Religion will be around as long as people make money from it. (churches, atheist)
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As long as there are those who are willing to take advantage of the ignorant and as long as the ignorant are willing to pay for a "warm and fuzzy" it's an easy income I suppose.
Religion is a system of beliefs and rituals centering on a
supernatural being or beings.
Religion will be around regardless of money being made although
not as widely. It blows my mind how many people think they can
buy their way into Heaven or have their sins forgiven with money.
This is one of the reasons I stay away from "church". How can so many people read the same Bible and serve the same God and yet be in
competition with who has the most members ,the biggest budgets and
boast about all of the material possessions their church has.
One only has to look to the greatest precher/teacher ever to walk
this earth , Jesus.
What he teaches and what the churches do ,its like they don't even
read or study the teachings of Christ. It would be fair to say that He
was not to fond of the scribes and pharisees, He called them hypocrites,
serpents,den of vipers. They make the outside of the cup clean but on
the inside is filth(Matt.23) I see the churches of today just like the churches then, full of greed ,pride and deception. God does not save churches/denominations He saves individuals.
"These people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with
their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship
me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
You don't choose to preach you are choosen to preach.
remove the money and you will remove the false preachers.
As long as there are those who are willing to take advantage of the ignorant and as long as the ignorant are willing to pay for a "warm and fuzzy" it's an easy income I suppose.
Isn't it fun to just take pot shots at something w/out having to actually think?
The issue of money and religion is interesting and shouldn't just be ignored.
Organized religions are making big money. Follow the money trail and it'll open your eyes to lots of things.
I work in IT right now. I'm probably going to be making roughly half as much when I graduate with a $30,000 Master's Degree in Theology. I'm not going into it for the money.
Yes--there are shysters on tv that are scamming people...but by and large, I think you're woefully mistaken if you think the average pastor makes a lot of money in comparison to what he would make in a secular job of the same level of responsibility.
I work in IT right now. I'm probably going to be making roughly half as much when I graduate with a $30,000 Master's Degree in Theology. I'm not going into it for the money.
Yes--there are shysters on tv that are scamming people...but by and large, I think you're woefully mistaken if you think the average pastor makes a lot of money in comparison to what he would make in a secular job of the same level of responsibility.
I'm talking about the real estate schemes. The fact that profits are often central the churches decisions. The people pulling the strings at the top of the chain. The corruption that is not too well hidden. The international ventures that are so blatently driven by money.
Of course the sheep and soldiers of the religion do not make too much money. And of course there are shysters who use religion as a front to gain peopes trust and con them. But I am talking about the corruption within the actual churches.
You're a smart person obviously. You don't know about it? There are many aspects to it.
On a side note. Why do many churches keep on encouraging the working people in thier churches to donate. When these churches enjoy tax-free status and have billions and billions of dollars?
Why don't the churches donate the their followers instead? Why are there gawdy, huge churches everywhere that could house all the homeless of the US, yet their doors are closed? Why are these churches sitting on billions and billions of dollars?
As long as there are those who are willing to take advantage of the ignorant and as long as the ignorant are willing to pay for a "warm and fuzzy" it's an easy income I suppose.
It is probably about both money and power - they are related. In societies like the US, because of constitutional restrictions (church-state wall) and education (not everyone can be easily converted), it may be more about money. In theocracies like Iran et al, it is about power.
As long as there are those who are willing to take advantage of the ignorant and as long as the ignorant are willing to pay for a "warm and fuzzy" it's an easy income I suppose.
You're right, but in the beginning, when the bible of Christianity was written, religion was a lot different. The Romans changed a lot of it. I believe in science. If there is a god, there's no way we'll ever see him or his "kingdom". His "kingdom" would be a metaphysical dimension that would be only accessible by a worm hole or black hole, which would kill anyone who tried to get to it.
Religion will always be around, but there will always be those jerks who make it so stupid.
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