What Happened to Church?

[Taz]

Catholics have parishes, not churches.

I'm aware. The point is that non-Christians always seem to think all Christianity is the Catholic Church.

Because the idiot pope is so visible.

True, and the Catholic Church has been around a lot longer than the Protestants. It's also a lot more visually interesting to portray in movies and TV shows. Mainstream protestant churches don't have any of the vestments, or statues, or rituals to pick apart; where's the fun in that?

There was a statue of Jesus in the Protestant church I used to attend. You've been schooled again. Now go see what happened to church because your church is making you ignorant.

If you think that proves it, she's not the ignorant one.

Ceci said "Mainstream protestant churches don't have any of the vestments, or statues,". My church had a statue of Jesus, making Ceci wrong. Again. I guess we can figure out what happened to her church.

 

[Taz]

Nothing happened to church, it's still the same losers going to hear someone read from a book that nobody believes is true.

Wow, I sure am glad that's been "settled" by someone no one was really addressing, expressing opinions no one values.

I'm sure we'll all get RIGHT on caring deeply about applying your vacuity to our own lives, so that we can be just like you and gain all the benefits of your life.

Tell me again, what are those?

Believe in what you can see, not what someone else tells you you're seeing. You'll be much better off. And it won't cost you like a toll booth every time you go to church.

I'll tell you what I told the other self-aggrandizing 'tard: I have no desire to live in a universe small and boring enough to fit inside my perceptions. And I DEFINITELY have no desire to live in one small and boring enough to fit in yours.

And if you are an example of "better off", I feel I should tell you that you're doing the opposite of selling your product. No one on this planet is looking at you and going, "Man, I really want what that doofus has."

People didn't want what Jesus was selling either, so they nailed him to wood.

 

[Cecilie1200]

The reality is that you are trying to define the rule by the exception.

Not really. I understand some, maybe most, people turn to faith before rationality and effective measures. and, boh oh boy, is that always a disaster.

When we refuse to use our God-given gifts and expect Him to drop the goodies in our laps, of course disaster comes. That's not faith.

Nope, that's Prosperity Doctrine, the herpes of the Christian world.

A disaster strikes when you ask god for stuff? Like the fires in California, the flooding, the hurricanes and the tornados that hit the US? You all should stop begging god for things, He is clearly not happy about it.

I know you've had this explained to you ad nauseum but you simply refuse to accept it, because that's the same argument that pops up over and over again and gets slapped down just as many times.

That's because Christophobes are trying to attack something they've never bothered to learn about. They're attacking blind, at what they think are "weak spots", but which actually are not even there.

It's almost funny to watch them launch what they believe is a devastating strike and watch it fly wildly off into the bushes.

 

[Taz]

All churches are not Catholic.

Catholics have parishes, not churches.

I'm aware. The point is that non-Christians always seem to think all Christianity is the Catholic Church.

Ceci's just been schooled. non-Christians know about Protestants, and all the other denominations. You've just been schooled again.

I used to be a Catholic.

My husband was raised Catholic. He converted to my faith ten months after we had married. He said that the personal relationship with God taught in my faith was a big factor, both in his conversion AND in his decision to marry me.

I bet he'd like a mulligan on that decision. Or did he already divorce you?

 

[hadit]

Wow, I sure am glad that's been "settled" by someone no one was really addressing, expressing opinions no one values.

I'm sure we'll all get RIGHT on caring deeply about applying your vacuity to our own lives, so that we can be just like you and gain all the benefits of your life.

Tell me again, what are those?

Believe in what you can see, not what someone else tells you you're seeing. You'll be much better off. And it won't cost you like a toll booth every time you go to church.

You do realize, don't you, that you accept many things that someone else tells you you're seeing that you can't see yourself? And again with the money thing. That really gets people hung up.

Yes, but those things I COULD see if I wanted to, I wouldn't need to go to science mass every week to pay money to have someone tell me, not show me, why the earth isn't flat, like you all use to think.

You have a lab that shows gravity waves when neutron stars collide? This I'd like to see. Heck, I wouldn't mind having that kind of setup in my back yard. Tell me how you did it.

Researchers get paid by someone, and ultimately you pay that bill when you pay taxes and purchase things from the sponsors, so yes, you do go to science mass. Now, tell me again what this has to do with the thread topic.

It's what happened to church, they tell you to spout nonsense. Scientists are at least looking for what's out there, you stopped on an invisible sky daddy that NOBODY has ever seen. That's what happened to church.

Most scientific advances throughout history were made by believers. What is really happening to the church today is the Gospel is being watered down into squabbles about money and the color of the carpet, anything but experiencing true power.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Not really. I understand some, maybe most, people turn to faith before rationality and effective measures. and, boh oh boy, is that always a disaster.

When we refuse to use our God-given gifts and expect Him to drop the goodies in our laps, of course disaster comes. That's not faith.

Nope, that's Prosperity Doctrine, the herpes of the Christian world.

A disaster strikes when you ask god for stuff? Like the fires in California, the flooding, the hurricanes and the tornados that hit the US? You all should stop begging god for things, He is clearly not happy about it.

I know you've had this explained to you ad nauseum but you simply refuse to accept it, because that's the same argument that pops up over and over again and gets slapped down just as many times.

So why is god heaping all those disasters on the US? You lot have clearly got a heavy prayer thing going on, why isn't that working? Getting too greedy?

Spoken like someone who knows nothing about God or prayer.

And you are, once again, heading back into trying to hijack the thread into being about your personal obsessive hatred of the church.

I'm not going to tell you you aren't welcome to hang around, if you absolutely must, but I am going to tell you - as I apparently have to do every five minutes - that we are not interested in watching you lick your balls in the middle of the dinner party, Fido.

 

[koshergrl]

I'm aware. The point is that non-Christians always seem to think all Christianity is the Catholic Church.

Because the idiot pope is so visible.

True, and the Catholic Church has been around a lot longer than the Protestants. It's also a lot more visually interesting to portray in movies and TV shows. Mainstream protestant churches don't have any of the vestments, or statues, or rituals to pick apart; where's the fun in that?

There was a statue of Jesus in the Protestant church I used to attend. You've been schooled again. Now go see what happened to church because your church is making you ignorant.

If you think that proves it, she's not the ignorant one.

Ceci said "Mainstream protestant churches don't have any of the vestments, or statues,". My church had a statue of Jesus, making Ceci wrong. Again. I guess we can figure out what happened to her church.

Shut the fuck up, you are an imbecile. "Mainstream". Get it? "Mainstream".

Not that it really matters. Episcopalians and Lutherans might have statues. In this country, they aren't really considered *mainstream* any more. *Mainstream* are the evangelicals and baptists and the Methodists. And where I come from..the Mormons.

Sucks to be you.

 

[ptbw forever]

All churches are not Catholic.

Catholics have parishes, not churches.

I'm aware. The point is that non-Christians always seem to think all Christianity is the Catholic Church.

Ceci's just been schooled. non-Christians know about Protestants, and all the other denominations. You've just been schooled again.

I used to be a Catholic.

My husband was raised Catholic. He converted to my faith ten months after we had married. He said that the personal relationship with God taught in my faith was a big factor, both in his conversion AND in his decision to marry me.

My Catholic grandmother had a very personal relationship with God.

I don’t really see anything positive in the Protestant churches that isn’t displayed in the Catholic faith already, and they both seem to have the same problems.

 

[Taz]

Not really. I understand some, maybe most, people turn to faith before rationality and effective measures. and, boh oh boy, is that always a disaster.

When we refuse to use our God-given gifts and expect Him to drop the goodies in our laps, of course disaster comes. That's not faith.

Nope, that's Prosperity Doctrine, the herpes of the Christian world.

A disaster strikes when you ask god for stuff? Like the fires in California, the flooding, the hurricanes and the tornados that hit the US? You all should stop begging god for things, He is clearly not happy about it.

I know you've had this explained to you ad nauseum but you simply refuse to accept it, because that's the same argument that pops up over and over again and gets slapped down just as many times.

That's because Christophobes are trying to attack something they've never bothered to learn about. They're attacking blind, at what they think are "weak spots", but which actually are not even there.

It's almost funny to watch them launch what they believe is a devastating strike and watch it fly wildly off into the bushes.

You all pray for good stuff and bad shit keeps happening to the US. So why isn't it working? What's happening at church these days? Can't get god on your side?

 

[hadit]

I know you've had this explained to you ad nauseum but you simply refuse to accept it, because that's the same argument that pops up over and over again and gets slapped down just as many times.

So why is god heaping all those disasters on the US? You lot have clearly got a heavy prayer thing going on, which isn't that working? Getting too greedy?

Do you really want the theological explanation, or are you simply trolling and will reject it out of hand for the 150th time? Because I can give it to you, but it can get lengthy. Tell you what, it's far afield from the thread topic, so if you really want to know, start a thread on it and I'll educate you. Otherwise, I'll assume all you're doing is trying to derail the thread.

So you have nothing, got it.

Oh, I have plenty. You, as expected, don't really want to hear it so you won't start a thread on it. This topic is about what happened to the Church, not a theological discourse on the effects of sin.

So American sin is bringing all these disasters? Is that what happened to church? They make you believe that if you stop sinning, natural disasters will stop as well? That's pretty dumb.

Like I've noted, you have no interest in hearing. Start that thread and read beyond your knee jerk reactions.

 

[Cecilie1200]

When we refuse to use our God-given gifts and expect Him to drop the goodies in our laps, of course disaster comes. That's not faith.

Nope, that's Prosperity Doctrine, the herpes of the Christian world.

A disaster strikes when you ask god for stuff? Like the fires in California, the flooding, the hurricanes and the tornados that hit the US? You all should stop begging god for things, He is clearly not happy about it.

I know you've had this explained to you ad nauseum but you simply refuse to accept it, because that's the same argument that pops up over and over again and gets slapped down just as many times.

So why is god heaping all those disasters on the US? You lot have clearly got a heavy prayer thing going on, which isn't that working? Getting too greedy?

Do you really want the theological explanation, or are you simply trolling and will reject it out of hand for the 150th time? Because I can give it to you, but it can get lengthy. Tell you what, it's far afield from the thread topic, so if you really want to know, start a thread on it and I'll educate you. Otherwise, I'll assume all you're doing is trying to derail the thread.

Of course he's trolling. He thinks every thread having to do with religion is or must be about his hatred of religion and his puerile attacks on it.

 

[Taz]

Believe in what you can see, not what someone else tells you you're seeing. You'll be much better off. And it won't cost you like a toll booth every time you go to church.

You do realize, don't you, that you accept many things that someone else tells you you're seeing that you can't see yourself? And again with the money thing. That really gets people hung up.

Yes, but those things I COULD see if I wanted to, I wouldn't need to go to science mass every week to pay money to have someone tell me, not show me, why the earth isn't flat, like you all use to think.

You have a lab that shows gravity waves when neutron stars collide? This I'd like to see. Heck, I wouldn't mind having that kind of setup in my back yard. Tell me how you did it.

Researchers get paid by someone, and ultimately you pay that bill when you pay taxes and purchase things from the sponsors, so yes, you do go to science mass. Now, tell me again what this has to do with the thread topic.

It's what happened to church, they tell you to spout nonsense. Scientists are at least looking for what's out there, you stopped on an invisible sky daddy that NOBODY has ever seen. That's what happened to church.

Most scientific advances throughout history were made by believers. What is really happening to the church today is the Gospel is being watered down into squabbles about money and the color of the carpet, anything but experiencing true power.

So are there any real churches left out there?

 

[Cecilie1200]

I went to a new church for the first time this morning (because I moved to a new city a few months back, and now I need to find a new church home), and I have to say I don't feel even remotely sufficiently churched.

Maybe I'm just really old-fashioned. I grew up in the same two churches throughout my life; in fact, my husband and I were married in one of them. They were both good-sized, but neither was a "mega-church", and it was not only possible to know everyone in the church, it was impossible NOT to. The services took upwards of two hours from start to finish, and they happened three times a week. When the service ended, there were often people still praying at the altars (this church doesn't even HAVE altars), and it took at least another hour for people to get done talking and interacting and head out the doors. The song service was inclusive; the entire congregation worshipping God through music together.

This service was over in an hour; the song service was the "worship team" - basically a music group - giving a performance with lights and videos on screens and a FOG MACHINE, for crying out loud. It was a lot more like going to a concert than anything interactive. Everyone was out the door in about fifteen minutes, the pastors (they apparently have a huge heirarchy of them) were nowhere in sight, and there was no effort made to even identify new attendees, much less meet them and make them feel welcome. The sermon was still on-point in the Word of God, and they don't seem to have edited out the "icky" parts so many churches do - y'know, references to the Crucifixion, blood, death, Hell, all that uncomfortable stuff - but I have to wonder how you're supposed to learn and grow and connect with the Christian community and draw closer to God when an hour a week of listening to other people perform is all the effort you put into it.

Yeah, these mega churches are an embarrassment.

I felt the same way when I went to Southeast Christian one time.

Yup. As I described it before, it's Drive-Through Christianity: you drive up, grab your order, zoom away, no muss no fuss, you don't even have to get out of your car. But I think we all know how much serious nutrition you get from the drive-through. And eventually, it makes you weak and flabby. If you want the spiritual nourishment of Christianity, you gotta get out of the car.

Unfortunately these churches are pretty much all that is left of Christianity now.

Untrue. They're just the ones you see, because hey, they're so freaking big, they obscure everything else.

I know there are smaller churches and parishes, but they are dying out.

Nope. You'd actually be surprised how many old-fashioned churches are still out there and still very active.

This is just the latest trough of a cycle that's been going on for a very long time.

 

[hadit]

All churches are not Catholic.

Catholics have parishes, not churches.

I'm aware. The point is that non-Christians always seem to think all Christianity is the Catholic Church.

Ceci's just been schooled. non-Christians know about Protestants, and all the other denominations. You've just been schooled again.

I used to be a Catholic.

My husband was raised Catholic. He converted to my faith ten months after we had married. He said that the personal relationship with God taught in my faith was a big factor, both in his conversion AND in his decision to marry me.

That's what's missing in many churches today, the personal relationship. If detractors can push the argument onto anything else, it becomes a useless argument.

I don't see many, if any, prosperity gospel preachers talking about confession and redemption today.

 

[Taz]

When we refuse to use our God-given gifts and expect Him to drop the goodies in our laps, of course disaster comes. That's not faith.

Nope, that's Prosperity Doctrine, the herpes of the Christian world.

A disaster strikes when you ask god for stuff? Like the fires in California, the flooding, the hurricanes and the tornados that hit the US? You all should stop begging god for things, He is clearly not happy about it.

I know you've had this explained to you ad nauseum but you simply refuse to accept it, because that's the same argument that pops up over and over again and gets slapped down just as many times.

So why is god heaping all those disasters on the US? You lot have clearly got a heavy prayer thing going on, why isn't that working? Getting too greedy?

Spoken like someone who knows nothing about God or prayer.

And you are, once again, heading back into trying to hijack the thread into being about your personal obsessive hatred of the church.

I'm not going to tell you you aren't welcome to hang around, if you absolutely must, but I am going to tell you - as I apparently have to do every five minutes - that we are not interested in watching you lick your balls in the middle of the dinner party, Fido.

I'm talking about "what happened to church". I realize that my questions make you uneasy, so you spout ad hominem attacks. But really, is this what is happening to church that you attend? Someone asks the pastors a question and he says go lick your balls? Really?

 

[hadit]

Nothing happened to church, it's still the same losers going to hear someone read from a book that nobody believes is true.

Wow, I sure am glad that's been "settled" by someone no one was really addressing, expressing opinions no one values.

I'm sure we'll all get RIGHT on caring deeply about applying your vacuity to our own lives, so that we can be just like you and gain all the benefits of your life.

Tell me again, what are those?

Believe in what you can see, not what someone else tells you you're seeing. You'll be much better off. And it won't cost you like a toll booth every time you go to church.

I'll tell you what I told the other self-aggrandizing 'tard: I have no desire to live in a universe small and boring enough to fit inside my perceptions. And I DEFINITELY have no desire to live in one small and boring enough to fit in yours.

And if you are an example of "better off", I feel I should tell you that you're doing the opposite of selling your product. No one on this planet is looking at you and going, "Man, I really want what that doofus has."

People didn't want what Jesus was selling either, so they nailed him to wood.

Notice what happened after the resurrection. In the face of extreme persecution the church spread like a wild fire.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Ah, I see the usual attempts at trying to discourage people from mentioning a key goal of you deviants, 'normalization' of pedophilia.

Statements Regarding Cardinal McCarrick - Archdiocese of Washington

More details emerge on latest sex abuse allegations against cardinal McCarric

View attachment 206542

A month after the Vatican suspended Cardinal Theodore McCarrick from ministry, saying the prominent former D.C. archbishop had been credibly accused of sexually abusing a teenager decades ago, four additional complaints about sexual misconduct by the cardinal have surfaced.

"While shocked by the report, and while maintaining my innocence, I considered it essential that the charges be reported to the police, thoroughly investigated by an independent agency, and given to the Review Board of the Archdiocese of New York. I fully cooperated in the process."


- trying to discourage people from mentioning ...


Picaro the christian knows first hand about pedophilia - they invented it when they wrote their book in the 4th century and have been screwing society by it ever since. lies over truth.

Naw, the Africans and Persians were into pedophilia long before Christians existed.

.

Naw, the Africans and Persians were into pedophilia long before Christians existed.

EarthLink - Top News

US prelate McCarrick resigns from College of Cardinals

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has accepted U.S. prelate Theodore McCarrick's offer to resign from the College of Cardinals following allegations of sexual abuse, including one involving an 11-year-old boy, and ordered him to conduct a "life of prayer and penance" in a home to be designated by the pontiff until a church trial is held, the Vatican said Saturday.

- long before Christians existed.


the corruption began in the 4th century - and has continued unabated since that time and will continue as long as their document, bible is a misrepresentation of the events and religion of the 1st century.

I suspect that, down the line, God is planning to shake up His (their) church, and there are going to need to be congregations that are strong and vibrant and ready to lead the way.

and there are going to need to be congregations that are strong and vibrant and ready to lead the way.

reflecting the Religion of Antiquity is nothing new, nor the results any different today as then.

Yes, the entire millennia-long history of Christianity is all about the Inquisition and witch trials.

While you're sanctimoniously condemning the Church, and alloting yourself some sort of moral high ground, how about we look at what atheism did for humanity?

And I'm not going to tell you again to quit trying to hijack the thread with your "4th Century Antiquity" crap.

Priests are STILL raping children to this day. Which trumps your 100 year old black and white pictures. That's what happened to church. (See how I cleverly tied it in to the OP and brought YOU back on topic, )

Communism wasn't 100 years ago, Brain Trust. And I see exactly how "clever" you are, which is why I have to keep telling you every other post to stop trying to hijack the thread into being about your psychological problems.

 

[Taz]

Because the idiot pope is so visible.

True, and the Catholic Church has been around a lot longer than the Protestants. It's also a lot more visually interesting to portray in movies and TV shows. Mainstream protestant churches don't have any of the vestments, or statues, or rituals to pick apart; where's the fun in that?

There was a statue of Jesus in the Protestant church I used to attend. You've been schooled again. Now go see what happened to church because your church is making you ignorant.

If you think that proves it, she's not the ignorant one.

Ceci said "Mainstream protestant churches don't have any of the vestments, or statues,". My church had a statue of Jesus, making Ceci wrong. Again. I guess we can figure out what happened to her church.

Shut the fuck up, you are an imbecile. "Mainstream". Get it? "Mainstream".

Not that it really matters. Episcopalians and Lutherans might have statues. In this country, they aren't really considered *mainstream* any more. *Mainstream* are the evangelicals and baptists and the Methodists. And where I come from..the Mormons.

Sucks to be you.

So then coons and retards are mainstream, but protestants with statues are not. Are you making this shit up as you go along? Is that what happened to church?

 

[Cecilie1200]

I used to be a Catholic.

And now you're doing 15 to 20 at a supermax prison for emulating your old priest?

Now I am a deist.

wtf is that? It sounds like it has something to do with a dick, yours or someone else's?

You need to study some American history.

Some of our greatest founders were deists.

A deist is someone who believes in a creator, but doesn’t follow any religious doctrine and doesn’t necessarily believe the creator interacts with its creation.

Well that's a little less stupid than Christianity. But you still have no proof. And that's what happened to church.

I'm marveling at the irony of YOU trying to rate the stupidity of something.

 

[hadit]

Catholics have parishes, not churches.

I'm aware. The point is that non-Christians always seem to think all Christianity is the Catholic Church.

Ceci's just been schooled. non-Christians know about Protestants, and all the other denominations. You've just been schooled again.

I used to be a Catholic.

My husband was raised Catholic. He converted to my faith ten months after we had married. He said that the personal relationship with God taught in my faith was a big factor, both in his conversion AND in his decision to marry me.

I bet he'd like a mulligan on that decision. Or did he already divorce you?

Nice example of the Christophobe's contempt for fellow humans and general lack of civility. Care to join the 21st century?