Some mega churches affect students adversely

[Porker]

You feel those bashers are biased to one extreme.

 

You promote the 'good things' about them all the time. You're on the other extreme as well.

 

I have no intentions to make enemies anymore so peace man

[Beei]

if outside, can ask them to go India with me to obtain the sacred sutra..

[Porker]

I tread the middle path to the best of my ability.

 

Being too kind is not good at times (a lil evil does good at times) and being too evil is not good at times (a lil good does good at times).

 

So what to do? Be flexible and judge from the situation.

 

This is what we call the middle path.

[Boboman]

Can somebody enlighten me on the "halal food" part?

[Cheerios]

if you go to most churches, you see that members compete see who give more, thn who talk loudest. its become a show off fest. especially mega churches. and very politic some more.

its the humans who just go power hungry, show off and want to control the church, really disgusts me

 

i feel that as a small net-citizen who has personally gone through this stage during his growing up years, perhaps i could contribute something that might shed light about this..

 

when i was still a young boy, i went to City Harvest Church out of curiosity and peer influence... and yes, during that time even when one is still dependent on their parents for $$$, cell group leaders would strongly encourage members to contribute at least 10% of their allowances. for those who know what is peer pressure, most of us ended contributing 20-30%....

 

during services, once again they would strongly encourage people to tithe again... for what reasons, perhaps its not appropriate for me to comment.. but its quite obvious... well, to begin with I was not a christian, and did not convert to become one.. When i wanted to leave the cell group, you should have seen the kind of faces that the cell group leaders and etc gave to me... my so called friends all ...... and the best part was that one of them mentioned something about my religion, which i felt was really the last straw, and i just uttered this to one of the cell group leaders who said that.. i was really dumbstrucked.... appears to me that even the cell group leader is not walking his talk...

 

by mentioning what you said just now, you are using emotional blackmail, and i am pretty sure your god would not condone of what you had done.. i am really sorry for you... i walked off and never look back...

 

disclaimer: the words he mentioned to me was pretty an insult to me and my religion..am a buddhist by the way...

 

during my days as a student, i went to CHC to look and see, and wah how much have they changed, from giro tithing, atm tithing and etc.. but one thing remains the same....

 

and please, if you are a true christian, please dun be an extremist and not one that uses emotional blackmail, human attack, insulting others... i am sure your god does not condone that. period. as simple as that.

Edited September 20, 2007 by Cheerios

[Falc]

It will be interesting to see someone who fits the bill of your previous cell group mates comment...

 

I know of someone who easily gives up her faith - from CHC. so it somewhat doesn't give me a good impression too.

[Darth_mel]

well City Harvest Church encourages tithing through Giro.... and there are even ATM machines for you to do tithing on demand, if you did not make an arrangement using Giro

 

10% the minimum... all the more the better..

 

you are strongly encouraged to tithe when you go for service, cell groups and etc....... shan't comment much on this how they go about encouraging u to tithe more and more............................................................................

...........................................................................

 

*disclaimer: this is based on 1st hand experience*

 

The more you tithe, the bigger and more luxurious the pastor's house will become.....

[Ender]

Tithing seems to benifit one person the most, i.e. the pastor.

[Damienic]

Wat do they do with the tithe collected btw?

[Gz0707]

Indoctrination can start at a very young age - has anyone seen "Jesus Camp" yet?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_EKHK1C2IE

 

http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/

[Curahee]

Increase infrastructure, facilities, to stay competitive in the church market??

Edited September 20, 2007 by Curahee

[Falc]

And paying taxes seem to benefit some people the most also.

[Gz0707]

I once attended such a dinner and it ended with one of them wanting to show me a "miracle' so that i can be convinced ...

 

Was lucky to catch the CNN program "God's Warriors" hosted by Christiane Amanpour - below is an excerpt from the web page. The "brainwashing" methods reminded me of the local activities in some churches here.

 

"The segment on Christians explores BattleCry in some depth, digging at the roots of an organization that fights against some of the cruder elements of popular culture and urges teenagers to be chaste. In noting how girls at some BattleCry events are encouraged to wear long dresses, Amanpour asks the group's leader how it is different from the Taliban."

 

http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/am...4554-series-own

[Damienic]

and pple give without questioning??

[Altivo]

i ate the sweet b4 and i got the key chain

 

u mean u blow the sweet???

[Altivo]

I have to agree with you on this. Lots of 'chio bu' are the attraction now , and the way they dress is like going clubbing No dress code?

 

exactly!!!! mini skirts, knee height boots!!! Wooow!!!

[Altivo]

I met this auntie at Bugis village hawker centre last saturday while having my favourite vegetarian meal.

 

She asked whether I'm a Buddhist since I clearly enjoyed that meal and started preaching about Jesus Christ and Christianity. Told me that Christians are good natured and don't get angry because God forbid them to but I saw her (minutes ago) scolding one unker in the Tao Huay Jwee stall because he jumped queue without realising that there's a queue.

 

Anyway to cut things short ---> she kept saying how important it is and that we will get eternal life once we accept Christ.

 

I asked her ---> Why don't you go kill yourself now so you can go to heaven and join your god? Isn't that a better option compared to suffering on Earth now yeah?

 

And she got angry and started getting aggressive

 

hahaha.... let me relate an experience i encountered.

 

Back then i was in Uni.... was at clementi mac waiting for my gf (now wife) when a girl, i think 20 yrs old?? approached me and started preaching to me. Initially, i was pretty polite and told her i'm appreciative of her effort but i'm very happy with my present state. But then, she started telling me like how only the believers will be saved and the rest will go and burn in hell!!! Ok, that got me pissed!!!

 

Well, knowing abit of the bible, i asked her so how mankind came about and she, without hesitation said, "Adam n Eve!"

 

Very good, i replied!!! So that would mean their kids start to procreate with each other and this was how we came about.... hmmmmmm.... isn't incest wrong??

 

She ws dumbfounded and kept quiet!!!

[Curahee]

Religion is a very powerful thing. Lets take a look at ancient time, the crusade summon by the pope were a series of savage battles carried out in the name of Christian piety to advance the power of the Western church. The first crusade is a holy war that would focus the power of Euro kingdom against Muslim. I dun think any god of any religion will support massacre and killing of innocent people. But people take it too radically to the degree of killing millions and millions of lives. These religious violence is even felt today. Now its terrorism on the Western world, also an act of holy war to them.