And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers."
i'm a church musician lately and the one i play at puts a pot of regular and a pot of decaf on. what they have isn't bad for drip coffee, but that's where they are.
and most of us in the band are of the "coffee? COFFEeE!!" persuasion so they really don't even need good drip coffee, but eventually we'd start bringing our own grounds and it'd become a thing.
part of me wants to find one with a coffee shop now, but i really dislike those services.
so currently i'm just a bass specialist in english handbells. i also sing, i am not great at bass guitar and i just got my sax out of the attic a few months ago and am still rusty. way back in my school days i worked my way through the district's set of instruments and taught myself how to play everything they had except the double reeds. not necessarily well, but enough that if i wanted to get competent it would only take a couple weeks.
Around a decade ago I went to church with my parents. They don't go to a mega church but it is a large church in a Texas suburb. My mom offered to buy me a cup of coffee. I thought she was making that silly joke about "buying" me a cup because, it's a church, coffee is free right? No. She actually paid money for coffee at church. And it was a goddamned k-cup.
Like that one church with their Easter service. Put on a whole play. Custom sets. Pyrotechnics. Church of the Rock in Winnipeg. Jenny Nicholson covered it on YouTube. It's so weird.
Stuff like this is why I don't publicly practice my faith with a specific lineage of Christ believers. Money corrupts if there is not honor or values. Also fuck them for not actually using to help people but themselves. That's why I want to remove Tax exempt status from mega churches. (Not the smaller churches, just the mega ones.)
Y'know I actually enjoyed when churches would put on (actually) funny skits or silly Christmas plays for outreach or whatever because like, entertainment is a universal communication medium, and what's wrong with having a little fun along the way?
But that was on the order of your local middle school production, maybe. Cardboard, craft paint, and a lot of suspension of disbelief. :p
This "Cirque du Holé" business in gigantic "campuses" is embarrassing. Like that time all those churches loaned out a literal micro roller coaster to each other for. . .some reason. . .?
The micro rollercoaster radiated "This damned thing has been sitting storage the fuck are we supposed to do with it" energy. Someone had a micro rollercoaster probably for festivals and things bad did not want to store it.
It not like this fly over system costs very much. Compared to the huge building and technology they install. I am fully against Church and religion in general, but flying Santa isn't too spectacular. The private jets, buildings the size of Amazon warehouses that actually cost....
It's an event space? That's perfectly normal. E.g. small musical performance are held in old European churches. Such as some choir music(non religious)
These are the kind of churches where private jets are owned. It's more of a venue issue than what they are doing with the venue. These are businesses in disguise as churches.
How does that support them? 50 bucks for renting a church surely is cheaper than most if not all spaces and ought to not cover personel costs incurred.
How is a church an event space? It should be a holy site.
small musical performance are held in old European churches
Only in deconsecrated ones, i.e. church buildings that are not used as churches anymore. They do allow non-religious music at funerals (sometimes) but that's about it
In the US? I'm not contesting that it's uncommon there, just saying that it doesn't seem very Christian. I'm not religious and I don't care, if not for the hypocrisy.
Yes - US. I was honestly uncomfortable and thought it seemed dicey to force teachers to be around all of the propaganda, but using public funds to push religion is the least unethical thing Epic Charter Schools does lol.
If ancient stained glass art is propaganda everything is. Even lack there of has meaning. It's just a big old building with gold accustics you people. Don't go to a Catholic one, I guess.
It is very Christian. Serving the community is a core tenet. Churches ain't just for praying. They are intended to be a place for community. That's for Europe, anyway.
A google image search could have answered your question of doubt.
The visual is from the annual "Gift of Christmas" production at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas. It IS a church production.
Despite being a 40-year tradition at the church, the $1 million Broadway-style production has faced backlash for its extravagance in recent years. In the past, church leaders have justified the performance by explaining the miracle of Jesus’ birth warrants an over-the-top celebration. They told the Dallas Morning News last year, “Jesus deserves our absolute best. … It’s unfortunate that the perennial American tradition of the church Christmas program now draws criticism.”
It's an abundance that kinda goes against the word of Jesus? If they're "combining" that level of stage with a place of worship, I imagine that they should also be holding events at almost the same frequency of an opera house, and at the same level (and for the benefit of society). But in my experience, it's usually only used for preaching the word of Jesus... of which extravagance isn't a tenet
But that's just my 2 cents and despite the particulars of the photo, the point of the meme remains (at least to me). Jesus didn't preach about the "good of the Great Gatsby"; they just wanted people to love each other and be "good" to one another... not unwittenly flaunt their position of power
What in the actual three-ring-fuck is going on in this picture?
I know that church doesn't have to be as solemn as a funeral, but still... unless these production levels are generating millions for charity, I can't imagine how people are just okay with this.
Murka don't needem none of that Woke Communist Fake News Christianity. Jesus was a ripped alpha male who beat up on weaklings for fun, and told the poors to get a job!
I'm not that knowledgeable about the events. But did he name the cult?
If someone else named the cult, and someone else wrote the Bible. And the book did not exist in his time. Then even if he was a real person that wanted good in the world, he was never a part of the religion/cult that was started in his name, right?
A lot of the bible that gets followed by mega churches follows the doctrine of Paul who never met Jesus and was a power hungry bastard who claimed to have hallucinated Jesus after he got hit on the head with a rock.
The idea of salvation through Jesus being through faith and not actions, throwing money at churches, treating any sex for pleasure as an apex sin comes from him.
Effectively these are not Christians but Paulians.
When American Christians get to the afterlife and meet god ....
They wouldn't get to meet God. They'd go straight to hell.
I think God would want to meet them just to see the look on their face when he told them they were going to hell.
Fitting since he belongs there himself
Not a fan of the trope of having to wait to see saint Peter before getting thrown into the pits?
That's ridiculous, even Jesus thought so.
Matthew 21:12-13 (Source)
"Scuse me sir, have you read the Bible"?
"Have you?"
"Christians": Put Christ back in Christmas!!!!
Also "Christians": More flying elves, and the magical reindeer's nose needs to shine brighter!
Last time I attended a service all I could think was, "How would you explain that you spent $250,000 on the sound system?"
Took my step-son to that same church to witness me voting, trying to set an example. It was like a mini-mall in there.
Sarcastic child: "Dude! Do they have a Starbucks too?!"
... I think they usually do have a coffee shop.
i'm a church musician lately and the one i play at puts a pot of regular and a pot of decaf on. what they have isn't bad for drip coffee, but that's where they are.
and most of us in the band are of the "coffee? COFFEeE!!" persuasion so they really don't even need good drip coffee, but eventually we'd start bringing our own grounds and it'd become a thing.
part of me wants to find one with a coffee shop now, but i really dislike those services.
I think this is the first time I've encountered a church musician on Lemmy. What instrument(s) do you play?
so currently i'm just a bass specialist in english handbells. i also sing, i am not great at bass guitar and i just got my sax out of the attic a few months ago and am still rusty. way back in my school days i worked my way through the district's set of instruments and taught myself how to play everything they had except the double reeds. not necessarily well, but enough that if i wanted to get competent it would only take a couple weeks.
Around a decade ago I went to church with my parents. They don't go to a mega church but it is a large church in a Texas suburb. My mom offered to buy me a cup of coffee. I thought she was making that silly joke about "buying" me a cup because, it's a church, coffee is free right? No. She actually paid money for coffee at church. And it was a goddamned k-cup.
This was last year right? Assuming this year will be even bigger and more batshit
Like that one church with their Easter service. Put on a whole play. Custom sets. Pyrotechnics. Church of the Rock in Winnipeg. Jenny Nicholson covered it on YouTube. It's so weird.
They turned the church into a circus.
Do they still give out bread tho?
That’s communism. Supply side Jesus says no.
Supply Side Jesus!
Very fun read, thanks!
Indeed! Supply Side Jesus is one of my favorite webcomics.
So they donate money to be entertained? There is already an industry for that.
Yeah but this one doesn't pay taxes
Pretty sure there are some struggling artist who also don't pay taxes. Mostly because they are too poor but still.
The poor alwas pay taxes.
I meant in a they don't even make enough money to qualify for taxes type of way.
You’ve been fed a ruse, even those who make nothing pay taxes.
Jenny Nicholson had a good video about this a while back.
She's been gone for a while
Had to rewatch. All time great
Stuff like this is why I don't publicly practice my faith with a specific lineage of Christ believers. Money corrupts if there is not honor or values. Also fuck them for not actually using to help people but themselves. That's why I want to remove Tax exempt status from mega churches. (Not the smaller churches, just the mega ones.)
Y'know I actually enjoyed when churches would put on (actually) funny skits or silly Christmas plays for outreach or whatever because like, entertainment is a universal communication medium, and what's wrong with having a little fun along the way?
But that was on the order of your local middle school production, maybe. Cardboard, craft paint, and a lot of suspension of disbelief. :p
This "Cirque du Holé" business in gigantic "campuses" is embarrassing. Like that time all those churches loaned out a literal micro roller coaster to each other for. . .some reason. . .?
What a grift.
The micro rollercoaster radiated "This damned thing has been sitting storage the fuck are we supposed to do with it" energy. Someone had a micro rollercoaster probably for festivals and things bad did not want to store it.
Wow they really hate the poor
That assumes they even acknowledge the existence of the poor.
It not like this fly over system costs very much. Compared to the huge building and technology they install. I am fully against Church and religion in general, but flying Santa isn't too spectacular. The private jets, buildings the size of Amazon warehouses that actually cost....
Maybe, but the small things do add up. Insurance rate increases due to high risk aerial performances, coordinator/safety team, etc.
You're funny thinking they pay for any of that.
Why pay for insurance, if you can pray for protection, right?
What in the ragety-anne-fuck is going on there?
I don't know and I don't give a french fried titty fuck
Don't you remember that bible story? Where he got the bread and fish, gave the food to his friends, then flew around to flex on the poors?
Oh yeah, I remember it. It;s in the Go Fuck Em Poors Bible with Supple Side Jesus.
Jesus walking on water to shame the sinkcels
I didn't know a mime getting hanged was in the Bible. Gotta feel bad for the French even their god hates them.
Is this an actual service or just an event provided by the church? Staging plays is a social task that can be serviced by a church.
Very American and over the top, still.
Yeah renting out megachurches for other parties to do events in isn't really any better
It's an event space? That's perfectly normal. E.g. small musical performance are held in old European churches. Such as some choir music(non religious)
These are the kind of churches where private jets are owned. It's more of a venue issue than what they are doing with the venue. These are businesses in disguise as churches.
Ok. But then the issue is the rent they charge. They should rent it out at cost or below.
Example: Gebührenordnung Raummiete - Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirchgemeinde Meiningen https://share.google/hOTib1IFAd0ADiM7y
Just don't support them at all. Haggling over price is not sending a message.
How does that support them? 50 bucks for renting a church surely is cheaper than most if not all spaces and ought to not cover personel costs incurred.
How is a church an event space? It should be a holy site.
Only in deconsecrated ones, i.e. church buildings that are not used as churches anymore. They do allow non-religious music at funerals (sometimes) but that's about it
I worked for a school district that contracted with a church as a space for professional development. It’s not uncommon.
In the US? I'm not contesting that it's uncommon there, just saying that it doesn't seem very Christian. I'm not religious and I don't care, if not for the hypocrisy.
Yes - US. I was honestly uncomfortable and thought it seemed dicey to force teachers to be around all of the propaganda, but using public funds to push religion is the least unethical thing Epic Charter Schools does lol.
If ancient stained glass art is propaganda everything is. Even lack there of has meaning. It's just a big old building with gold accustics you people. Don't go to a Catholic one, I guess.
It is very Christian. Serving the community is a core tenet. Churches ain't just for praying. They are intended to be a place for community. That's for Europe, anyway.
That's wrong. At least in Germany.
A google image search could have answered your question of doubt.
The visual is from the annual "Gift of Christmas" production at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas. It IS a church production.
It's an abundance that kinda goes against the word of Jesus? If they're "combining" that level of stage with a place of worship, I imagine that they should also be holding events at almost the same frequency of an opera house, and at the same level (and for the benefit of society). But in my experience, it's usually only used for preaching the word of Jesus... of which extravagance isn't a tenet
But that's just my 2 cents and despite the particulars of the photo, the point of the meme remains (at least to me). Jesus didn't preach about the "good of the Great Gatsby"; they just wanted people to love each other and be "good" to one another... not unwittenly flaunt their position of power
Elaborate, borderline heretical passion plays are very much a thing. (Ever wanted to see Iron Man crucified?) Churches definitely do rent out their spaces, but this kind of thing is usually put on by the church.
very evangelical, its either this or some kind of wierd play, or concert they are doing.
Panem & circenses…
Looks like the set of The Righteous Gemstones.
These people are all damned to Hell.
They are creating it on Earth.
Bad Religion - Fuck armageddon ... this is hell
So make sure when you say you're in it but not of it
You're not helping to make this earth a place sometimes called Hell
Change your words into truths and then change that truth into love
And maybe our children's grandchildren And their great-great grandchildren will tell
Stevie Wonder - As
What if they were already sent to help for their sins, and this is it, but they don't realise it?
People are gonna watch The Righteous Gemstones and think it's a documentary
It is.
It's just rather tame and the people are way nicer than in reality
What in the actual three-ring-fuck is going on in this picture?
I know that church doesn't have to be as solemn as a funeral, but still... unless these production levels are generating millions for charity, I can't imagine how people are just okay with this.
Putting up a literal show for the believers. Look at the shiny thing, and give us money!
Church is just another form of entertainment for Americans.
Murka don't needem none of that Woke Communist Fake News Christianity. Jesus was a ripped alpha male who beat up on weaklings for fun, and told the poors to get a job!
If Jesus returned from the dead he would be anti-Christian.
How much further from actual Christian values can modern Christianity get?
Was Jesus ever Cristian?
No, the Christian church was established after his death (assuming he existed). Jesus was Jewish.
If you start a cult, are you not the first member of the cult? Shoko Asahara was still the leader of and member of aum shinrykio
I'm not that knowledgeable about the events. But did he name the cult?
If someone else named the cult, and someone else wrote the Bible. And the book did not exist in his time. Then even if he was a real person that wanted good in the world, he was never a part of the religion/cult that was started in his name, right?
A lot of the bible that gets followed by mega churches follows the doctrine of Paul who never met Jesus and was a power hungry bastard who claimed to have hallucinated Jesus after he got hit on the head with a rock.
The idea of salvation through Jesus being through faith and not actions, throwing money at churches, treating any sex for pleasure as an apex sin comes from him.
Effectively these are not Christians but Paulians.
he would probably smite them.
Ok I thought they were hanging Ronald McDonald in effigy
ronald is finally ascending to heaven. looks more like marcel marceau the mime, a temu version.
And somehow Palpatine returned.
But only by suffering enough will the poor be worthy. Then they’ll magically lift themselves up out of poverty.
So heap suffering on them!
Oh look, I guess they were never worthy…
What a golden calf.
If you need pyrotechnics to sell compassion, maybe the priorities are backwards.
Kinda unrelated, but I got a place on my church's theater. I'm gonna act as an angel. Hope they won't put me flying like this.
Angel of ....?
/s
Dunno. Pratices are tomorrow, will update you by message when I get it.
I want an angel play update, too. Sounds fun!
Okay, notef.
Most of them lost the vision eons ago
Some things would mix well. I'd go to "church" just to see the mix.