Depressing News Item of the Day

[Alloutwar]

Pastor builds $1.7mil mansion, 16,000 sq ft, says it is a Gift from God...while members of his congregation continue to pay in, subsidize the church with their tax money, and hope for any improvement in their dismal economic situation.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/201...l#.Um6JtHCsh8E

http://www.christianpost.com/news/st...ansion-107414/

The church has given $10mil to charities...the pastor says the house was financed from book sales, not his church salary...so if that makes you feel warm and tingly about it, good for you.

Furtick is 33 and living the ideal simple-servant-of-god life.

[Pete4256]

So you're depressed because this guy sold books and then spent the money on a mansion? Or is it because he thinks it was a gift from God?

Oprah has a bigger house and has been preaching her message for years and written books & you didn't get depressed as she acquired her billions.

Now if the guy didn't give a tenth of his income to the church, then you got a story here. Otherwise quit trying to be like Obama and wanting to tell everyone how they are supposed to LIVE.

AMEN
Pete4256

[Pete4256]

In other DEPRESSING NEWS ... there are only two more games left to watch this season.

Get Going there CARDS!!

[Alloutwar]

“Shun, as you would the plague, a cleric who from being poor has become wealthy, or who, from being nobody has become a celebrity.”
—Jerome

I consider it depressing when anyone claims they are a humble servant, yet collect money from the public, supported by tax-exempt religious status, and then spend it on a lavish estate. Doing that in an economy like we have today is even worse. Considering that some of these churches now have coffee shops, gift shops, and even ATMs inside them - well, it kind of tells you what they are after. It's not your soul, unless your soul can be expressed via greenbacks.

As someone that spent years studying religions and trying to find something true and real, seeing daily further proof that it is truly 'all about the benjamins' makes me sad. Maybe I'm not jaded enough yet, who knows.

[Alloutwar]

I missed a day, but here's a short one:

Your Commute is Killing You

Glad I work at home! Unfortunately, in front of a laptop all day...

[filihok]

I missed a day, but here's a short one:

Your Commute is Killing You

I typically bike commute.
So, other people's commutes are killing me as I inhale their exhaust.
Oh well, at least I have nice legs while I'm alive.

quit trying to be like Obama and wanting to tell everyone how they are supposed to LIVE.

AMEN

Yeah, I hate being told how to LIVE

Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
"And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death."
"Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:

And so on and so forth.

[Pete4256]

@filihok .. These are the guidelines to what please the Lord.

It was a ritual custom of the heathen to cut or trim their beards and hair into special shapes in honor of a particular pagan deity. To honor the sun god Ra, the ancient Egyptians had their dark locks cropped short or shaved with great care so the hair that remained on the crown appeared in the form of a circle surrounding the head (from which the halo derives), while the beard was dressed in a square form. Alternatively, a round bald spot might be shaved on the head.

It is this type of false worship the Bible forbids. Shaving one's beard and cutting one's hair for normal good grooming is something entirely different and not at all condemned in the Scriptures. In fact, the apostle Paul takes great pains to address proper grooming of one's hair in I Corinthians 11:2-15.

BUT ... you don't believe in this GOD .. so, I guess you can do what ever you want.

[filihok]

@filihok .. These are the guidelines to what please the Lord.

So...telling people how to LIVE?

In fact, the apostle Paul takes great pains to address proper grooming of one's hair in I Corinthians 11:2-15.

So...telling people how to LIVE?

BUT ... you don't believe in this GOD .. so, I guess you can do what ever you want.

Nope.
Since I don't believe in god the Bible is pretty much a book in which some people tell other people how to LIVE.

[Alloutwar]

today's item: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbre_du_Ténéré

A solitary tree, the only one around for 250 miles, with roots stretching 120 feet below to reach the water table....likely the last of its kind from a different time period in Africa, possibly thousands of years old...

...was hit by a drunk driver in 1973 and died.

Yay, alcohol.

[MichelleWie]

It was the only tree for 250 miles, how exactly did a drunk driver manage to hit it?

Apparently it wasn't the first time it was hit either. Bizarre. Interesting article.

[Pete4256]

So...telling people how to LIVE?
So...telling people how to LIVE?

Nope.
Since I don't believe in god the Bible is pretty much a book in which some people tell other people how to LIVE.

It is a book telling you what is pleasing to God. Don't read the book and you don't have to worry about it.
You have to purchase health insurance, it's the law of the land. ACA is telling you must buy insurance or pay a fine.

Hmmm, you can either please God or go to Hell. The ultimate end of Hell is to be destroyed and since you don't believe in life after death ... your plan will be fulfilled.
With your knowledge and understanding of world events, I wouldn't be worried about it.

[Pete4256]

In other depressing news Boston Red Sox are the 2013 Champs.

But just wait until next year.

[ARC_Troopa_Nate]

Ugh, live in northern VA and saw like 50 red sox shirts from people who have never worn them before until today, claiming they're legit boston fans. Same people who trashed the nats when we were losing 100 games and then claimed to be fans when we won 98 last year.

[filihok]

It is a book telling you what is pleasing to God. Don't read the book and you don't have to worry about it.
You have to purchase health insurance, it's the law of the land. ACA is telling you must buy insurance or pay a fine.

Hmm...
so which is worse?

There's an actual law saying you have to buy insurance or pay an actual fine.

OF

There's a totally impotent law telling you how to LIVE or you will receive a fictional punishment.

I mean, my gut instinct is to say that the actual law is worse, since that's real.

But...people who live their entire lives in fear of a comic book character and never experience their own lives due to a fear of a fictional representation of what will happen to them after their death. Yeah. That's much worse than paying a fine.

Booga booga booga

yawn.

Your delusions don't scare me.

[ragecage]

Not a believer of God either, I have a thought that if I was wrong and based on that book that I would be tormented in hell for all eternity for not believing what I cannot see, than you know, I really don't want any part of a god like that anyway.

Maybe Pete can toss me down some Cloud Marshmellows for me to roast while I give god the finger.