When Evangelicals freak out.

[Brian37]

That worked out well for Trump didn't it?

[The Grand Nudger]

Sideball...but the whole machine gun of failed prophecy thing might be a feature, not a bug. The sorts of emotional states that believers in these systems prefer and shop and seek out and find produce tumultuous experiences of apocalyptic dread. The rollercoaster of watching everything you thought true and divine one minute become false or destroyed the next.

The customers are paying a ticket to get on the ride, and because they'll pay that ticket - making alot of nutball failed prophecies, counterintuitively, helps churches survive. Divine selection. The nerd term for this is an intentionally confusing theology. This isn't to say that the faith leaders are intentionally doing it, that they know why it works - they only need know that it does..and so they do it. It becomes an expectation in the form of denominational statements, even. Why do holy rollers handle snakes? Cuz magic book says they can. If a person was shopping for the holy roller experience...and you didn't have snakes, they wouldn't accept your ministry as genuine. This means that preachers...even if they know they don't have the gift of prophecy...and even if they do know how and why this actually works....and hate it...have to make those doomed predictions.

[Ravenshire]

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere on the board, but it's hilarious to watch:

It is humorous and troubling to a degree.... but what is more troubling is the Leftist media!

They, and "big tech" control our lives more than any store bought TV evangelist ever will.

For instance: Google or YouTube; "Liberal Media Bias" 

...all you will find is "Right Wing Bias" video and pieces! Not ONE example of Left wing media ANYTHING!

While you were hating the Christians the pagan news media took your first amendment from you/us.

You are sooooooo full of shit. This took seconds.

[The Grand Nudger]

Ronee is a special friend.

[Ranjr]

Hmmmm

[Mister Agenda]

I was raised in a very fundamentalist Christian sect in the sixties and seventies. When I was a kid, they didn't think they should be too politically involved; after all, God chooses our rulers. Politics was too 'worldly'. Predictably, more engagement in politics has allowed more politics into their religion, the thing sixties preachers warned them of.

[Spongebob]

Actually that's not true.  Religion is inherently political.  Jesus was an extremely political figure. 

Any value or idea can be considered political.  Want to help the poor?  That's political.  Think that God is going to destroy the world soon, so why worry about the environment?  That's political.  Believe in certain religious values?  That's political.  Black ministers leading the civil rights movement?  That's very political.

I agree that charities shouldn't be partisan, or directly lobby the government.  But it is impossible for a charity of any type to not be political.  

Every statement is a political statement, in someone's mind.

It has become thus in the US but this isn't a necessary state at all.  It's only because the citizens of our country have decided, both Democrats and Republicans, to make everything political.  Think of what politics actually means; it means what the government does to control/regulate the country.  In 1972, the Supreme Court determined that a woman has the right to terminate a pregnancy.  Since that time, religious institutions have been lobbying government at every level to legislate that right away.  They didn't have to do this.  They could have chosen to appeal to the public, to individuals.  They could have chosen to create organizations to encourage and help women complete their pregnancy and put their child into adoption, but they have not done this.  They have made abortion political because they expect the government to solve something that they perceive as a problem.

The same goes for civil rights.  Progressives decided to work through the government to help achieve the rights that minorities deserved, but it could have been done in other ways.  I'm not saying other methods would have been better but it could have been done differently.  Understand that government at all levels resisted the pressure for years until it reached a critical mass in the early 60's.  We have become a country that solves most of our problems through government action.  In this way, I believe I am more Libertarian than Democrat.  If there is a way to achieve something without the government, then it should be pursued first.  Even when the government solves problems, it often does so in a ham-fisted way, using blunt instruments that commonly create unintended circumstances.

So when we apply this to religion, what do we get?  The government doesn't force any religion on anyone; it remains neutral (in theory anyway).  So churches can instruct their members on any sort of moral behavior they want, without the need for politics.  But when they begin to insist that some person or party favors their church more, that's when they get political.  Outside of that, there's absolutely no need for them to do so.  But you might argue that there are issues that affect churches.  Yes, again because we are choosing to solve problems through the government.  The ACA required all healthcare insurance to provide free birth control (actually shouldn't they call it conception control?).  That's really good fiscal and ethical policy for the country, but Catholics hated it because they ostensibly believe that birth control is a sin, so here we go.  Catholics lobby, suits are filed, no more free birth control if you work for a Catholic organization.  But did they need to do that?  Nope.  Catholics should be fine with this policy because their flock (ostensibly) does not use birth control anyway, so its like offering free cigarettes to a non-smoker (I wouldn't smoke those damn things if you gave me a lifetime supply).  Of course we know that's BS, Catholics use birth control as much as anyone, whether its free or not.  So the real schism is in the church itself and they should have just left it alone.

---

It is humorous and troubling to a degree.... but what is more troubling is the Leftist media!

They, and "big tech" control our lives more than any store bought TV evangelist ever will.

For instance: Google or YouTube; "Liberal Media Bias" 

...all you will find is "Right Wing Bias" video and pieces! Not ONE example of Left wing media ANYTHING!

While you were hating the Christians the pagan news media took your first amendment from you/us.

Why do you even care?  You have your own right wing mouthpieces that you can watch.  You don't have to watch CNN if you don't want to.  Literally anyone who wants to reach people can do that now.  There is no limit to anyone's digital reach.  So what are you complaining about?

[purplepurpose]

Being sober and insane for the Lord is hard. Those people struggle.