I was with a friend yesterday in a bookstore browsing the aisles of the periodical section. We were fascinated by the various and MANY “spiritual” magazines available… Hindu, Buddhist, Universalist, Pagan, Wiccan. And then there was the “Christian” magazine. It was the only one sealed in plastic; it was the only one giving the message “If you want to see what we believe, you’ll have to pay up front.” Not quite the message of Jesus, is it?
I always chuckle when I hear a preacher/christian say, “We have to bring what we have in the chruch out to the marketplace”. Meanwhile I sit there, silently praying, we have to get the world out of the church.
Speaking of which Mr. Hayward, have you heard of the recent $120 million church building upgrade in Dallas Texas? Wowzers!
Then again, if I had a 120 million dollars, I’d probably spend it on nice cars, a big mansion and perhaps some other trinkets for my family and the girl I’m trying to woo…
But still 120 million dollars for a church upgrade! I’d only accept such an expenditure if they were upgrading their church to an authentic high Gothic look with a large rose window the size of Notre Dame’s; which they aren’t!
You probably don’t want to hear this either, but a church near me built a gym. Can you imagine how much that costs? And they have the gall to pretend to care for the world? I don’t understand how they can think they are fooling people. It’s all so plain what the priorities are. It seems alot of churches are actually businesses or social clubs mainly.
Wow, I wish MY church had a gym! We don’t have these ’superchurches’ here – there isn’t the money or the interest as hardly anyone goes to church.
One church in an extremely wealthy part of London spent I don’t know how many millions extending its balcony so as to fit even more people in to what already is a huge church building. I find that morally repugnant when there are churches in London standing empty, especially as the congregation are not evenmostly from that area. That’s the church where Alpha started, by the way.
The city council here is investing at least 12 million pounds (probably a lot more) in the building my church owns so as to use it for an international concert hall. (It’s an old art deco cinema). I’m a bit worried people will think we’re one of these rich superchurches, as they are going to have a roof garden, panoramic restaurant and all new seating, lighting and audio. I hope there’s a bar! We do need a large venue here though as all we’ve got is a hot, smelly tent.
Again- you have set me thinking -tangentially-about the passage I am due to take this morning: Mark 13:1-8. I pastor 3 small churches in North Yorkshire- so dicfferent to your location. I hope it’s ok- I plan to use this cartoon with the thought the stability/ ’success’/wealth is not neccesarily a sign of God’s blessing/God is with you.
That’s what I intend to do- I’m on in an hour and it’s a bit of a mess right now. Your cartoons make people laugh and think so much around these parts. Keep going!
How can one argue against prosperity theology using the Bible? I’m asking that because the people who run my church seem to think it’s Biblical – I think they are using the Old Testament to support this. It’s not something I’ve had to think about before because I’ve never been in a church that had those beliefs. I’m not really sure to what extent they believe it. They give a lot of money to charity – they run a shelter for homeless people and have a team working in the slums in Uganda. It’s not like they’re using it to justify making themselves rich. It may be because funding has been so uncertain that they’ve had to believe that God will give them money when they need it.
David Hayward is a pastor artistically stripping to the essential.
I was with a friend yesterday in a bookstore browsing the aisles of the periodical section. We were fascinated by the various and MANY “spiritual” magazines available… Hindu, Buddhist, Universalist, Pagan, Wiccan. And then there was the “Christian” magazine. It was the only one sealed in plastic; it was the only one giving the message “If you want to see what we believe, you’ll have to pay up front.” Not quite the message of Jesus, is it?
Ouch! very nice.
I always chuckle when I hear a preacher/christian say, “We have to bring what we have in the chruch out to the marketplace”. Meanwhile I sit there, silently praying, we have to get the world out of the church.
Well done, David!
Jesus wept
“May I present to you Christianity Incorporated”.
Methinks it’s time to go to the temple and turn over some tables.
Speaking of which Mr. Hayward, have you heard of the recent $120 million church building upgrade in Dallas Texas? Wowzers!
Then again, if I had a 120 million dollars, I’d probably spend it on nice cars, a big mansion and perhaps some other trinkets for my family and the girl I’m trying to woo…
But still 120 million dollars for a church upgrade! I’d only accept such an expenditure if they were upgrading their church to an authentic high Gothic look with a large rose window the size of Notre Dame’s; which they aren’t!
i haven’t heard. and i don’t want to
Maybe the Christian magazine was sealed so that people didn’t deface it.
You probably don’t want to hear this either, but a church near me built a gym. Can you imagine how much that costs? And they have the gall to pretend to care for the world? I don’t understand how they can think they are fooling people. It’s all so plain what the priorities are. It seems alot of churches are actually businesses or social clubs mainly.
Amen.
Wow, I wish MY church had a gym! We don’t have these ’superchurches’ here – there isn’t the money or the interest as hardly anyone goes to church.
One church in an extremely wealthy part of London spent I don’t know how many millions extending its balcony so as to fit even more people in to what already is a huge church building. I find that morally repugnant when there are churches in London standing empty, especially as the congregation are not evenmostly from that area. That’s the church where Alpha started, by the way.
The city council here is investing at least 12 million pounds (probably a lot more) in the building my church owns so as to use it for an international concert hall. (It’s an old art deco cinema). I’m a bit worried people will think we’re one of these rich superchurches, as they are going to have a roof garden, panoramic restaurant and all new seating, lighting and audio. I hope there’s a bar! We do need a large venue here though as all we’ve got is a hot, smelly tent.
Jesus indeed weeps . . .
Again- you have set me thinking -tangentially-about the passage I am due to take this morning: Mark 13:1-8. I pastor 3 small churches in North Yorkshire- so dicfferent to your location. I hope it’s ok- I plan to use this cartoon with the thought the stability/ ’success’/wealth is not neccesarily a sign of God’s blessing/God is with you.
That’s what I intend to do- I’m on in an hour and it’s a bit of a mess right now. Your cartoons make people laugh and think so much around these parts. Keep going!
How can one argue against prosperity theology using the Bible? I’m asking that because the people who run my church seem to think it’s Biblical – I think they are using the Old Testament to support this. It’s not something I’ve had to think about before because I’ve never been in a church that had those beliefs. I’m not really sure to what extent they believe it. They give a lot of money to charity – they run a shelter for homeless people and have a team working in the slums in Uganda. It’s not like they’re using it to justify making themselves rich. It may be because funding has been so uncertain that they’ve had to believe that God will give them money when they need it.