the road to hana wrote:You think the missionaries who come attached to that Book of Mormon request have some other purpose?
Yes, they want you to join the LDS Church before the contributions. That is different.
How? That somehow makes is more acceptable?
People who give to tithing are doing it to keep a commandment of their own free will. Not to build $6,000 doghouses for televangelists. I think that makes it a lot more acceptable.
Fundraising is fundraising. The point is that the objective of sending out the "free" copies of the Book of Mormon is no different than sending out direct mail to individual prospective donors. "Conversion" just legitimizes it.
The road is beautiful, treacherous, and full of twists and turns.
harmony wrote:How many rich preachers do you now, Jersey? I'm thinking back over my entire 55 years and I don't know/remember any rich preachers. How about you?
I have to take time to applaud your lack of experience with the medium of television.
I avoid televangelists at all costs. I don't consider them in the same breath as the preachers I've encountered. I was referring to real preachers, the ones who pastor the churches around here. Nice people, people trying to do the right thing... In other words, the vast majority of preachers who live on very little. Most of them have a second job (driving school bus seems to be the 2nd job of choice around here) or else live in abject poverty.
Televangelists for the most part fit the description, but it doesn't apply at all to the pastors of my youth or the preachers I see in my world.
the road to hana wrote:How? That somehow makes is more acceptable?
Although I wish there were more transparency in LDS finances, I tend to believe that their motives are not simply the crass ones of lining their own pockets. Now, not all televangelists fall in that category, but enough of them have to make me more suspicious of them. It seems to me that the tie of membership in a well-established, reasonably mainstream church is a decent assurance that this kind of abuse is not going on. Not ironclad, but decent.
“I was hooked from the start,” Snoop Dogg said. “We talked about the purpose of life, played Mousetrap, and ate brownies. The kids thought it was off the hook, for real.”
harmony wrote:I avoid televangelists at all costs. I don't consider them in the same breath as the preachers I've encountered. I was referring to real preachers, the ones who pastor the churches around here. Nice people, people trying to do the right thing... In other words, the vast majority of preachers who live on very little. Most of them have a second job (driving school bus seems to be the 2nd job of choice around here) or else live in abject poverty.
Televangelists for the most part fit the description, but it doesn't apply at all to the pastors of my youth or the preachers I see in my world.
I agree with you about most preachers, but your statement was kind of sweeping.
“I was hooked from the start,” Snoop Dogg said. “We talked about the purpose of life, played Mousetrap, and ate brownies. The kids thought it was off the hook, for real.”
the road to hana wrote:Fundraising is fundraising. The point is that the objective of sending out the "free" copies of the Book of Mormon is no different than sending out direct mail to individual prospective donors. "Conversion" just legitimizes it.
I have to disagree. Not all televangelist fundraising is simply fundraising. Some of it is clearly fraudulent.
Conversion legitimizes things for a good reason. People ostensibly benefit from membership and participation in an organization in a way they do not when they are simply mailing checks to a slick huckster using religion as a front.
“I was hooked from the start,” Snoop Dogg said. “We talked about the purpose of life, played Mousetrap, and ate brownies. The kids thought it was off the hook, for real.”
Runtu wrote: Juliann is generally not hateful toward groups; she reserves her venom for individuals.
What I want to know, is if you should immediately make cuts and try to suck out the venom or should you dial 911 and ask for Dr. Shades?
by the way, no mention whatsoever about Mitt today at Church, although the instructor did mention Dan Peterson and how he and his friends have proved the existence of steel bows and brass plates in the old world.
moksha wrote:by the way, no mention whatsoever about Mitt today at Church, although the instructor did mention Dan Peterson and how he and his friends have proved the existence of steel bows and brass plates in the old world.
Please please please say you're joking, lil penguin.
Mister Scratch wrote:Yep. That sure is funny! Almost as funny as saying that Jesus and Satan are brothers! Woo-eee!
Does your stake president know that you think this?
Asking Scratch or Harmony if their Priesthood leaders know what they actually think about the Church is tantamount to asking Bill Clinton if he knows the Ten Commandments.
The face of sin today often wears the mask of tolerance.