Comments on: Would You Please Reschedule Your Crisis?

By: Country Crock

Country Crock — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:39:44 +0000

As a “Christian” musician, I can relate. in the mid-’70s, I was traveling the country with a famous gospel singer, heavy-set guy. After six months of thinking things are going fine, we arrived in town early one morning after driving all night from a tour. Everyone emptied from the bus and left except his son-in-law/driver and I. When I was putting away my suitcase in the car, the son-in-law calmly said, “We don’t need you anymore.” Seems he had made this decision long before the tour, discussed it with family and everyone except me. I thought they acted “distant” for some reason the past week.

Singers will do that to musicians. But it is sad when they do it in the name of Jesus. The guy went home and straight to bed. Never said goodby, kiss-my-a** or anything. I was dropped like a rock. Something similar happened to me around 8 years ago that made me step back and finally look at things the way they are, not the way i want them to be.

Currently, I am being paid by a church, but the pastor is as unconcerned as your pastor was. But I go perform a service and they pay me to do the job. Status quo is the phrase for the contemporary church. Glad you discovered it when you did. Thanks for the story. It was so very real to me.

By: LeoPardus

LeoPardus — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:49:28 +0000

Funny. I’ve used the Emperor’s New Clothes comparison many times to talk about the absence of God/reality in faith.

By: Eve's Apple

Eve's Apple — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:20:05 +0000

This discussion reminds me of something Ayn Rand wrote in “The Fountainhead” about knowing the difference between true and false prophets – if they use the word “sacrifice”, run like hell. Because someone who talks about sacrifice wants to be the master and you the slave. It is a dirty little secret that there are a lot of control games going on in the church. Do you crave power? Then become a Christian and start evangelizing! If you are good at it soon you will have new converts under you that you can start molding according to your interpretation of the Bible. And there is a lot of material to work with, because ultimately we are dealing with the mind. A little nudge here, a little correction there, gentle hints–it is amazing what you can get others to give up. And if they balk, then bring out the fear card. Threaten them, plant doubts about their true commitment–I think Hans Christian Andersen had it down pat in “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Terribly subversive tale, that. Come to think of it, it ought to be banned . . . don’t want people drawing comparisons . . .

By: GaryC

GaryC — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:46:39 +0000

“giving little in return” – whaaaaaaat?! I thought you got salvation and eternal life?

The churches I am familiar with don’t actually offer eternal life as a service. The services they do offer typically include funerals and burials, and those are obviously not of much use to the eternally living.

By: Not a Church Goer anymore

Not a Church Goer anymore — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:16:12 +0000

LeoPardus, don’t forget, churches also provides cash flow and front row pews if you’re a distinguished member…

By: LeoPardus

LeoPardus — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:30:04 +0000

Surely BigHouse, you know that the church grants absolution, baptism, communion, membership. Doesn’t that cover it?

But is it really more than nothing?…. or just the same?

By: BigHouse

BigHouse — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:57:23 +0000

45. Widgetas | April 14, 2009 at 1:07 pm
“giving little in return” – whaaaaaaat?! I thought you got salvation and eternal life?
Surely that’s better than nothing…?

Is that the chruch’s to give?

By: Widgetas

Widgetas — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:07:19 +0000

“giving little in return” – whaaaaaaat?! I thought you got salvation and eternal life?
Surely that’s better than nothing…?

By: Milligan

Milligan — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:37:01 +0000

This sentence pretty much sums up churches:
“The point is this: churches have a very bad habit of using people and giving little in return.”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:41:58 +0000

What do you mean, “probably did start out enjoying these activities?” The opening paragraph of the article establishes that, when she left the choir, she still enjoyed meeting up with the people for weekly rehearsals. Since she avoided the outreach program and the prayer group, and presumably any other activity she was averse to, all the choir saw was somebody enjoying playing piano at rehearsals and church. Where were they supposed to see something wrong? Had she actually participated in an activity which she didn’t enjoy, somebody might have picked up on it and asked her about it. Was her belief in an omniscient god replaced with belief in omniscient choir members?