I found this interesting and shared it with the deconversion community. The video talks about the play on emotions. While my fundamentalist churches didn't do so much repetitive rock music, they definitely had the "emotional" altar calls near the end with constant appeals for money. The pastors were definitely trained to heighten emotion and repeat things in a certain way during their sermons. It shows the manipulation in religion.
Dear Peeps, if my pastor decided to use biblese as a cover for moneylust, i'd look for another church - and pray there'd be a for-real one not too many miles away (vehicle is a clunker).
ReplyDeleteI don't know, all my IFB churches were pretty hot and heavy when it came to the 10 percent demands. Thinking of George Carlin here, when he jokes about God needing money. Calvary Chapel was more restrained. I don't mind giving a little money to a church, I mean my present UU sees some from me but when some of these pastors lived the high life and were so money hungry it got gross.
DeletePeeps, sadly enough, it seems almost all preachers push the 10% before-taxes tithe AND push for offerings on top of the tithe - even if you're in debt and trying to get out of debt. Talk about laying heavy burdens grievous to be borne! And it seems, every one of them has been on several airline flights, have visited other countries. But hey, wresting a few Scriptures can clock you some va-ca miles.
ReplyDeleteBoth of my IFB pastors were in the money, there's one who quit his last pastorship job and was going on a boat around the world only made it to the Caribbean before Covid broke and switched to an RV camper. I theorize the guy must have won the Lotto or got a big inheritance or something, or maybe it was the Lotto of collecting 10 percent of working class people's salaries for years, I don't know. How do you feed 4 kids and wife and knock around the country for years without any obvious source of income. His kids should be in school but I guess Covid ruined that anyhow. When I was in his church, he didn't have the kids yet, one was born when I moved but him and the wife used to go on trips CONSTANTLY and all over the country and to Canada. They were in their mid 20s and already had a fully furnished house and lived a lifestyle way above mine and these were the years where my husband was a newspaper reporter and assistant editor when I was in my 30s in my rural town.
DeleteThe other guy as we drove up our rust bomb van, that was then 15 years old, we were able to get another better car later, had his new 60,000 dollar truck parked very noticeably in front of the church. Remember husband making a joke, so that's where the money in the collection plate goes?