

 

--Bob

 

And therein lies the crux of the problem.

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This was horrible! Sounds like a cult, but then a lot of them do. Thank goodness she was excommunicated. What IS this obsession with these "leaders" wanting to know your every move? I was always interested in the Catholic church. Don't have a clue why. But, the whole idea of "confessing" to a priest or anyone was the biggest draw back for me. Not that I do anything remotely bad or interesting, it was the idea that if god is all-knowing, then any confession was useless at best and damn near nose-y at worst.

 

 

The confession thing has it's roots in apostolic succession (a huge deal in the Church) and tradition (also a big deal and, sometimes, annoying). At times in the RCC's history, the ordained were the only people ensured to have an education in theology and scripture, so they would "know better" how to reconcile sins. Strictly speaking, it is all up to God, and the formal confession isn't absolutely necessary; however, even sincere religions tend to be conservative by nature to make sure that they are "getting it right." There's a lot of pressure on you when you think that one mistake can send any number of souls into Hell and eternal torment.

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In the Wesleyan type churches that I came out of, they have "accountability partners". The guy is someone who has "mastered his lust" and is someone we are to be honest with if we have had a problem, such as looking at internet porn, masturbated, lusted after the "goddess" at the gas station, etc. There's even a download you can get from xxxchurch.com(?) that will send an email report to your accountability partner that you have looked at internet porn.

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Eugene, to me all this probing into someone's business seems more like a sick version of voyeurism.

 

And the guy who has "mastered his lust", well, I would ask, "By who's authority?" I mean, how would you know? Because he says so? Nope, I ain't buying it.

 

I don't know, it just all seems like a way of humiliating someone, thereby making them feel vulnerable, thereby making them easier to manipulate.

 

There was a guy at the last church I attended that had gone out of state to some bible college to go into the ministry. Once he got back home, his wife found where he had been looking at porn while he was away. I don't know if this guy was directed by the church or if his wife threatened him with divorce, but he stood in front of the church one bright Sunday morning confessing to the congregation. I never particularly liked the guy, but I felt sorry for him that day. His wife divorced him after that. I don't know whatever became of him.

 

But, what was the point of that humiliation? I'd be willing to bet he wasn't the only one in that congregation looking at porn. And I doubt that that little episode of humiliation caused him to stop.

 

I'm not advocating porn, especially for a minister, but it seems there will always be some secret in our lives and unless it is in some way harmful to someone, then I don't see the point of public or even private confession.

 

Isn't their god "all-knowing"?

 

I have a huge issue with the whole mediator (preacher/congregation) thing and I'm sure it's from my own experience.

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Eugene, to me all this probing into someone's business seems more like a sick version of voyeurism.

 

And the guy who has "mastered his lust", well, I would ask, "By who's authority?" I mean, how would you know? Because he says so? Nope, I ain't buying it.

 

I don't know, it just all seems like a way of humiliating someone, thereby making them feel vulnerable, thereby making them easier to manipulate.

I'm no prude, but my objection to porn isn't connected with what other people decide to do with their sexuality, it's just that you can't escape that sooner or later, most porn imagery involves the exploitation and/or subjugation of women or children somewhere along the line. Even willing participants probably have boundary issues that come from sexual abuse. I'm willing to bet that it's the rare edge case if a woman wants to allow random people to objectify her, yet she's doing it purely for the art or something.

 

As such the new business my son and I are starting, which does remote administration of other people's servers, will not accept as a client, anyone operating a porn site. They're free to do it, but I don't want any part of it.

 

It's a fine line when you take a stand against this sort of thing and I think where the church crosses the line is in trying to control things to the point of making reality something other than what it is. People have sexual fantasies. Some of them, if acted out, would be harmful, but if not acted out, are harmless. Others might be just plain impractical, or one of the many things that seem attractive in between your ears but don't work out that well in the Real World. Personally I wish people would stick with fantasies that they don't need help with (e.g., porn) and for the reasons stated above I have trouble feeling good about people relying on porn for any aspect of their sex lives. But I would never attempt to use shame, guilt or peer pressure to get them to change, because (1) it never works and (2) it's generally meddling in things which are none of my beeswax.

 

I have to agree with you, there's something voyeuristic about the church's obsession with whether its members use porn, but also, I think it's just the natural result of the church repressing sexual expression in general. Reaction to that repression manifests in far more unsavory things (e.g., porn) than in your 15 year old copping a feel or playing tonsil hockey with his girl friend. They need to be less uptight and threatened by human sexuality and then the porn thing will take care of itself. They could start (though of course they won't) by paying no more attention to masturbation and dropping all attempts at thought control. The concept of "pure thoughts" is nonsense. Thoughts are just thoughts. I keep telling people you can't keep birds from flying over your head, but you needn't let them build nests in it. Quit worrying about the birds, they are just part of nature.

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It's not just the money; there's also the ridiculous power than can be involved and the absurd things that power can do to people's heads.

My late wife was for a time abused by the "shepherding" movement -- I believe this was in the late 70's. This was an "accountability" meme that passed through some evangelical churches of that time, wherein you were supposed to lay your life bare to one or more fellow church members, normally a minister, associate minister, board member or other henchman -- less commonly, just a fellow member. But the idea is not unlike the vibe in communist countries where if you say or do something that could be remotely construed as subversive, someone's apt to "inform" on you. Shepherding basically just set up a network of informants who would call you out on some "sin" or other. So if you didn't study your Bible enough or if you were a woman who gave your husband some lip, you would be "lovingly confronted" about it. It got to the point where you not only were accountable to your shepherd but must obey them as you would obey god; disobeying your shepherd was equivalent to disobeying god.

 

In the particular church my wife was in (long before I met her), it got to the point where people were discussing very private stuff, even their sex lives, with their shepherd -- and sometimes in open meetings of other people in their "cell group". My wife rebelled and was excommunicated.

 

So yes, it's about lording it over people as well as fleecing them.

This was a big thing in the church I was in, too. They pushed "transparency" and "accountability" and I generally didn't have a problem with that - I figured "we're all human, everyone will understand when I struggle" - but NO I was judged heavily for every little thing, and I finally got sick of it. That wasn't what led to my deconversion but it definitely made me pull back out of ministry and bible study groups while I was questioning and examining xian doctrine and finding that it was bullshit. I decided I'm human and I fucking LOVE IT and I'm not giving up my humanity and individuality and giving up my joy in this one life, on the gamble that I'll be rewarded in some afterlife for being miserable here and now.

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All he wanted was people to come to "his" church and fork over the money. There was always a discussion, afterwards, (on the rare occasions I visited them, while he was preaching), about how much money he got that week. Something like, Brother John only gave me $20.00 this week, he usually gives me $35.00, cheap bastard," or "Good old Sister Mabel, she ain't got a pot to piss in but she gives me her $1.00 every week".

 

Do you see how greedy this ass was? Do you see how "godly" he was?

 

Oh, and if someone wasn't at church that day, after dinner he would call them, all sympathetic, wondering if they were sick and if they needed anything. After the call(s) he would grin and say, "Oh they were just sick" or whatever, with a sigh of relief! You see, he was making sure that they hadn't decided to stop attending (stop feeding the collection plate).

 

Why do you think these preachers are so intent on "bringing you back"? Why do you think they are always trying to recruit new members? Members = Money!

 

My mother and step-father lived in south Georgia. It rarely ever gets to freezing down here, but he bought my mother 2 full length mink coats, with matching hats and muffs. Who the hell uses a muff this day in time? They had his and hers matching Cadillacs. New ones every 2 years. My mother dripped in diamonds and gold. They had the most expensive anything they could buy. And poor old Sister Mabel is giving them $1.00, that she probably couldn't afford, to help them pay for all this! (we children were lucky to get a card for Christmas)

 

DAMN! Your mom and step were big pimpin' LOL! Especially when it came to poor sister Mabel. Like some of the other posters said, I do believe there are honest and good preachers out there whose sole goal isn't to fleece the flock. But for every one of those, there's one like your step-dad, Creflo Dollar or Eddie Long. It really is sad, especially when people are under the delusion that they'll receive their offering back ten-fold, or through some other, non-monetary 'blessings' (which provides a convenient loophole for pastors to ask for more money).

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