Prosperity Christian values

[charlie]

Two news articles from Detroit. My already-low regard for the shameless gits who peddle so-called Prosperity Christianity has dropped below the sewer lines under the basement:

Houses cheaper than cars in Detroit

At least 16 Detroit houses up for sale on Sunday sold for $30,000 or less.

A boarded-up bungalow on the city's west side brought $1,300. A four-bedroom house near the original Motown recording studio sold for $7,000.

"You can't buy a used car for that," said Izairi. "It's a gamble, and you have to wonder how low it's going to get."

Detroit, where unemployment runs near 14 percent and a third of the population lives in poverty, leads the nation in new foreclosure filings, according to tracking service RealtyTrac.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070319/ts_nm/usa_subprime_detroit_dc

No taxes on $4M parsonage

A Redford Township church that believes wealth is God's reward is raising eyebrows for buying its pastor a $3.65 million mansion and taking it off the tax rolls.

This month, township officials grudgingly conceded they had no choice but to remove the 11,000-square-foot home overlooking Maybury State Park from its assessment rolls, losing $40,000 annually in taxes.



http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703170416

[ClintonTyree]

1. Yes, god wants his messengers on earth....

to live in ostentatious opulence. I'm SURE all of the extra rooms they're not using will be filled with the homeless and be used to further god's work on earth. :sarcasm:

TAX THE BASTARDS! :grr:

[tblue]

2. Oh give me a break! That house, man, that is just criminal! I know someone who told me

her pastor's wife wanted the congregation to help her husband, the pastor, celebrate his 50th birthday by -- get this -- buying him a Mercedes Benz! Oh yeah. Wait, it gets better. The wife asked the congregants (is that what they're called?) to donate in increments of 50 -- $50, $500, $5000, etc. I kid you not. Turns my stomach when I think about it. Church-goers and True Believers have been taken advantage of since time immemorial. Sad. People, just open your God-given eyes!!!

[moggie]

3. Buy him a Janis Joplin CD instead

JJ had something to say on this subject.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. I can understand churches not being on the rolls

but not the parsonages, especially since many denominations don't provide homes for their ministers. And anyway, the idea was for the minister to live modestly, almost in poverty--his way was to gather riches in Heaven, not on Earth. Seems these folks have that backwards. Must've read "Supply Side Jesus".

[cosmik debris]

5. Jesus must be SO PROUD!

Didn't he teach that accumulation of wealth and luxury was the way to get into heaven?

I seem to recall some verse about how easy it is for a rich man to pass through the Eye of the Needle, or something like that.
:sarcasm:

[gbate]

6. Now, now.. these are what are called "blessings." It's new Christian-speak. /sarcasm.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. If there's one thing Jesus was consistent about, it was

in teaching that wealth is a moral hazard.

I don't know where these "prosperity Gospel" types are getting their doctrine from. It's certainly not from any Bible that I've ever read.