All Things Religion Thread
Same time each Islamic lunar year (beginning of their 9th month), but their lunar year doesn't sync with our solar year - it's about 10 days shorter... so if you were in Malaysia around 14-15 years ago it mighta been in September?
it was 2008.
possible?
Ramadan in 2008 : 1 Sept to 30 Sept
there you go.
never figured that one out.
so it's in May now.
Scientology....
Full episode is 2hrs :15 long / Bent units
This is a real interesting interview with a guy who was really high up in scientology for most of his life and broke away, lots of aspects in this i hadnt heard before, loopy fuckers.
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/warhero/battle.htm
this one never gets old... file under 'putting fiction writers in charge of a warship'.
Comfort in crisis...I remember as a young bloke and getting the surf bug at age 13, that's all I wanted to do. If I wasn't surfing, I was trying to figure a way out of the city to surf new spots and bludging rides with the older crew who graciously put up with me, although they did leave me alone on many various beaches at night while they hit the pubs for a good night out. My hair grew longer, I started making my own boards at 14 because I couldn't afford a new one my parents were very concerned about me and actually were becoming ashamed of the feral "surfie" son of theirs. Most people thought surfers were shit when I was young, a polar opposite to these days.All my young life it was succeed succeed succeed, the material dream of post war Australia. Mentally I hadn't changed, I still worked hard, studied etc but my philosophy was changing, I was becoming less interested in money and gain and more focused on nature and health. My parents became quite disgusted with my cruisey attitude and I felt the odd one out for many years UNTIL I read what Jesus taught....Here was the King of KIngs, the creator of all things telling me "Dont worry...be happy" forget about tomorrow just worry about today...I'll look after the rest...Just flow...Look at the birds...I feed all them...etc etc....All of a sudden I was free, I would trust and love God and love people, that's all I had to do and the rest would look after itself. Since those very early days I have never looked back, I have really great kids, daughter in laws, grandkids, taught thousands about Gods love and salvation plan for earth and always had a nice home near the sea to rent with the money to pay the rent always coming in somehow. In my later years a Govt plan helped me with my first home which I sold and bought again, fixed up and sold and bought again without any stress, everything just flowed and worked out nice until my final little home near the sea for my retirement. Many of my friends are very wealthy and were focused entirely on that lifestyle of gain, but at the end of the tracks, its all just food on the table and a roof over your head a veggie patch and a beach to walk on makes everyone equal. The simple life with less clutter is a good life and I'm writing this to encourage people not to worry about the problems around us and the loss of wealth etc. Just ride the wave that's happening, do your best with the tools you have (money) and look up...to the God who loves you and will look after you if you trust Him to.
Many character producing troubles (birth pains) are yet to come for planet earth.
Today's text...from Bible Gateway.com
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Peace.
A wonderful post Optimist ! I was avoiding this thread as I think I am causing enough trouble already .
I have never been religious but am trying to now live a more spiritual life .
You are a great role model and seem to be very content and at peace . A goal I hope to achieve !
What I'm wanting is an explanation of the "prosperity gospel" and how that sits with the teachings of your christian god, fire away boys.
GS,
"Prosperity Gospel" is a load of garbage.
The bible (particularly the NT) does not teach that the Christian should expect prosperity and blessings in this life. It teaches that we should expect to have to endure suffering and persecution (alongside such blessings that are common to all humanity) until the resurrection.
E.g. 2 Timothy 3:12, Hebrews 12:5-12, Matthew 16:24-26.
The OT can be read as teaching some kind of prosperity gospel (the promises of blessings in various parts of the Torah), but the NT reinterprets much of that as only being fully realised post-(general)resurrection.
So in short, this world will have pain and sorrow (but also joy and meaning) & any "Christian" claim to the contrary is misleading and quite possibly manipulative.
GuySmiley wrote:What I'm wanting is an explanation of the "prosperity gospel" and how that sits with the teachings of your christian god, fire away boys.
OK I bite....prosperity gospel is a manmade action , by men, definitely not a teaching of the Gospel !
Looks like another man made religious cult trying to justify material greed!
^ agreed Brutus. Be very wary of anyone saying "donate money to my organisation and you will have a prosperous/blessed life".
Thank you Brutus / Pops much respect to you and yet that is precisely what Hillsong and other Pentecostalist movements preach, how do they get away with that shit?
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/hillsong-church-is-a-haven-of-a...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-28/pentecostal-megachurches-are-rede...
GS, I don't know all that much about Hillsong other than vetting their songs for theological accuracy (I'm MD at my local church; we don't have the time or resources to write our own music so we do arrangements & covers, so part of what I do is go through lyrics to check if they're in line with our understanding of biblical theology). Some are good, some are bland, some have (to put it mildly) unhelpful overtones. Haven't seen much prosperity stuff in recent years (plenty of repetitive "feel good" stuff without much meaning though).
Couldn't tell you what they preach.
As far as how prosperity preachers get away with it, I guess it's telling people what they want to hear?
There's absolutely nothing Christian about Hillsong and the other Pentecostal mega churches. Houston is an evangelical grifter who protected his child rapist dad. Everything these people do is to improve the profitability of their corporate organisations.
Melbourne's Father Bob? Now that man is a true Christian.
Hillsong Church has around 41000 members in Australia, about 0.02% of the population. The Federal Cabinet has 11 members of Hillsong Church, around 49%.
adam12, I've seen that claim a few times now, but can't work out which cabinet members it's referring to. Any idea?
Vic Local wrote:There's absolutely nothing Christian about Hillsong and the other Pentecostal mega churches. Houston is an evangelical grifter who protected his child rapist dad. Everything these people do is to improve the profitability of their corporate organisations.
Melbourne's Father Bob? Now that man is a true Christian.
VL , I wouldn't say "absolutely nothing Christian about Hillsong and other Pentecostal mega churches."....what we all have to understand is the majority of people and Pastors who are part of Mega Churches , are good people and good Christians.
There is always a minority who have great control where their own personal vested interests come before the Gospels/Gods Word......we are so easy to judge the majority, on the behaviour of a few!
I don't have much time for the Catholic Church , but Father Bob was an incredible man/pastor and lived the Gospels message....even met him a few times in my Pentridge years....
Pops, good question, on my way to work but have seen a list on twitter so I'll try and find it later. Hawke, Stoker, Roberts are three off the top of my head.
A quick google tells me that Robert does attend a pentecostal church (Metro on the gold coast, not hillsong), apparently Hawke isn't a member or regular attendee at Hillsong but has attended major events in the past, and Stoker attends and Anglican church in Brisbane (not hillsong, not even pentecostal).
Apparently they're all part of Morrison's "prayer group" along with a few others of various denominations.
brutus, A few years ago I saw the inner workings of a Pentecostal megachurch. (believe me, I wasn't supposed to see these things, and I was just in the right spot at the right time) I saw a spreadsheet that calculated how much a convert was worth to the church over a twenty year period. There was a detailed breakdown of typical donation patterns including bereavement donations. I also saw detailed conversion rate calculations if the church's pastors were allowed to preach in schools, and a detailed plan on how to make it happen.
It was all about the cash. Nothing, absolutely nothing, had anything to do with doing charitable work or saving souls. I've seen very little evidence that Hillsong is any different, and I've seen plenty of evidence showing this organisation is structured for profit rather than pastoral care or the common good.
Just got in from the pumping waves....didn't cost a cent...a poor man could do it.
Missed some good chatter it seems and the bible answers all those questions above, that's why we have it....you can sort the religious sheep from the goats just by reading those new testament letters (Epistles) from thousands of years ago.....
1st Timothy says it well...in Chapter 6....verses 5-11
5) Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
6) But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7) For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8) And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9) But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10) For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11) But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
So there you go .....churches that follow that are good ones and the others not.
Think of wealth in life like a waterfall into a pool then it runs away downstream.....if you dam it up it stagnates...if you allow it to flow downstream through your pool its always fresh and clean...That's how God wants you to live regarding money...some people have a larger pool but pour more downstream...big or small the result is the same for your life and what pleases God.
Ive been to largish Pentecostal churches and loved some and walked disgusted out of others...Ive been to Baptist, church of England, Uniting, Little independents all sorts in my travels and the ones that followed Christs teachings perfectly were always the most enjoyable and you could feel Gods presence there...Some cracking scones from lovely old ladies afterward weren't too bad either...
Its all about your own walk though...don't finger point at people like Houston, some people like him but I'm no fan that's for sure, people like him are a bit obsessed and wander off the tracks thinking they are doing the right thing but forget Jesus the master Himself had nothing. Everything above nothing is a bonus in this life so enjoy your bonuses and keep it simple...
Be a good giver and have a sparkling clean pool. It will always work out good for you then and God will give you everything you need for a nice life.
Spent a day touring the Vatican, St Peters and the Sistine Chapel. If you haven't been its absolutely impossible to describe the buildings and the thousands upon thousands of ancient art works. It was sickening to see all that wealth on display for the glory of a god but the fact that really pissed me off was being told the copper hood for the altar in St Peters was forged from copper taken from the portico of the arguably the most beautiful ancient Roman building, namely The Pantheon ( originally the Emperor Augustus but rebuilt in 118 AD by the Emperor Hadrian) . It's not all bad news as it was saved from destruction by Pope Boniface IV in 608 by converting the previous pagan temple to a christian church. The Pantheon stands today like it was only completed yesterday .... a building that makes the famous architects weep.
Pops, yep I quoted fake news. Should do my 'research' before I repeat something I read on twitter. There are 11 cabinet ministers (inner and outer) who attend Scomo prayer meetings, they are various denominations. The original tweet was debunked, came from a guy called @ListenSport. I should shut up more because that fact check just took me down a rabbit hole of nonsense I don't wish to traverse again. You were right, I was wrong. Mucho respecto.
All good mate, and good on you for checking, much respect to you.
Don't let that stop you from posting stuff though; we all take things at face value sometimes.
Guy, its not and never was for the glory of God ,... only for the glory of Rome.
Same old empire, wearing a disguise.
Optimist wrote:Guy, its not and never was for the glory of God ,... only for the glory of Rome.
Same old empire, wearing a disguise.
All cut from the same cloth Rome or otherwise
The Hillsong type churches have copied the hyped up personal development, positive thinking, get rich that the Anthony Robbins types and multi-level marketing systems push so hard. Often the punch line is to be more successful and live an "abundant life".
But cleverly they have but have added music and throw in God, Jesus or a biblical story every now and then so they sidestep having to sell soap or make up and just sell thin air and warm fuzzies. No warehouse for stock, administration and sales targets for the flock.
But after the sessions they surge to the tables to buy the essential inspirational books and tapes and commit to a tithe on their income for life to the leaders.
Incredible. A sort of Amway thingo with no soap or need to ever prove it works through people actually making money or reaching the end goal. The ultimate goal (heaven) is hidden up there in the clouds and so if the followers lives stay shitty and, not so abundant, the leader can just point further in the distance and promise the final reward.
Genius money making system. A pyramid scheme? Sort of....
tax exempt too frog. Another bonus of not selling soap or Tupperware.
Plus jobkeeper VL
The new Christian theme is to teach the flock to believe and behave in ways that the lord approves of in order to tap into the flow of goodness and power they call "grace". If you do, wealth, health and other good stuff comes your way. Flash house. Flash car. Flash wife. The perfect new age christian life.
The catch is that the majority, of course, don't become wealthy and / or face the usual problems of life - illness, poverty, marital issues etc.
They miss the flow of "grace" because........... they have sinned!!! They are at fault. Maybe they thought for a moment about something naughty or they for a moment doubted. Any little slip up and the pipe of grace gets blocked and you are to blame.
Guilt, guilt and more guilt to whip the flock into obedience.
Thankfully that's entirely foreign to my experience Frog.
I'd say to anyone attending a church that preaches a message like that to get out & find a church teaches exegetically from the bible. What a gross and self-serving distortion of the gospel.
Test any message professing to be "Christian" against the bible (Romans and Hebrews are a good place to start). A message telling you to earn things through good behaviour, or one promising prosperity in this life, just doesn't fit. E.g. try to make that fit with Romans ch 5.
Good morning Pops, my mum was a devout catholic most of her life except for that period when she fell out with her priest and fell into the clutches of the local pentecostal church. Every scary stuff for us at a time when her mental health / judgement wasn't good - the full talking in tongues BS trip. She handed over a lot of money to those charlatans from a family where money was always hard to come by. Later, in her last frail (with increasing dementia) years the family discovered she was spending most of her savings on the community welfare program at the local catholic church to the point of not having enough money for her food and bills. The priest nor anyone else at the church ever questioned how an aged pensioner could give so much. The family had to bail her out many many times, in the end we had an arrangement with her supermarket. Straight faced fleecing in whose name?!!
Sorry to hear that Guy. Her church ought to have been helping support her through that time, not fleecing her.
"Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruit." (Matthew 7:15-16).
David Jeremiah is being interviewed now on channel 7TWO
Today's Bible gateway.com reading is good for the boys...
Ephesians 4:29 (New International Version)
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Let’s all give up a prayer for Clive and Christian
The path of fear to globalisation and a one world order.
From the time of nimrod the first one world leader of Babylon and then to Nebuchadnezzar the second then to the Medes and Persians then to Alexander and the Greeks then to the Roman emperor and the empire and now to Rome mingled with the nations there seemed in modern times no way that a one world order could ever be reestablished …..until COVID that is. We have been establishing global markets, have a one world language in the internet and everyone is now connected or maybe even entangled in a World Wide Web. Never before have humans in such numbers been so interconnected with each other’s lives. This presents a new opportunity for a new charismatic global leader to arrive on the stage. Just as we see the divisions in vax and non vax folk and the them and us mentality being innocently and naively pursued by governments , we really see a danger to free thought being born. Vaccines are a good thing and a necessary thing, but if you wish to live without it and take the risk so be it…that’s called freedom….In the not too distant future, an evil new leader will rise and convince everyone that he has all the answers. He will highjack the monetary system with a new global currency and present a new world view religion…everyone who does not wish to comply will be labelled by the ignorant as a troublemaker and a non believer in the new cause of global unity. The problem being it will not be of God but of man and a typical plan of enslavement to someone’s idea of how things should be….logically , everyone being under control , will seem right to many and a soulless, cashless, computer logic lifestyle will be designed for the people of earth by the one man who governs the 10 new regions of the earth. Fortunately for us, God himself will intervene in these days after a time of testing for the people of earth. This anti Christ character will be destroyed and a new period of peace under Jesus the Christ will arrive. He will then be the one world leader and will bring peace between the nations of the earth…no blood will be shed…all weapons destroyed..the deserts will bloom… we will all be vego’s because the lion and the lamb will lie down together…all our energy problems will be solved…everyone will learn the knowledge of the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Perfect peace will reign and for a thousand years until the resources of this earth are consumed we will live in freedom and harmony. Then a new heaven and earth will be presented as one place and all Gods creation will move on to the next level….
Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne.. and unto the Lamb of God Jesus the Christ ….Revelation 7:10…..
Jesus answered them and said, when it is evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red….and in the morning it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and threatening….Hypocrites!..you know how to discern the face of the sky but you can not discern the signs of the times….Matt 16:2,3.
Jesus came to save us by his own blood…life for life…sinless for sin….we will see him again in the not too distant future….but he won’t be in disguise this time, we will see Him in all His glory.
All be Vegos cause lion will lie with lamb. Bet those lions must be drooling about finally being able to eat grass all day. What will great white sharks eat Opti - kelp maybe?
Isaiah 65:25
In the garden of Eden
https://m.
Straw and dust - yum. Sounding better and better.
Ah yes,… Guy and Frog….both have interesting appointments booked.
Came across this from someone who seems to know a bit about heaven:
"In Heaven, we will not have a body, a mouth, or a stomach. We will spend every second of Eternity singing the praises of Almighty God".
Wow, sounds fun. SIgn me up for an eternity of that.
Might want a few seconds break from all that singing every few thousand years though.
A loophole in the Scripture.....
So fuck me in the Arse cos i love Jesus
We all have the same appointment…it’s not exclusive…Hebrews 9:27
https://m.
Here you go optimist
Not sure my motivation...my instinctive need to stick up for the underdog...my secret desire to be one day honoured rightfully with the role of Forum moderator (expecting a call any day)...
But anyway I couldn't help but read your troubles on another thread...unfortunately I found myself siding with everyone's posts...other than your own...except for the part where you were told you can't post here!
So I put my low IQ mind to coming up with a solution that suits all...and here it is...a safe place if you like
You can post anything you like about your beliefs...and no one has to read it unless they want! Easy peasy...
maybe you could even get Jesus, fat Buddha, Mohammed, and friends to converse in adult conversation here
Solving the world problems, one at a time...call it taking a shovel as a way of moving that mountain
All the best...brother
PS...I actually was born again once, but I grew up, and grew a brain of my own...and realised it was all a load of shit!