Christianity goes Hollywood?

[wallie_x]

Megachurches bring in not only mega crowds, but also mega donations.
Are certain practices with in Christianity taking their ideas from Hollywood?
Pro:

"I think for years there's been a lot of hellfire and damnation. You go to church to figure out what you're doing wrong and you leave feeling bad like you're not going to make it," Osteen said. "We believe in focusing on the goodness of God."

Con:

Critics say magachurches' party-like atmosphere takes the spirituality out of Sunday services.

And an ascetic would be appalled. Charging up someone emotionally may make one feel good, but it is a faith that has been tried in the fire of tribulation that supports one when things really go bad.

MEGACHURCHES

[greyscout]

The amount of people amassed is directly proportionate to the amount of trouble one can expect.....from church to a night club....IMO.

[whitebeard21]

Benny Hinn, The Bakers This is what the mega churches are all about $$$. The sale of "prayer water" on tv that has been prayed over by a televangelist only $10.00 a bottle plus shipping.

[Toadman]

John 2:15,16

So Jesus made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves, he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a den of thieves!"

[Starfury_2260]

nice toadman!

that kinda problem seems to be far too regular. people just looking to make money.

[Rand Dusing]

Did you read that the article about Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas? I know some people who go there and now the church owns or rents the Summit or Compaq Center where the Rockets play(ed) basketball.

[tony_j15]

Church is supposed to be like school. You go there to LEARN, not to be entertained. I dont have anything against "big churches". But I do have something against any church that wont tell the truth. Remaining silent on issues like sin is just as bad as lying abou them.

[John Prophet]

I often think about these things...have spent much time meditating on them.


It sort of boils down to doing things "man's" way as opposed to "God's" way. The churches are so shallow of truth and the true spirit of God now....the bigger they get, the worse off spiritually. The preachers try to copy the worlds methods or the methods of the "big" preachers...the get caught up in it....the thing about the Bible is...its not set up for casual reading....a casual reading of the bible...or a reading with pre-concieved notions...well, that kind of reading is worse than NO reading at all.

So when the business men and "important" men..and slick professionals decide (themselves, not from God's leading) to start a church, they do it on the worlds principles..basically "running it like a business" with a certain budget and a certain number of people needing to keep that big machine running.......fine and dandy....except to do that you have to INVARIABLY make certain compromises...YOU have chosen the path...YOU have set the agenda.

When you read about Jesus (who never had a church building at all)...in the book of Luke there are three times that it showed the crowds following Jesus began to get large...EVERY time Jesus would then do something the mega-church posers refuse to do...He took the teaching to the next level deeper....MORE COSTLY teaching....invariably the crowd would reduce back down again, lol.

Sort of the opposite of what we see the mega churches do.

When Peter walked briefly on the water to come to Jesus...and then Peter lost faith and started sinking and he called out for Jesus to save him....what did Jesus do then????? He did something the mega hucksters would NEVER do....He REBUKED Peter!! lol

When the "rich young ruler" came to Jesus asking about eternal life...Jesus said.."what does the law say? How do you read it?"..the man repeated the commandments that he had been following...Jesus said "yes, do them and you will live"...the man said "master, I have kept all these commandments from my youth".........Ok, at that point we would make this rich guy an "elder" in the church!!!! I mean, imagine the tithe and nice name-dropping value this rich guy would bring. But what did Jesus do??? He said "ahh, but one thing is still lacking..sell ALL you have and give it to the poor...then come follow me".

The man then became sad and walked away because he was rich and couldnt concieve of letting it go.

What would our mega-church professionals have done?? For one they wouldnt have made that demand...they would have literally BEGGED and pleaded with this guy, lol...put his name on one of the pews.

Did Jesus run after him and say "err, hold on brother, I just said that for the peoples sake, just give a nice donation to the church and we will make you a deacon"???

Nope, lol.


Thats the reason the church is so powerless today..because they basically do everything the OPPOSITE way that Jesus showed and instructed.

And if you have eyes to see it, that is also the reason the world is in the shape it is in now! Because the church has the job and duty of being the light of the world....so when there is so much darkness IN THE CHURCH....how much darkness then is going to be IN THE WORLD!!??!!??

And you fellow Christians know full well that the Bible says that judgement BEGINS with the CHURCH....the church will be judged before the world.

So when you see a nice fat mega church....you are 99% sure to be seeing a big fat compromise on wheels...a big slick machine that will run just fine without God having anything to doing.

Big business=Corrupt
Big politicians=corrupt
Big Govt=corrupt
Big churches=??? well, you do the math

JP

[greyscout]

So true. You did think that over for a time and it shows.

[ShawnD1]

I go to a small church only on christmas and I think even that is corrupt; the priest can't answer basic questions that kids ask. One kid asked "how can god die?" and the priest jokingly said "well who's kid are you?" and he never answered the question.

It's probably best to just stay away from churches all together. Their past record isn't so great.....
The only church services I see are on TV on sunday mornings with a really good preacher who puts the bible in a way that's understandable. One time he was making a comparisson between having the power of god and using different types of guns or something like that lol. The devil is using a little pistol so his bullets are dropping before they get to you; you with the power of god have a long range rifle and can shoot the devil from a longer distance. That preacher is so awesome