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this "new" christianity is rather offensive

It just floors me. I leave the TV on Channel 9 after Face the Nation and Joel Osteen's show begins. He's telling people to embrace materialism. How does the acceptable interpretation of protestant christianity go from "money is the devil" to "you're right to want things and god will provide them for you"? It's this morph of capitalism and christianity. Christ-alism. Talk about false prophets.

JeffMesser 8 Sep 22
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16 comments

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0

Since the founding of Christianity, there have been those who have tried to make money from it; from the Church selling Indulgences and demanding tithes to the hucksters selling the bones of supposed saints. It's just that today these criminals have access to such huge numbers of suckers.

0

I've never trusted 'smooth talkers' whether they are pastors or salespeople.

1

A person can make a lot of money if what they say makes people feel all good and rosy inside, even if the feeling only lasts a few minutes.

5

Religion always change and will always change to adapt to the world around it, and will always claim that it never changes XD

That's true

6

I agree. This is a result of wanting to remain on top while oligarchy vs. democracy progresses. This new Christianity is modeled after "The Family" in DC circles. They run on the idea that Jesus was sent for and to the ones in power. They are "the chosen." It's the same old story or pie in the sky by and by but they say you can have it right now. Just give us your money.

1

Religion is the root of all evil, money and greed are held in the highest regard by these so called religious leaders!!

4

Christians have been finding one another offensive since Paul punched Peter on the nose and told him
"Shut the fuck up fish face"

I am not familiar with that scripture.

6

Religion is Absolutely Offensive, everyone of them..

5

Yuppers. It used to offend me that these morons gave christianity a bad name, lol. Now I just think they give humans a bad name

2

The "Prosperity Gospel" preacher are what nearly (perhaps all) televangelists are these days. Joyce Meyers, Benny Hinn, and obviously Joel Osteen are just a few of many. Jim Bakker before he was caught up in sex and financial wrong doing was promising his viewers what they needed if they contributed to his ministry or bought whatever bit of nonsense he was hocking back in the 1980's.

The article at the link below is to a Christian pastor who says he took 2 years "theological rehab" after having been indoctrinated by prosperity gospel preachers. He's not the kind of writer we would normally link here, but he has some direct experience with the subject at hand and its alternative. He writes about the characteristics of prosperity gospel churches and what he characterizes as "healthy" churches.

[9marks.org]

reading it now. thx!

I can remember years ago my grandmother, my uncle (her son), and several others in that part of the family really seemed to think god/Jesus would make monetary prosperity happen for them very, very soon. I can remember my cousin talking about the "Olympic-sized swimming pool" there were going to get, etc. They ended up living in Sarah Palin's town (Wasilla, AK), tried some kind of business washing long haul trucks, which eventually fell apart and nothing ever came of any of it. (I remember grandma LOVED Tammy Faye Bakker. I thought Bakker looked--and acted--like a clown.)

no reason to caveat that article Russ I appreciate you sharing that here. I read it and there was a lot of very good information and insight there. thanks!!

1

I've been watching "The Righteous Gemstones" on HBO. As a tv show, all the parts are not coming together for me yet, but I love all the actors, Danny McBride's creative mark is on the show (which I love), and the idea of satirizing a family of televangelists keeps me tuning in each week.

Similarly, I've been watching "On Becoming a God in Central Florida" on Showtime, which explores the life of a lower class family in the early '90s through the prism of a cult-like pyramid scheme (I think it's spoofing Amway). Again, as a tv show, it's not quite coming together for me yet, but the subject matter intrigues me, and Kirsten Dunst is always AMAZING in this part. Her performance is flawless.

@linxminx The show is starting to find its narrative thrust now also. I think I'm two episodes behind, but the last one I watched was very solid.

@linxminx I don't know if you were watching "On Becoming a God...", but I just finished up through Sunday's episode, and I was riveted all the way through. It's reminding me a little of "Breaking Bad", but with Amway instead of meth, lol. The critique of the mixture of capitalism with religion is very interesting and unlike anything I can remember seeing on tv. I suspect Krystal will end up taking over the whole enterprise after a slow descent into evil, a la Walter White in "Breaking Bad". The writing seems to have improved also.

4

You have it wrong. Their religion is money not Jesus or God.

and that's why I called it Christ-alism.

1

The christians have always been violent, hateful, hypocrites.
Their current behavior is nothing "new".
They've always been offensive, and they've always run roughshod over every
other belief system. They've always been destructive.

Don't forget, the church used to sell "indulgences" to those who could afford it.
People could have their sins "forgiven" for a fee.
That was one of the practices that pissed off Martin Luther so much that he felt
compelled to nail his "Ninety-five Theses" to the door of the Schlosskirche (Castle Church), Wittenberg, Germany.

And people wonder why I'm an anti-theist.

and that was enough to spark the protestant reformation. I see similarities here obviously.

Love Martin. Now that showed balls! The way the text shot around Germany was the first steps toward social media!

2

Quite agree. It flies totally in the face of the Victorian Protestant work ethic which revolved around industry and philanthropy in general.

Admittedly their sociology was a bit skewed but it was always an eye to the future rather than immediate gratification.

As you say offensive sums it up. If I were a devout CHristian and not an armchair cherry picker I would be horrified

3

What floors me is that Joel Olsteen's job before inheriting his place at his church (his father was the pastor before him) was that he was a motivational speaker. In otherwords, he has more experience motivating people than he does being a preacher.

But then again, that's practically the same thing. Find a flock of gullible people and you have it made.

I've become increasingly convinced that many people have no ability to judge character. None. If you take one look at Osteen's smile, you can see what he is. It's the same smile you get from a used car salesman who just might have a few bodies buried behind the car lot.

2

"We are the [rich] and chosen few,
And all the rest are damned.
There's room enough in hell for you--
We don't want heaven crammed."

The right wing has been mixing capitalism with religion for years now. And it makes some kind of sick psychological sense. If you think you believe in the right god, the most powerful god, a god that says you don't need to pay for health insurance because he won't let you get hurt or sick, a transactional god that provides you the protection of his supernatural hand in exchange for believing in him and defending him...then why WOULDN'T those "true believers" (TM) get favored status in reality through wealth and prosperity? Why WOULDN'T you float to the top of the economic scale in a universe controlled by a supernatural god you believe in? Why WOULDN'T the poor deserve their lot in life for not believing correctly, or just not being worthy of god's favor? It all makes some kind of sick and twisted sense. (Especially in light of every other way the 1% get a huge chunk of the populace to circle the wagons and destroy each other.)

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