Black God?

[psycho_8b]

Disclaimer: This thread is in no way supposed to be racist. Just so you know.

I just had an epiphone.

I'm at work (in a hotel) and we have some guests who are from some black church. The main man being some preacher/pastor/whatever. You know the type of church where they sing and dance and go on and on about Jesus being the lord and saviour of mankind and all you have to do is open your heart to him to be saved from the eternal fires of Hell.
Then it hit me...
Why is this man of God in a four star deluxe hotel with a £3000 odd bill comprising of room service, internet access, movies, telephone calls, etc?

The reason I think this is because...*Sigh*...Don't these guys bang on about the life and times of Jesus and how he lived a life of pain and persecution...Being as poor as fuck and eventually being crucified for the sins and, ultimately, the salvation of humankind?
If this is what they are preaching about and that everyone should accept Jesus and be more like him then surely someone should have stood back from the service and said "Hold up...How comes you're telling me about how great Jesus is and how everone should revere you as a man of God yet you are walking around with an iPAQ, brand new mobile phone, Armani suit and shit loads of other luxuries that your chauffer in the Mercedes will help you carry?"

I was lead to believe, by looking at nuns and priests, that to live a life or serving God and teaching others the lessons of Jesus and the Bible also included giving up all worldly goods and living a modest existence within some kind of church. Also not needing anything but the knowledge that your life and actions guaranteed you a place at God's side in Heaven and that you were safe in the knowledge of being a good person.

These types of organisation remind me of cults: Get salvation by believing what your are told and by giving loads of money for the trouble of the man of God. Even though many important elements of religion are missed out (charity, good will towards others, respecting others, etc.)
Do they pray to some other God only for black people? They're the only ones I see going to these services!

Any thoughts?

[jackketch]

And d'ya wanna take bets on what the internet connection was for?

The Christians may not have invented hypocrisy but they sure raised it to an art form.

Give til it hurts people, give til it hurts.

[Pilsu]

Blacks go there because it's a cultural thing. I really doubt they consider God to be exclusive to blacks

As for the rich priest, beats me. I haven't heard of them collecting money. Then again, Jesusland has fucking pastors in TV trying to squeeze money out of you so I don't think it'd be far fetched, quite the contrary

[psycho_8b]

Originally Posted by jackketch

The Christians may not have invented hypocrisy but they sure raised it to an art form.

It's the hypocrisy that annoys me the most.

I'm not the most religious of people...Agnostic most times, Catholic other times (I don't understand it myself!)...But the fact that these people who attend this crapola will always look down on everybody, even their fellow church goers and show not one ounce of respect to anybody. Yet they will challenge my beliefs and faith because I don't wear bedsheets in all colours and patterns and go singing some aggrevating song about how I looooooooove the J man.

At the very least with other sections of Christianity, a lot of the followers will at least try to embrace some part of the underlying meanings of it, e.g. love thy neighbour, do one to others as you'd have done to you, etc.

[ArgonPlasma2000]

I was lead to believe, by looking at nuns and priests, that to live a life or serving God and teaching others the lessons of Jesus and the Bible also included giving up all worldly goods and living a modest existence within some kind of church. Also not needing anything but the knowledge that your life and actions guaranteed you a place at God's side in Heaven and that you were safe in the knowledge of being a good person.

No, thats not necessarilly true at all. Nuns and preists still have possessions. There is nothing in the Bible that says that we cant enjoy life with them, either.

The Bible does have the verse about "thou shalt have no other gods before Me", though, so your possessions are never supposed to be more important to you than God and his work.

Your "life and actions" arent what gets you into heaven, either. There are lots of "good people" in Hell.

[Jove]

Originally Posted by psycho_8b

Disclaimer: This thread is in no way supposed to be racist. Just so you know.

I just had an epiphone[...]

that should be "epiphany".........

Edit: and yeah they are exactly that.... bloodsucking cults.

[Mokothar]

Originally Posted by ArgonPlasma2000

No, thats not necessarilly true at all. Nuns and preists still have possessions. There is nothing in the Bible that says that we cant enjoy life with them, either.

on the contrary, God has made it very clear that mankind was supposed to enjoy the fruits of Gods labor:

Originally Posted by Genesis:

001:028 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
001:029 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
001:030 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
001:031 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

[ArgonPlasma2000]

And what is metal and wood but God's creation? If one were to arrange it into something more enjoyable, then why is that suddenly wrong?

[LovesRequiem]

Originally Posted by psycho_8b

Disclaimer: This thread is in no way supposed to be racist. Just so you know.

I just had an epiphone.

I stopped reading after that.