Does Anyone Else Find Mega-churches A Insult To Humanity?

[Suzy]

Szia Suzy! Kicsi a világ. Actually the "traditional" pentecostal church (EPK) in Hungary dates back to the 1930's and has ~80 churches nationwide, but it is more like a calvinist church without the crazy "manifestations". However, The Faith Church was the first truly charismatic denomination in Hungary. I remember the first news from the "manifestations of the holy ghost". Everybody was like wtf when we first saw the videos (on VHS) form the falling-down-to-the-ground, the jumping, shouting and barking blessings. That was the first period when the members of the EPK halved and went to the Faith Church.

 

Szia! Tényleg kicsi.

 

So you came from a traditional pentecostal church (EPK)?

 

Yup! From the largest Budapest church of EPK, Agape.

 

 

Congrats for being able to break free!

 

My experience is that many who leave Faith Church still remain a Christian, only go to another church which is perhaps less autocratic. Many identify the problems in Sándor Németh (leader of Faith Church) and not in Christianity itself, which is a shame.

[Kaiser01]

Does anyone remember an article earlier this year about a Megachurch being forced to pay taxes on a gym they charged money for? The church tried to worm out of it by deeming the gym one of its "ministries."

 

speaking of sleezy churches...

 

when i was in arizona once there was a chatholic church that had been "under construction" for 10 years. my uncle paul told me that they never finished their renovations so they wouldent need to pay taxes . my hat is really off to them thats pretty clevar but still not right.

[Blue elephant]

My thoughts exactly, BO. A new career path for out of work actors perhaps???

[OnceConvinced]

They're sickening. The pump huge amounts of funds into their buildings and their officers. The pastors drive around in flash cars and wear expensive clothing. They claim it all to be a blessing from God and they have followers who refuse to see just what arrogant, hypocritical, powerhungry, bastards they are. It's a dictatorship and the man in charge has power and money. Their blind followers will treat them like Jesus. I've seen it here in New Zealand and the so called Mega-churches here are no where near as big as others out there.

 

The bible never endorses such a set up. In fact the original Christian church met in small groups at people's homes.

[Deva]

How true, OnceConvinced. Even as a Christian I thought these churches were not good. They always need more,.. more property, bigger production, money, money , money... its as worldly a set up as anything you can imagine - yet they are hypocritical enough to call themselves Christian. If Jesus Christ were real, he would send them all to hell, and the preacher would go first. A rich man has virtually no chance of salvation. That is in the Bible. Why can't they take it seriously?

 

In my way of thinking a real church would be helping and sheltering the homeless. There was actually one such church in my town like that and it got shut down for code violations and lack of funds. The police used to drop off poor people there that just got released from the hospital and had no one to take care of them.

[blackpudd1n]

Okay, I think I'm done now

 

I doubt it but you keep telling yourself that.

 

Okay, I was done for that moment in time lol. Mind you, I haven't had time to rant the last few days- had to much studying to do. My fiancee says I'm a much calmer person when I'm studying

[Kaiser01]

They're sickening. The pump huge amounts of funds into their buildings and their officers. The pastors drive around in flash cars and wear expensive clothing. They claim it all to be a blessing from God and they have followers who refuse to see just what arrogant, hypocritical, powerhungry, bastards they are. It's a dictatorship and the man in charge has power and money. Their blind followers will treat them like Jesus. I've seen it here in New Zealand and the so called Mega-churches here are no where near as big as others out there.

 

The bible never endorses such a set up. In fact the original Christian church met in small groups at people's homes.

i agree with you in that their just money laundering shceems.

 

when i percive a protostant church i see it as more of a cancer growth almost. while i look at chatholic church they seem more organized while the protostants are more individualsitic witch makes their growth more like a tumor. chatholic cathedrals discust me far less than actual mega churches

[Blue elephant]

Hey Kaiser

 

While there is considerable wealth surrounding the Catholic Church, they have been accumulating it over many centuries, which means the percentage going to feathering their own nest is probably much smaller. If you are seeing a mega church with phenomal wealth after only 20 years of operation, then something stinks big-time as opposed to small-time!

[UglyMutt]

Mega-Churches...... have you ever wondered how much money the Pope brings in every year, (actually they say the Pope gets no money, anything he wants they just give it to him).. how many followers does his mega-reign have, I would say its world-wide mega-sickly. I'd say the Vatican Church must be in the billions annually. Since they are a religious organization there is no proof of how much because their exempt from having to show any income. The always do try to show the public every year that they are millions in the hole rather than profiting but yeah who would believe that?? oh wait all them members who gave more of their income because they believe what he said...my bad... LOL

[Margee]

If you have no scruples you should become a mega church preacher and start a mega church. It would be one hell of a money making venture and you are providing a show they all want to come and see.

WE ALL HERE on EX-c should get together and do this!!!

 

'florduh' can preach, 'Rev R' can be assistant Pastor, 'Brother Jeff, buffetphan, freeasabird and I' will sing,' ('noob' and 'Suzy' can get the dance going!) 'Brother josh' can get the crowd all 'reved up', 'burnedout'..... you can read the announcements, 'Deva' can lead worship, 'Overcame Faith' can lead sunday school...........'openpalm and 2honest' can run womans programs,(to submit to men) 'pudd' and momof8' can run the nursery, 'trapped' can be the 'greeter,' 'Rank' can work the parking lot and direct thousands of cars, 'ShakledNoMore, centauri and jbleep........ you can be in charge of the EX-c 'radio talk show', Legion can teach about hell and the devil...'Foxy' can clean and decorate (this would include the bathrooms!),'kaiser', can hand out the weekly newsletter, 'R.S Martin' can work the kitchen with 'happychef', 'agnosticator and bird lady' can make sure every week that the hymm books and library is in order,

'Interested' can direct the orchastra, 'Beth' can run the big screen, 'Casey' can help beth, 'Onyx' can see to it that coffee is made for after service, 'living free'can direct the choir, 'totalwreck' can be in charge of picnics, bowling etc..., 'Galien' can hand out a rose to every lady on Sundays,( to keep them coming back) 'Asanerman, end, Heritic Zero and pratt' can take up the 'extra' collection to pay off the mortgage, 'mymistake' can give a very encouraging 'word of the lord' evey week, ( to give more money), 'stryper, oddbird, dude and freespirit' can be an assistants and keep everyone in a good mood,'Par' can make videos to watch, 'bdp' can help people to their seats, 'Positivist','xerces', 'Vigile', and 'Ro-bear' can work the finances,'Vacuum Flux and 'silent loner' can work the computers, 'Thackerie' and 'euphgeek' can carry umbrellas and help people to their cars when it's raining (They actually did this at my church!) , 'foolish girl and magic monkey' can take care of all the inventory for the church, 'antlerman, oroborous and nivik' can be the 'bouncers' when the emotion gets too high and they get out of control......... and 'webmdave' can be the director and manager of all of us!

 

Who'd I miss? Who else wants to get in on it??

Who wants to take up the collection??

We'll all split the money!

[Perfessor]

Does anyone remember an article earlier this year about a Megachurch being forced to pay taxes on a gym they charged money for? The church tried to worm out of it by deeming the gym one of its "ministries."

 

speaking of sleezy churches...

 

when i was in arizona once there was a chatholic church that had been "under construction" for 10 years. my uncle paul told me that they never finished their renovations so they wouldent need to pay taxes . my hat is really off to them thats pretty clevar but still not right.

 

 

The Catholic church where I used to live spent 4 Million on renovating a perfectly sound church structure. What happened was there were 5 people in charge of spending the money. I think this happens in all churches, including the mega-churches. 4-5 people who know little about finances get to spend money and act like big shots. Back to the Cathoilc church....they then had to collect extra money to save the school, and pave the parking lot and pay this and put a roof on there. They sold some land they promised the city they would not sell, that was used by many people as a park, and some ugly apartments were built there. They were broke, but not to worry, of course, when you can shake down the "faithful".

[Kaiser01]

If you have no scruples you should become a mega church preacher and start a mega church. It would be one hell of a money making venture and you are providing a show they all want to come and see.

WE ALL HERE on EX-c should get together and do this!!!

 

'florduh' can preach, 'Rev R' can be assistant Pastor, 'Jeff, buffetphan, freeasabird and I' will sing,' ('noob' can get the dance going!) 'Brother josh' can get the crowd all 'reved up', 'burnedout'..... you can read the announcements, 'Deva' can lead worship, 'Overcame Faith' can lead sunday school...........'openpalm and 2honest' can run womans programs,(to submit to men) 'pudd' can run the nursery, 'trapped' can be the 'greeter,' 'Rank' can work the parking lot and direct thousands of cars, Legion can teach about hell and the devil...'Foxy' can clean and decorate (this would include the bathrooms!),'kaiser', can hand out the weekly newsletter, 'Interested' can direct the orchastra, 'Beth' can run the big screen, 'Casey' can help beth, 'Onyx' can see to it that coffee is made for after service, 'living free'can direct the choir, 'totalwreck' can be in charge of picnics, bowling etc..., 'Asanerman, end, Heritic Zero and pratt' can take up the 'extra' collection to pay off the mortgage, 'mymistake' can give a very encouraging 'word of the lord' evey week, ( to give more money), 'stryper, oddbird, dude and freespirit' can be an assistants and keep everyone in a good mood,'Par' can make videos to watch, 'bdp' can help people to their seats, 'Positivist','xerces', 'Vigile', and 'Ro-bear' can work the finances,'Vacuum Flu'x and 'silent loner' can work the computers, 'antlerman, oroborous and nivik' can be the 'bouncers' when the emotion gets too high and they get out of control......... and 'webmdave' can be the director and manager of all of us!

 

Who'd I miss? Who else wants to get in on it??

Who wants to take up the collection??

We'll split the money!

lol margee we just need to hold services in the dark and tell them we are pretending to be the "origional" christian church. thats how some guy in alabama named david platt gets his mega church to fill up every sunday. not only that but we can come up with some random number from the bible and tell them they must tithe any where between 20-30% to get a blessing or if they dont thelly loose their home.

 

also we need our own TV channel called "rapture time with raptor jesus".

[pratt]

margee,,,,

 

did you forget Galien?

 

wbe Dave would expect a cut,,,,

 

End3 will do the lighting and FX

 

Kathlene will be welcoming party?a

[Will02]

Margee forgot me too, but its understandable since I’m still pretty new here.

 

Mega churches are pretty awful in their extravagance but the sheer opulence of the catholic church is just obscene. (of course they've perfected the art of shaking people down for money...I'm sure someone's lifestyle took a hit when they couldn't get away with selling indulges anymore) Fortunately, I'm guessing that the catholic church will be greatly diminished (if not completely extinguished) in another century or two based on how things are going for them these days.

 

I can only imagine how much money could go to stuff like cancer research, REAL humanitarian aid, etc. if Vatican City and all other catholic holdings (especially the priceless artworks and the sheer amount of land catholic buildings occupy) were liquidated on the open market and the proceeds given to more deserving causes.

[buffettphan]

Seems like a good time to post this........

 

 

[mymistake]

If you have no scruples you should become a mega church preacher and start a mega church. It would be one hell of a money making venture and you are providing a show they all want to come and see.

WE ALL HERE on EX-c should get together and do this!!!

 

 

Praise Jesus! I say praise Jesus! Hallelujah. God has a plan for your life. Praise God! And God's plan for your life starts when you send me your tithe. That's right. Send me your tithe. Praise Jesus! Open God's infallible Word to Zecharia 9:12. That is right. Praise Jesus there is a double blessing. Amen? You cannot out give God. Praise Jesus! You cannot give more to God than God gives to you because God has a double blessing. Praise the Lord! God's double blessing is for those who have the faith to send me your double tithe. Praise Jesus, send me your double tithe. Praise the Lord! Who here can trust God? Don't you know God loves you? Amen? You know you can trust God. God will never fail you. Praise Jesus! Yes praise Jesus! Do you trust God enough to receive God's triple blessing? Oh may God give us the faith.

[bornnormal]

If you have no scruples you should become a mega church preacher and start a mega church. It would be one hell of a money making venture and you are providing a show they all want to come and see.

WE ALL HERE on EX-c should get together and do this!!!

 

 

Praise Jesus! I say praise Jesus! Hallelujah. God has a plan for your life. Praise God! And God's plan for your life starts when you send me your tithe. That's right. Send me your tithe. Praise Jesus! Open God's infallible Word to Zecharia 9:12. That is right. Praise Jesus there is a double blessing. Amen? You cannot out give God. Praise Jesus! You cannot give more to God than God gives to you because God has a double blessing. Praise the Lord! God's double blessing is for those who have the faith to send me your double tithe. Praise Jesus, send me your double tithe. Praise the Lord! Who here can trust God? Don't you know God loves you? Amen? You know you can trust God. God will never fail you. Praise Jesus! Yes praise Jesus! Do you trust God enough to receive God's triple blessing? Oh may God give us the faith.

You should put some funk-soul in it, James brown style at the end of every sentence and it would totally go for a sermon that I can imagine in a black church in Louisiana, or some other swampy state. (no racism intended)

[mymistake]

You should put some funk-soul in it, James brown style at the end of every sentence and it would totally go for a sermon that I can imagine in a black church in Louisiana, or some other swampy state. (no racism intended)

 

I can only mimic Swaggart and Copeland. You see those were my mother's favorite preachers when I was growing up so we watched them all the time.

[ireckinso]

I attended a mega church for a while with my psycho ex wife. It made me feel like I was a foreigner. The parking was set up so that the more you contributed the closer you could park. (oh and they label it diamond, gold, silver and so forth) So how is that for worshiping money? They had a coffee/doughnut shop, vending cafeteria, full gym with workout area(membership required) gift shop and the list goes on. It actually was its own mall. The whole thing made me sick! No humility, no humanity!

[Will02]

I attended a mega church for a while with my psycho ex wife. It made me feel like I was a foreigner. The parking was set up so that the more you contributed the closer you could park. (oh and they label it diamond, gold, silver and so forth) So how is that for worshiping money? They had a coffee/doughnut shop, vending cafeteria, full gym with workout area(membership required) gift shop and the list goes on. It actually was its own mall. The whole thing made me sick! No humility, no humanity!

 

Was it called St. Mammon's Megachurch? Lots of megachurches love money, but few are so brazen about it.

 

What happens if a visitor parks in one of the Diamond spots? It would be worth doing that just to fuck with them.

[ireckinso]

I attended a mega church for a while with my psycho ex wife. It made me feel like I was a foreigner. The parking was set up so that the more you contributed the closer you could park. (oh and they label it diamond, gold, silver and so forth) So how is that for worshiping money? They had a coffee/doughnut shop, vending cafeteria, full gym with workout area(membership required) gift shop and the list goes on. It actually was its own mall. The whole thing made me sick! No humility, no humanity!

 

Was it called St. Mammon's Megachurch? Lots of megachurches love money, but few are so brazen about it.

 

What happens if a visitor parks in one of the Diamond spots? It would be worth doing that just to fuck with them.

 

At the time I was too intimidated to find out. I had to park in the visitors lot. It was called the Vineyard. So original I know but to this day I hate that place and wish it would burn! Oh god I hope it doesn't, then they will find this post and even tho I live 10 hours away now I will be charged with arson because of what I typed on the net! I'm getting so tired of reading where police have done their work by peoples updates on facebook. Hell I write all kind of crap, if you take it out of context anyone could be arested!

[Vigile]

I attended a mega church for a while with my psycho ex wife. It made me feel like I was a foreigner. The parking was set up so that the more you contributed the closer you could park. (oh and they label it diamond, gold, silver and so forth) So how is that for worshiping money? They had a coffee/doughnut shop, vending cafeteria, full gym with workout area(membership required) gift shop and the list goes on. It actually was its own mall. The whole thing made me sick! No humility, no humanity!

 

Holy shit. I would have found that offensive even when I was an xian. What about Jesus' parable of the widow? The money changers? Do these people even know the basics of their own religion?

[Perfessor]

Funny how with lots of Christians it's OK to have alot of money.

[blackpudd1n]

If you have no scruples you should become a mega church preacher and start a mega church. It would be one hell of a money making venture and you are providing a show they all want to come and see.

WE ALL HERE on EX-c should get together and do this!!!

 

'florduh' can preach, 'Rev R' can be assistant Pastor, 'Brother Jeff, buffetphan, freeasabird and I' will sing,' ('noob' and 'Suzy' can get the dance going!) 'Brother josh' can get the crowd all 'reved up', 'burnedout'..... you can read the announcements, 'Deva' can lead worship, 'Overcame Faith' can lead sunday school...........'openpalm and 2honest' can run womans programs,(to submit to men) 'pudd' and momof8' can run the nursery, 'trapped' can be the 'greeter,' 'Rank' can work the parking lot and direct thousands of cars, 'ShakledNoMore, centauri and jbleep........ you can be in charge of the EX-c 'radio talk show', Legion can teach about hell and the devil...'Foxy' can clean and decorate (this would include the bathrooms!),'kaiser', can hand out the weekly newsletter, 'R.S Martin' can work the kitchen with 'happychef', 'agnosticator and bird lady' can make sure every week that the hymm books and library is in order,

'Interested' can direct the orchastra, 'Beth' can run the big screen, 'Casey' can help beth, 'Onyx' can see to it that coffee is made for after service, 'living free'can direct the choir, 'totalwreck' can be in charge of picnics, bowling etc..., 'Galien' can hand out a rose to every lady on Sundays,( to keep them coming back) 'Asanerman, end, Heritic Zero and pratt' can take up the 'extra' collection to pay off the mortgage, 'mymistake' can give a very encouraging 'word of the lord' evey week, ( to give more money), 'stryper, oddbird, dude and freespirit' can be an assistants and keep everyone in a good mood,'Par' can make videos to watch, 'bdp' can help people to their seats, 'Positivist','xerces', 'Vigile', and 'Ro-bear' can work the finances,'Vacuum Flux and 'silent loner' can work the computers, 'Thackerie' and 'euphgeek' can carry umbrellas and help people to their cars when it's raining (They actually did this at my church!) , 'foolish girl and magic monkey' can take care of all the inventory for the church, 'antlerman, oroborous and nivik' can be the 'bouncers' when the emotion gets too high and they get out of control......... and 'webmdave' can be the director and manager of all of us!

 

Who'd I miss? Who else wants to get in on it??

Who wants to take up the collection??

We'll all split the money!

 

 

...The NURSERY???!!!

 

are you SURE about that, Margee, with my foul mouth??!!

 

OMG crying babies!!!

 

I was ready to snot a kid last night. I'd been shopping for 3 hours, and I'm just finishing up the groceries, and this kid was SCREAMING her head off. I had to get out of there, because I knew that if I opened my mouth, I was going to bite her head off, and it wasn't her fault- she'd been left in the aisle for like 10 minutes that I could see with her slightly older sister. Fuck only knows where the parents were. If I'd seen her parents I sure as hell WOULD have said something to them. Who the bloody hell leaves their two little girls unattended for a long stretch of time in a supermarket?! Anything could have happened to them- they could have broken a bottle of something and cut themselves, they could have been touched, fallen over, been kidnapped... Seriously, who does that?!

 

Though, you know, those kids in the nursery could have an interesting vocabularly by the time they graduate to Sunday School... Hmmm...