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The Case Against Televangelists

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joyflower Since: Dec, 1969
#1: Oct 18th 2011 at 1:40:01 PM

I have heard many unlikable things about these guys because they usually spread the Prosperity Gospel or get into scandals.However,some people think that they help spread the message to people around the world but tend to think the majority of them are in it for the money.

BlixtySlycat |like a boss| from Driving the Rad Hazard Since: Aug, 2011
|like a boss|
#2: Oct 18th 2011 at 1:42:38 PM

That would be a correct assessment for most.

The ones who tend to be "legitimate" as it were, usually operate on a much smaller basis.

go ahead and do every stupid thing you can imagine
Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#3: Oct 18th 2011 at 1:42:41 PM

The majority of them run megachurches, wear ridiculously expensive outfits and have very little accountability for where their donation money goes. of course theyre in it for the money.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#4: Oct 18th 2011 at 1:43:27 PM

That's because the most notable Televangelists are in it for the money. They can preach charity to the poor all they want, but they themselves tend to be revealed as living in big fancy houses with expensive cars bought with, presumably, the money their flocks have donated to them. For charity.

I respect the man that lives humbly and does good deeds. I do not respect the man that preaches about God and then goes and lives like a king on money that others have given to him for charitable works.

Lawyerdude Citizen from my secret moon base Since: Jan, 2001
Citizen
#5: Oct 18th 2011 at 1:53:52 PM

Most (if not all) of them are in it for the money and fame. They prey on the ignorant and desperate. What astonishes me is how many of them stay in business. Can't even the stupidest among us realize that somebody going on TV and asking for your money while offering nothing in return is just a con man? Of course, nobody ever went bankrupt by underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

While I have my own beef against organized religion, at least some of them have accountability and responsibility to their congregations. People who aren't accountable will inevitably abuse their power. It's just a simple fact of human behavior.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.
Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#6: Oct 18th 2011 at 1:57:34 PM

average churches are usually pretty accountable, yeah. Megachurches just go "help our ministries" and magiclaly materialize mansions for themselves.

joyflower Since: Dec, 1969
#7: Oct 18th 2011 at 1:59:15 PM

snowman@Its one of the reasons why I like going to smaller churches as well because I like it so that I can get to know people better and it feels more like a family than a business.Actually the church is supposed to be like a family anyway and I feel big churches sorta of take away that togetherness.

TheGloomer Since: Sep, 2010
#8: Oct 18th 2011 at 2:14:35 PM

They misinterpreted the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector; when Jesus indicated that we should worship like the tax collector, they thought it meant they should take everybody's money.

Wicked223 from Death Star in the forest Since: Apr, 2009
#9: Oct 18th 2011 at 2:19:12 PM

Can we give some names when we talk about "Televangelists getting rich"?

You can't even write racist abuse in excrement on somebody's car without the politically correct brigade jumping down your throat!
TheProffesor The Professor from USA Since: Jan, 2011
#10: Oct 18th 2011 at 2:39:13 PM

There are many good televangelists out there. It's a faulty assumption to say every big church is corrupt.

What about Billy Graham? What about Charles Stanley? What about Andy Stanley? I've never heard anything bad about them and they ran/run fairly sizeable congregations.

MarkVonLewis Since: Jun, 2010
#11: Oct 18th 2011 at 2:41:42 PM

My view is that most televangelists (not all, though) are naught but con men using religion as a basis for their scams. They are like the religious equivalent of Am Way.

Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#12: Oct 18th 2011 at 3:18:18 PM

@Wicked: lets see.

Jim Bakker, is the most notable one. Though in more recent cases, theres guys like Vaughn Reeves, who basically tried to turn a construction project for his church into a scheme that left him and his sons with a cool 6 million in cash to spend on shit.

The other big problem is only about 17 televangelists or so actually are members of organizations for financial accountability and properity Gospel pretty much runs counter to christianity.

edited 18th Oct '11 3:19:35 PM by Midgetsnowman

SavageHeathen Pro-Freedom Fanatic from Somewhere Since: Feb, 2011
Pro-Freedom Fanatic
#13: Oct 18th 2011 at 3:20:51 PM

[up] The problem ain't that they're heretical, the problem is that they're swindlers.

Then again, evangelical money that gets stuck into a scam preacher's personal pockets is evangelical money that doesn't find its way into conservative causes: Paradoxically, the most dishonest ones are the least harmful.

Perhaps there's a Broken Aesop (or a few) to be learned from that... evil grin

edited 18th Oct '11 3:22:35 PM by SavageHeathen

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#14: Oct 18th 2011 at 3:29:52 PM

Savage, please. There's no aesop to be learned from it. People are greedy isn't an aesop, it's a fact of life. And damn, when they get behind a conservative cause they can and will loosen up the purse strings. There's a crapload of money going into the campaigns of conservative politicians.

Tongpu Since: Jan, 2001
#15: Oct 18th 2011 at 3:33:31 PM

The fact that they're evangelists is reason enough for me to dislike them. I don't know if I particularly care whether they also happen to be greedy.

SavageHeathen Pro-Freedom Fanatic from Somewhere Since: Feb, 2011
Pro-Freedom Fanatic
#16: Oct 18th 2011 at 3:35:10 PM

[up][up] If you are into the business to get rich, wouldn't donations detract from that purpose? It's much more economically wise to say you're funding ministries, in a very vague way, preferrably with enough opacity that you could just pocket the moolah outright. tongue

edited 18th Oct '11 3:36:28 PM by SavageHeathen

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#17: Oct 18th 2011 at 3:41:01 PM

  • shrug* Funding the right politicians can make you richer in the long term. And, you know, push whatever moral agenda you happen to have. You can have more than one goal at a time.

Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#18: Oct 18th 2011 at 3:42:08 PM

[up]

More accurately,. fund the right politicians, and the regulations favor you making more money.

JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#19: Oct 18th 2011 at 3:49:16 PM

I think Tongpu basically said what I was already thinking. But no, greed doesn't improve their standing any with me...

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
LostAnarchist Violence Is Necessary! from Neo Arcadia Itself Since: Sep, 2011
Violence Is Necessary!
#20: Oct 18th 2011 at 5:57:28 PM

Televangelists are part of the Reason any religion is now looked at with disdain in a growing Atheist population that is America and anywhere else fed up with their BS(of making religion, especially Christianity look bad in general).

May God Strike them down for their sin(s) of Greed.

This is where I, the Vampire Mistress, proudly reside: http://liberal.nationstates.net/nation=nova_nacio
USAF713 I changed accounts. from the United States Since: Sep, 2010
I changed accounts.
#21: Oct 18th 2011 at 6:09:11 PM

...right.

~shrug~

I think, greedy and immoral or not, televangelists are at least Completely Missing The Point, most of the time...

I am now known as Flyboy.
LostAnarchist Violence Is Necessary! from Neo Arcadia Itself Since: Sep, 2011
Violence Is Necessary!
#22: Oct 18th 2011 at 6:19:08 PM

[up] Then why do people continue to listen to these traitors of (MY) Religion? Nothing they say will ever please God. The only Apocalypse that will happen, will be the one poised on their hides if enough people catch on their game (which won't happen anytime soon, sadly, but it's wishful thinking).

This is where I, the Vampire Mistress, proudly reside: http://liberal.nationstates.net/nation=nova_nacio
ForlornDreamer from United States Since: Apr, 2011
#23: Oct 18th 2011 at 6:21:28 PM

Can we give some names when we talk about "Televangelists getting rich"?

Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, Eddie L. Long, Paula White, and Creflo Dollar to name a few.

The only ones I am really familiar with are Benny Hinn, whose legal defense squad is almost as relentless as that of the Church of Happyology, and Eddie Long, who got in trouble at some point recently for alleged sexual improprieties with young men in his church.

edited 18th Oct '11 6:32:33 PM by ForlornDreamer

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#24: Oct 18th 2011 at 6:39:54 PM

Because they're compelling, that's why, Lost. They're compelling and they're loud.

LostAnarchist Violence Is Necessary! from Neo Arcadia Itself Since: Sep, 2011
Violence Is Necessary!
#25: Oct 18th 2011 at 6:44:40 PM

[up] Being Loud has hurt us in more ways than we'll ever know, especially if we're having to follow around loud and STUPID, disgusting people like this.

Then again, this is why the Tea Party still exists...

This is where I, the Vampire Mistress, proudly reside: http://liberal.nationstates.net/nation=nova_nacio
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