finaljedi Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 2 hours ago, Bloodporne said: This guy is such a fucking ghoul, he literally looks like Judge Alvin from Nothing But Trouble Shit, talk about a movie I haven't thought about in decades... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodporne Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 8 minutes ago, finaljedi said: Shit, talk about a movie I haven't thought about in decades... It's better that way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodger Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 16 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said: My first exposure to the "Prosperity Gospel" came when I was working in public accounting in South Florida. My firm took on as a pro-bono client an African-American church that served a congregation in Pompano Beach, one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in South Florida. In reviewing the financial records of the church, I saw that the church paid for the pastor's living expenses. There was nothing notable about that as that's simply the case for just about all religious denominations. What did catch my attention was the nature of the lifestyle that the congregation supported. The pastor and his family lived in one of the most upscale areas in eastern Broward County (he definitely didn't live in Pompano Beach), they drove a new top-of-the-line Lexus SUV, and the clothing expenses reflected shopping trips to Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. At the time, I was still nominally Catholic and couldn't help but contrast this pastor's lifestyle to that of my priest who lived in small two bedroom apartment with another priest, drove a beat-up old Honda Accord, and who shopped for his non-ecclesiastical clothing at Wal-Mart. For the record, my parish for which he was the pastor was one of the wealthiest in the Archdiocese of Miami. The pastor and I got along very well with each other and he was very open about how much he enjoyed the finer things in life so I eventually decided to ask him about how he could reconcile his lifestyle with the teachings of Christ, especially those that appear to condemn the accumulation of wealth. Naturally, I mentioned the lifestyle of my Catholic pastor by way of contrast. The response I received was when I was first introduced to the concept of "Prosperity Theology" and I was utterly stunned. One of the justifications he provided was that it was the congregation who wanted him to have this lifestyle as it "honored" and "glorified" both God and the congregation as an expression of their faith and devotion. To this day, I still cannot grasp that particular theological concept at all. Needless to say, I didn't buy a single word of it whatsoever and was actively repulsed by it. It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to contemplate what damage the spread of this abhorrent theology has done both in this country and the developing world where it really has become a dominant theology among evangelical Protestant churches. We've had a lot of posts on this board about how can rich people be religious and this is why. They just believe some nonsense that they worked hard and God is blessing them. Honestly it's the poor people being religious we should be questioning. Yeah your life blows but any minute God will turn that shit around for you if you just keep going to church and praying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 12 minutes ago, Dodger said: We've had a lot of posts on this board about how can rich people be religious and this is why. They just believe some nonsense that they worked hard and God is blessing them. Honestly it's the poor people being religious we should be questioning. Yeah your life blows but any minute God will turn that shit around for you if you just keep going to church and praying. The reason the economically underprivileged possess religious faith is the same as it ways has been: it provides some solace for their condition and they will be rewarded for their devotion in the next world, not this one. Marx himself recognized this: Quote Religion is the opium of the people. It is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of our soulless conditions. This is why religious faith is strongest in areas of economic hardship (Africa, Latin America) and weakest where material conditions are more easily met (Western Europe). Take care of people's material conditions in this world and their need/desire to believe in the next one will start to evaporate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaku3 Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said: The reason the economically underprivileged possess religious faith is the same as it ways has been: it provides some solace for their condition and they will be rewarded for their devotion in the next world, not this one. Marx himself recognized this: This is why religious faith is strongest in areas of economic hardship (Africa, Latin America) and weakest where material conditions are more easily met (Western Europe). Take care of people's material conditions in this world and their need/desire to believe in the next one will start to evaporate. I need to dewell on that. I feel atleast in the US it's more of use being so busy. We work our 9-5s and generally our freetime is for stuff that we would've/should've done during the week. Gonna need to spark up and research material conditions in European countries to see what's up over there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 Brooklyn Pastor Robbed During Sermon Stole Parishioner’s Savings, Lawsuit Alleges WWW.THECITY.NYC Court papers claim $90,000 disappeared after Lamor Whitehead promised to help buy real estate, while he ran a failed campaign for Brooklyn borough president last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 8 minutes ago, Jason said: Brooklyn Pastor Robbed During Sermon Stole Parishioner’s Savings, Lawsuit Alleges WWW.THECITY.NYC Court papers claim $90,000 disappeared after Lamor Whitehead promised to help buy real estate, while he ran a failed campaign for Brooklyn borough president last year. WHAT A SHOCKINGLY UNPREDICTABLE/UNPREDICTABLY SHOCKING DEVELOPMENT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jwheel86 Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 Shocking The ‘Bling Bishop’ Is Arrested on Fraud Charges - The New York Times WWW.NYTIMES.COM Lamor Whitehead, who was robbed of jewelry while he was preaching in July, was investigated by the U.S. attorney. Quote The 44-year-old preacher, who is known as Bishop Whitehead and built a persona as the so-called bling bishop, “bullied a businessman for $5,000, then tried to defraud him of far more than that,” said Damian Williams, the United States attorney in Manhattan. Prosecutors said Whitehead offered to help one of his parishioners buy a new house, talking her into withdrawing $90,000 from her retirement account. “I am a man of integrity, and you will not lose,” Whitehead texted the woman, but the prosecutors said he spent the money on luxury goods. When she asked for the money back, Whitehead said it was too late. The indictment unsealed on Monday said that Bishop Whitehead had also tried to persuade the businessman to give him $500,000 and a stake in some real-estate transactions. In return, Bishop Whitehead promised favorable actions from the city that would make them “millions,” even though, according to the indictment, he knew he could not make good on the promise. The indictment did not name any city officials or specify any actions taken by Bishop Whitehead, but it raised the question of his relationship with Mayor Eric Adams, who distanced himself from the bishop on Monday. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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