"Money: That's What We Want."
"When Christianity went to Athens, it became a philosophy. When it went to Rome, it became an organization. When it went to Europe, it became a culture. When it came to America, it became a business."
"Money: That's What We Want."
"When Christianity went to Athens, it became a philosophy. When it went to Rome, it became an organization. When it went to Europe, it became a culture. When it came to America, it became a business."
Mostly, they laughed at Saul when he was in Athens.
ReplyDeleteGood to have you back, m'dear.
KA
ReplyDeleteThanks. Good to be back too.
Business is good. I wish I could buy shares in Benny Hinn, or Billy Graham or Jerry Falwell. But maybe all I need is a good suit and a microphone and a well oiled spiel about God.
ReplyDeleteI need is a good suit and a microphone and a well oiled spiel about God.
ReplyDeleteOh, & a bodacious set o' lungs, to boot.
Hope you enjoyed the break Beep...
ReplyDeleteI have a look at Benny on the xtian channel every now and then. What a showman that man is. I read once that he's possibly the greatest mass hypnotist to have ever lived, and I see no reason to dispute it.
lexcen
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't buy shares in them unless I had enough money to buy them out, and liquidate the assets. :)
plonka
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was lovely. Went to the coast for about a week. Nice to get away from the daily slog.
If hypnosis is the art of persuasion, then some religious spruikers have it in spades.
Welcome back!
ReplyDeleteSeems like Christianity and most religions in general have always been about power -- so that's either business or politics -- or both at once!
Welcome back, Beep.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaining to do a post on Hinn for some time. Yours might be the impetus I need.
Beep: If hypnosis is the art of persuasion, then some religious spruikers have it in spades.
ReplyDeleteYeah... It makes me wonder why some of them don't get into the entertainment industry where they so obviously belong. They probably wouldn't make as much, but when they get caught taking ice while having a homosexual liaison, they wouldn't have to give up their career...:)
plonka:
ReplyDeleteYeah... It makes me wonder why some of them don't get into the entertainment industry where they so obviously belong.
Why do you think they call it...televangelism? ;)
Say hey to scooby-doo for me.
KA: Why do you think they call it...televangelism? ;)
ReplyDeleteHehe.. Good point...:)
"When Christianity went to Athens, it became a philosophy. When it went to Rome, it became an organization. When it went to Europe, it became a culture. When it came to America, it became a business."
ReplyDelete.
WooHoo! How TRUE!
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Now, unfortunately, the revival tent is set-up in Washington, DC.
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And the collection plate seems to be going to Halliburton.
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Glad to have you back, Beep!!
"When Christianity went to Athens, it became a philosophy. When it went to Rome, it became an organization. When it went to Europe, it became a culture. When it came to America, it became a business."
ReplyDeleteGreat quote. Who said it? I'll have to use that one some time.
thanks blueberry and dikki
ReplyDeleteKeebo and darwin
Not sure who said that quote. I will look it up and see if I can find some info on it.
The reference to the quote can be found here, but I dunno who said it.
ReplyDeleteTele-Evangelist Lifestyles
http://www.inplainsite.org/html/tele-evangelist_lifestyles.html
"We are the Christians. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."
ReplyDeleteOk, not as elegant as your quote, and you have to be a Trekkie to fully appreciate it. It does however, explain why we have the Christian holiday of Easter and all manner of pseudo-voodoo incursions into certain South American religious ceremonies. It also explains how religion gets transformed into circus side shows in the US. Is it any wonder that Orthodox Jews and Fundamentalist Islamic types are dismissive of Christianity, and see it as a unrealistic alternative to their own faith? At least they are not continually reformulating their scam to fit the circumstances. Christianity in its modern application has become all about pushing hot buttons for fun and profit.
breaker
ReplyDeleteYes, sometimes it does feel like the borg are coming and that they won't take "no" for an answer.
Breaker said: "Is it any wonder that Orthodox Jews and Fundamentalist Islamic types are dismissive of Christianity, and see it as a unrealistic alternative to their own faith? At least they are not continually reformulating their scam to fit the circumstances. Christianity in its modern application has become all about pushing hot buttons for fun and profit."
ReplyDeleteI think you are confusing interpretation from changing circumstances for a scam, not to mention overlooking the plurality of Christian traditions, some of which fight for issues that I suspect many here most likely sympathize. For example, Martin Luther King's prophetic orientation. Furthermore, Judaism reintreprets its ancient texts as Rabbis and scholars comment from changing circumstances, which is why the Pharisees were most likely once seen as hypocrites. Through the tradition of Hadiths, Islam also has an innate mechanism for change, not to mention Islamic legal traditions. Religious hermeneutics allows for traditions to change with the times, sometimes these changes manifest overwhelming terror, but sometimes they produce great leaders, such as King, Bonhoffer, Heschel, Al Ghazali, and many more. Let's not forget that many of the European wars/genocides of the twentieth century were not religious wars, but outgrowths of nationalism, which can also be satanic, such as Nazism.
Breaker, it's only a scam if demand that we be logically consistent in a Hellenic sense, and many logicians are as devoted to their allegedly inerrant logic as religious types are to their texts. I hope one does not throw all of one's cards in with any of these tradtions, for when one is too logical, one loses sights of the poetics which one finds in many religious texts, just as when one loses sight of logic, one runs the risk of losing critical thought. What scares me is when one argues that logic produces truth. One finds many atheists and theists trying to use logic to produce their notions of truth.
ReplyDeleteconfused
ReplyDeleteAnd your methodology to ascertain truth is?
beepbeep, what do you mean by truth? And whay criterion are using to determine that it is true? Or, what do you mean be ascertain?
ReplyDeleteoops. I meant to say, what do you mean by truth? what criterion are you using to determine that there is truth? And, what do you mean by ascertain? Seems to me that your question presupposes lots of faith, not to mention, Beep, I'm wondering if you're a closet Platonist masquerading as an empiricist. :-)
ReplyDeleteconfused,
ReplyDeleteI ask you because you used the word here. "What scares me is when one argues that logic produces truth."
So, obviously you have an idea of what you mean by it. What do you mean by it? And what methodology do you use to ascertain it?
Beep, I was responding to Breaker. He seemed to have a notion of truth in his critique of a Christian scam. How did he come to conclude there is a scam? In order to claim there is a scam, one has a notion of truth that is not a scam. How one derives or produces such notions of truth interest me. Many assume logic produces truth and I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that he was exercising logic. In answer to your question, I find that truth is contextual, some truths transcend contexts, such as mathematical and scientific ones, but they are never understood outside of a context. Furthermore, I normally do not ascertain truth, for if it is true, how would or why would I ascertain it, which is not to say that it might take time to understand that something is true, and if that is what you mean by ascertaining, I agree with your usage. With that said, there are contexts when it might make sense to say the truth is ascertained, such as in trying to discover what is the source of one's illness, or in discovering physical truths about the universe. But such discoveries involve doubt. Truth is a grammatical claim that involves doubt. Where there is no doubt, there is no discussion of truth. For example, you doubt theism - as do I - but where we part ways is that I do not find theism makes sense in a discourse of evidence and I do not understand why theists play the game. If I were a theist, I would say God does not exist, for existence presupposes an object that can be grasped. And if the Hebrew introduction to the infinite is taken seriously, one who is finite cannot possibly grasp the infinite. On that note, I believe Descartes was right. Where he goes off the deep end is in offering that as a proof for God. On the other hand, how one who is finite can even suggest there is the infinite is beyond my understanding, even though Kant tries to make a case for something similar in his deducing the noumenal truths from the phenomenal world.
ReplyDeleteBeep, Sorry for all the unpacked claims in the above post. If you feel a need to search the bags, I'm happy to unpack them.
ReplyDeleteconfused:
ReplyDeleteIn order to claim there is a scam, one has a notion of truth that is not a scam.
I dunno, when the results of the law of diminishing returns are zero?
krystalline, your comment assumces and, thus, asserts my claim. :-)
ReplyDeleteconfused
ReplyDeleteRE: "For example, you doubt theism - as do I - but where we part ways is that I do not find theism makes sense in a discourse of evidence and I do not understand why theists play the game."
I don't think that theism makes sense in a discourse of evidence either.
And because of this, I think that theists should be honest about their beliefs and state that they have faith that something is true regardless of the evidence.
Many modern day theists seem quite unwilling to do this, as they don't have as much potential "advertising power" if they admit that they are theists through faith.
Even they realize that selling a product, (religion), through faith alone, limits the sales of their product, so they try to appeal to the evidence based community with unsubstantiated claims, appeals to ignorance and dodgy science.
What I mean by this is that if religion had to follow an advertising code, like the marketters of any other product, they would be called before a fair trade and practices tribunal often.
Shampoo companies are not allowed to say that using their shampoo will actually make your hair healthier and thicker unless it can be evidenced to do so. They are limited to being able to say that their product will make hair look healthier and feel thicker.
Unsubstantiated claims, like religion, need to comply with the advertising codes l;ike any other product.
confused:
ReplyDeletekrystalline, your comment assumces and, thus, asserts my claim.
????
Explain, please.