(September 8, 2012 at 4:31 am)pocaracas Wrote: Here in Portugal, the most common religion is Catholic.
However, there are a few small pockets of evangelicals and the like.
I've heard stories of people who quit their day jobs to become evangelical preachers.... they earned about 5 or 6 times more that way!
And then I learned that most americans are evangelicals.... Just imagine how much those preachers earn... and think: the more people come to their preachings, the more they earn, so.... they build huge "places of worship" so they can host thousands at a time, every single idiot american contributing to the preacher's wealth. tax free!
You're showing your ignorance, most churches in the U.S. average less than a couple hundred people. My pastor was a nuclear engineer for TVA making an extremely good living. God called him to be a pastor and now makes far less than half of what he would be making, many pastors do not even get payed, what ever comes to them by way of donation is all they receive and work other jobs to support their families, and yes they do have to pay taxes on what the church pays them, so it seems the idiot is in the mirror, if you do not believe me go look.
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.