Why do you believe in God/Allah/Budha/Science/etc etc

[Gidan]

The pastor at my papa's church made quite a nice sum. I wouldnt call it meager in any way.

What Kahar was saying is, he doesnt need to fund a huge, elaborate church building, pay some guy to rehash old sermons in order to beleive and serve God.
I am the same way, I believe, but I wont set foot in a church building again.

Not a slam on you, but I really think you have the wrong attitude about church. God wants us to join a congregation of fellow believers. What better way than in one central location?

The problem is when you dont beleive everything that they beleive but they have decided its their mission in life to make you beleive it.

I have never once felt like part of a loving community in church. I have always felt as though I am being lectured and scolded for my life. Feeling constantly like you have been born evil and need to spend your life repenting to avoid an eternity of punishment doesn't seem to me to be a great way to show and rejoice in your faith.

[Narrock]

The pastor at my papa's church made quite a nice sum. I wouldnt call it meager in any way.

What Kahar was saying is, he doesnt need to fund a huge, elaborate church building, pay some guy to rehash old sermons in order to beleive and serve God.
I am the same way, I believe, but I wont set foot in a church building again.

Not a slam on you, but I really think you have the wrong attitude about church. God wants us to join a congregation of fellow believers. What better way than in one central location?

The problem is when you dont beleive everything that they beleive but they have decided its their mission in life to make you beleive it.

I have never once felt like part of a loving community in church. I have always felt as though I am being lectured and scolded for my life. Feeling constantly like you have been born evil and need to spend your life repenting to avoid an eternity of punishment doesn't seem to me to be a great way to show and rejoice in your faith.

I guess I just have a totally different outlook. I see church as a fun place to go... with nothing but positive attributes associated with it. If you like to sing, you can sing in the choir, if you're a musician you can play in the church band, if you like kids... you can volunteer to be a sabbath-school teacher, or a sunday-school teacher. If you like electronics, you can get involved with the lighting or sound crew. If you want to make friends with other people who have the same values as you, you can do that as well. You can volunteer for so many different areas within a church it will make your head spin. I joined the prophecy Bible study groups. It's a blast, and you learn a lot. Yes, I give tithe. I feel good about writing that check every month... there's no bad feelings associated with it. I appreciate what God and my church has done for me, so I don't feel bad about giving something in return.

Think about what a church offers its members & parishioners... can you really place a price tag on that, let alone calling it a cash cow?

[KILL]

10% x the whole congregation = a lot.

Takes a lot to fund the lease on the land, the building, utilities, church essentials, tithe (pastor's meager salary), ministries, missions, charity donations, etc. It is not a profit mecca.

LMFAO.


NO joke here. I do engineering work for aluminum specialty companies. I have to go to peoples homes to measure and create a blueprints for aluminum enclosures they are having built. Make sure they meet current building code, etc etc..

Anyways, point being I get to met a lot of different people at thier homes. Doctors, lawyers, carpenters, fags, dorks, geeks and yes... even pastors.

I remember every one of those pastors. Six to be exact. And not a one of those six was living in a home that would be considered anything less than upper middle class. One was so rediculous I'll never forget it. Walking into his home was more like walking into an art gallery. Marble floors with walls and hallways lined with what were obviously very expensive paintings and sculptures. Not all that unusual really, I see lots of kick ass homes, but not from people who ask for donations to pay thier bills.

Trust me here, those guys may do a lot for thier church, but they sure as hell dont do it for a meager salary. Hey, maybe they all hit it rich before giving thier lives to the church, but I havent met one yet who I would say is living humble.

They may actually be on the books for a small amount, but 3 of the people I had to collect checks came directly from the ministries account. Yeah , they were getting home improvements dont right out of the churchs bank account.

Not a profit mecca...

[Martrae]

They may not make a huge salary but almost everything is paid for by the church so they don't need one.

[Narrock]

10% x the whole congregation = a lot.

Takes a lot to fund the lease on the land, the building, utilities, church essentials, tithe (pastor's meager salary), ministries, missions, charity donations, etc. It is not a profit mecca.

LMFAO.


NO joke here. I do engineering work for aluminum specialty companies. I have to go to peoples homes to measure and create a blueprints for aluminum enclosures they are having built. Make sure they meet current building code, etc etc..

Anyways, point being I get to met a lot of different people at thier homes. Doctors, lawyers, carpenters, fags, dorks, geeks and yes... even pastors.

I remember every one of those pastors. Six to be exact. And not a one of those six was living in a home that would be considered anything less than upper middle class. One was so rediculous I'll never forget it. Walking into his home was more like walking into an art gallery. Marble floors with walls and hallways lined with what were obviously very expensive paintings and sculptures. Not all that unusual really, I see lots of kick ass homes, but not from people who ask for donations to pay thier bills.

Trust me here, those guys may do a lot for thier church, but they sure as hell dont do it for a meager salary. Hey, maybe they all hit it rich before giving thier lives to the church, but I havent met one yet who I would say is living humble.

They may actually be on the books for a small amount, but 3 of the people I had to collect checks came directly from the ministries account. Yeah , they were getting home improvements dont right out of the churchs bank account.

Not a profit mecca...

Not all pastors are alike. What do you think a pastor should make who is leading a congregation of 2000 people? That's quite a job. I don't know what his salary is, but the pastor at my SDA church has a small, 3/2 house in a middle class neighborhood... I've been there several times for Bible study. He drives an 03 Toyota Prius, and his wife drives like a 96 Camry. They are not living extravagantly by any means.

If a pastor makes between $50-$75k, and is a wise investor, more power to him/her. If a pastor is making $250k then I see something wrong with that. $200k of that kind of salary would feed an aweful lot of homeless people, or be useful to some charitable organizations.

Makes me wonder how much Rick Warren makes... He is an awesome pastor, and an incredible author.

[Ganzo]

Duno about christian priests, but most orthodox rabbis i know are dirt poor

[Eziekial]

I've heard some stories of Louisiana pastors who have Maybachs and private planes. I don't doubt some of them are true

[veeneedefeesh]

Jimmy Swaggart has a HUGE Bible college in Baton Rouge LA, (I think he is from the north shore of Lake Ponchatrain, not positive of that tho) I am fairly sure he has at least one private plane... whats a maybach?