The church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Capitalists.

[santaro75]

It seems that we live in a day where Jesus is sold. Churches compete with glamour, glitz and the promise of a perfect life to get you in the door and start taking your tithes.

But I think you lose something with size. I mean look at Wal Mart, Costco, Home Depot. Yes they are effective and taking over but we have lost so much by going Big.

 

[dhgray]

What’s your point? smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_12_3.gif

 

[tkdnick]

dhgray:

What’s your point? smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_12_3.gif

I second that. Are you saying that the LDS church uses glamor and glitz and stuff to lure people in? I went to an LDS “church” recently. There was no glitz, noting fancy. In fact, it reminded me of high school. People were talking and not paying attention. There were papers all over the place. There was even a bell to indicate when it was time for the different wards to change locations. It was truly an unspiritual experience. Glad I was only there for 30 minutes.

 

[flameburns623]

tkdnick:

I second that. Are you saying that the LDS church uses glamor and glitz and stuff to lure people in?

I think he was addressing the state of Christianity generally, of Protestant ‘seeker sensivitive’ churches particularly.

I went to an LDS “church” recently. There was no glitz, noting fancy. In fact, it reminded me of high school. People were talking and not paying attention. There were papers all over the place. There was even a bell to indicate when it was time for the different wards to change locations. It was truly an unspiritual experience.

What service were you attending? Sacrament meeting? It’s usually MUCH more reverent than that, although the LDS leadership feels there is something spiritually uplifting in the babble of children and so little effort is taken to reign them in. Fortunately, the kids go to the Nursery or to Primary for the Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society meetings.

Glad I was only there for 30 minutes.

You have a very low tolerance for differences. By the way: Mormons worship in a three-hour ‘block’: an hour for Sacrament Meeting, an hour for Sunday School, an hour for Priesthood or Relief Society meetings. You didn’t really give the experience a fair shot.

Not that I’m entirely certain I would encourage you to do so.

 

[santaro75]

Sorry, I should clarify. I wasnt’ speaking of the LDS church. I am speaking of a lot of Mega churches that I get flyers for in the mail. I dunno, I just think that it seems weird and in a way, wrong.

 

[Catholic_Dude]

i see and feel what you are saying about the whole ‘big’ and lux thing. one thing that i have seen a lot in many protestant churches is a GYM right next to or part of the same structure as the sanctuary! in some cases you could hear balls bouncing during a sermon!
in terms of luxury there is a difference between art/reverence and 3-D big screen surround sound of the so called “mega churches” which are nothing more than basketball arenas.

when you talk about Costco, Walmart, etc. yes it all comes from the same mentality bigger, newer, nicer even if it means losing the most important thing…quality. most of them are hollow warehouses with a lot of HYPE. they train people to go for a kind of pop music concert instead of reverence and order

thanks for bringing this up, it is very important to slow down the down ward spiral Christianity is going into in America. this is insanity but if i try to bring it up people get offended.

 

[tkdnick]

flameburns623:

What service were you attending? Sacrament meeting? It’s usually MUCH more reverent than that, although the LDS leadership feels there is something spiritually uplifting in the babble of children and so little effort is taken to reign them in. Fortunately, the kids go to the Nursery or to Primary for the Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society meetings.

You have a very low tolerance for differences. By the way: Mormons worship in a three-hour ‘block’: an hour for Sacrament Meeting, an hour for Sunday School, an hour for Priesthood or Relief Society meetings. You didn’t really give the experience a fair shot.

Yes I was in the sacrament meeting. I came in right when the young men (I believe they’re called deacons) were handing out “the sacrament”. It looked and felt like any number of generic seminars one might go to on any number of topics. I know how the LDS “worship service” works. However, I only experienced the 30 minutes I was there for their sacrament meeting (I had to leave early to make it to Mass). So I was only commenting on what I experienced in that 30 minutes. It has nothing to do with my tolerance for differences.

 

[tkdnick]

santaro75:

Sorry, I should clarify. I wasnt’ speaking of the LDS church. I am speaking of a lot of Mega churches that I get flyers for in the mail. I dunno, I just think that it seems weird and in a way, wrong.

If you weren’t speaking of the LDS church, then why is the title of thread “The church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Capitalists”? That’s why I assumed we were talking about LDS, because their church is mentioned specifically in the title.

 

[tkdnick]

santaro75:

Sorry, I should clarify. I wasnt’ speaking of the LDS church. I am speaking of a lot of Mega churches that I get flyers for in the mail. I dunno, I just think that it seems weird and in a way, wrong.

I have to say our parish is seeing the effect that these fancy flyers and such are having, and are doing similar things. Flyers for some of our events have gotten to be very professional and flashy.

 

[santaro75]

I am sorry if the title offended you. I was borrowing their name and calling it a church of capitalist opportunists instead of saints. Sorry I guess it didn’t quite work out the way i planned.

 

[tkdnick]

santaro75:

I am sorry if the title offended you. I was borrowing their name and calling it a church of capitalist opportunists instead of saints. Sorry I guess it didn’t quite work out the way i planned.

No, no, it didn’t bother me at all. I just figured that it was that specific church that we were talking about in this thread. Didn’t realize we were talking about a wide range of churches.