Evangelists

[Recusant]

Thank you for understanding Recusant, I was not going to post the sermon here when it was taken and when I heard it  It is not me who took it. I thought it had positive things to learn from for those who do this in person. This thread topic though when it was posted seemed on point, so I decided to post it. I thought it might though ruffle the feathers of those who do this style when I heard it. This shows that not everybody is in support of this style of preaching of hell and damnation and there is others out there who do not hold this view. It seemed to offer something to the thread an insight.

It did, at that. For anybody who ventured to wade through the wall of text. From a Christian pastor, no less.

It's simply that anybody who's still participating here at HAF has seen a dismaying array of walls of text created by Christians. The rule exists for a reason--preaching is equivalent to spam as far as the site is concerned. We've heard the Good News already. Many times.

The content of the wall of text (the sermon) is relevant to our discussion. On the other hand it's a blooming sermon. I think you're sincerely here to talk, and I appreciate the consideration of whether or not to post the sermon. Giving a Christian sermon to atheists as a source may not get many serious takers though.

Many of us (though not all) left Christianity behind a long time ago. Having done so after being more familiar with its ideas and beliefs than many Christians. There are more interesting things to discuss, but believers can usually get some conversation about religion here. As Icarus has already mentioned, you're welcome to post on other topics though. You can see by the names of the various boards in the index that there's a wide variety of things you could post about. Or carry on with the focus on your religion if that pleases you.



Evangelism is a performance. People who do performances are gratifying their egos. Nothing particularly wrong about that; a good or great performance provides value to the audience as well as the performer. As long as there's free will as the basis, no big deal. Coerced attendance at the performance, that's another matter.

[zorkan]

For the next time you come face to face with an evangelist.

Stephen Hawking: 'There is no heaven; it's a fairy story'.

Frank Zappa: 'There is no hell. There is only France'.

[GreenBlaze]

Thank you for understanding Recusant, I was not going to post the sermon here when it was taken and when I heard it  It is not me who took it. I thought it had positive things to learn from for those who do this in person. This thread topic though when it was posted seemed on point, so I decided to post it. I thought it might though ruffle the feathers of those who do this style when I heard it. This shows that not everybody is in support of this style of preaching of hell and damnation and there is others out there who do not hold this view. It seemed to offer something to the thread an insight.

It did, at that. For anybody who ventured to wade through the wall of text. From a Christian pastor, no less.

It's simply that anybody who's still participating here at HAF has seen a dismaying array of walls of text created by Christians. The rule exists for a reason--preaching is equivalent to spam as far as the site is concerned. We've heard the Good News already. Many times.

The content of the wall of text (the sermon) is relevant to our discussion. On the other hand it's a blooming sermon. I think you're sincerely here to talk, and I appreciate the consideration of whether or not to post the sermon. Giving a Christian sermon to atheists as a source may not get many serious takers though.

Many of us (though not all) left Christianity behind a long time ago. Having done so after being more familiar with its ideas and beliefs than many Christians. There are more interesting things to discuss, but believers can usually get some conversation about religion here. As Icarus has already mentioned, you're welcome to post on other topics though. You can see by the names of the various boards in the index that there's a wide variety of things you could post about. Or carry on with the focus on your religion if that pleases you.



Evangelism is a performance. People who do performances are gratifying their egos. Nothing particularly wrong about that; a good or great performance provides value to the audience as well as the performer. As long as there's free will as the basis, no big deal. Coerced attendance at the performance, that's another matter.

Thank you I will take a look around the board again, I do have different hobbies and will look at some of the ongoing topics.

[zorkan]

The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullaly is to be enthroned today.
This has annoyed some African churches within the "Anglian communion" who don't like the idea of a woman occupying the holiest position.
So after all the paedo stuff at the time of the previous incumbent comes the misogyny.

Before the ceremony begins she is denied entry to the cathedral, and will only be admitted until she has knocked 3 times on the west door with a staff. The door is then opened from the inside and an official asks "What do you want?"
Puerile or what?
Her official role is 'Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England, and Lord Spiritual.'
The Church of England is regarded as god's very own church in England.
The wearing of silly hats is a must and might even be a factor in declining attendances.

https://spectator.com/article/the-cofes-female-clergy-muddle-is-not-sustainable/

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21835-coulrophobia-fear-of-clowns

[Recusant]

The greasy dipshit "Secretary of War" Hegseth, a noisy Christian nationalist, has decreed that the number of religious faiths recognized by the US military (for its chaplains and military personnel) will be reduced from over 200 to 31. Many of those are merely different flavors of Christianity. They've decided not to include Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to give its formal name) among the Christian faiths. It's a standard trope of many hardline evangelical Christians to deny that the Mormons are "true" Christians. Among those that have been struck off are atheists, unsurprisingly.

"DOD Officially Drops 180 Faiths From Military's Recognized Religion List" | Military.com

[Icarus]

Hogsbreath Hegseth wears his Christianity conspicuously. How can it be that he is the angel of death as secretary of war, and continue to believe in the teachings of Jesus?

"Greasy dipshit" is an appropriate appellation.

One might wonder how our high ranking military officers privately view him.

[Dark Lightning]

I can tell you how one lowly ex-member of the US Navy views him- I'd like to see him walk the plank. He's yet one more disrespectful traitorous ass wipe hired by convicted felon president cadet bone spurs. I'm a member of various trade forums (wood, metal, automotive). Those which allow political discourse are nearly all supportive of this administration. I just don't get it, even when they see the face-eating leopards coming for them. They bitch about the price of petroleum products, and ignore the provenance thereof. Some are blaming Biden, if you can believe that.

[billy rubin]

the american right wing has some fifty years of training people to ignore the real sources of their oppression, and blame the scapegoats their masters tell them to blame.

conservatives have gutted education, mastered propaganda, and taken advantage of people's prejudice and ignorance for decades to get us to this point.

the people being fooled by the lies of the current administration are not themselves to blame-- theyve been fed nothing but lies for years because the leftist opposition has abandoned them and treated them as unimportant flyover citizens. i know this-- my wife ran for congress twice and had to deal with the democratic political machine and its lack of interest in anything outside a city. that cost them, because country people lost them the white house.

twice, because they didnt learn the first time.

now the leftist machine is reaping the antagonism that they have sown. until the democrats-- or another real left wing party-- recognizes that you cannot expect support from people that you ignore, nothing will change.

the american left is now getting what it deserves. we badly need a third national party that actually represents the american working class.

[Recusant]

I'd say it's generally agreed both by left-aligned Americans and Europeans generally that the Democratic Party is and has been for decades a center-right party. There are leftists within the Democratic Party but they don't control it.

[billy rubin]

the contemporary democrats are just republicans from twenty years ago.

they are beholden to money, advocate a betrayal of civic representation in order to cater to their own oligarchs, and never seem to repeal any of the bat-shit crazy policies that the republicans (now far-right) enact.

the american government no longer represents the views of the majority of its people. like it or not, i predict a real insurrection unless things change.

roosevelt avoided a bloodbath in the mid-twentieth century by his new-deal policies, for which he was castigated as a class traitor. maybe so, but his policies avoided a reign of terror that the french did not escape.

i am not convinced that we will escape the guillotine in this country. the oligarchs appear oblivious to their danger.

[Recusant]

Maybe. The Romans provided bread and circuses which seemed to work for them despite some unpleasantness (the Gracchis, the Servile Wars). The media available to distract the populace could be considered a rough equivalent of the circuses, but the two parties in government in the US don't seem to see the value of the "bread" part of the equation. Clinton continued Reagan's slashing of the social safety net, Obama and Biden weren't much better. It's an article of faith for the Republicans that the poor deserve nothing but the boot-hell while making sure the rich get closer and closer to a free ride. So, maybe.

Meanwhile back at the five-sided dude ranch, they got some grief from Utah congress-critters about excluding Mormons from the Christian category so backed off on that bit of tomfoolery.

The Pentagon's job is not to adjudicate theological debates but instead to ensure sincerely-held faith is respected and encouraged in our ranks.

[source]

So yeah, to hell with atheists and agnostics. No congress-critters are going to raise a stink about that.

[billy rubin]

here is th elist of religions that th eDOD now accepts for purposes of whatever they do:

Agnostic (AN)
Baha'i faith (BH)
Buddhism (BU)
Christian - Assemblies of God (AG)
Christian - Baptist (BA)
Christian - Brethren (BR)
Christian - Catholic (CA)
Christian - Church of Christ (CC)
Christian - Church of God (CG)
Christian - Church of the Nazarene (CN)
Christian - Episcopal/Anglican (EA)
Christian - Evangelical (EV)
Christian - Jehovah's Witnesses (JW)
Christian - Lutheran (LU)
Christian - Methodist (ME)
Christian - Non Denominational (ND)
Christian - Orthodox (OX)
Christian - Other (CO)
Christian - Pentecostal (PE)
Christian - Presbyterian (PR)
Christian - Quaker (QU)
Christian - Reformed (RE)
Christian - Scientist (SC)
Christian - Seventh Day Adventist (SA)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (CJ)
Hindu (HI)
Islam (Muslim) (IS)
Judaism (Jewish) (JU)
No Religion (NR)
Other Religions (OR)
Sikh (SI)


and here is who was taken out:

theists, Asatru, Deists, Druids, Eckankar, Heathens, Humanists, Magick, New Age churches, Pagan, Rosicrucianism, Shaman, Spiritualists, Troth, Unitarian Universalists and various Wiccans.

atheists arent even mentioned, aloth No Religion might be acceptable. quakers are listed as christian, which would annoy a number of non-theists i know.