Random Thought Tuesday-The Ebay Atheist
Well I was doing my daily scope of blogs for the day and came across this article.
With all the crazy stories of people selling anything on Ebay it seems like the madness has to quit somewhere. I don't think it's going to happen. In this case, we have an atheist who has sold himself on Ebay to the highest bidder promising that he will attend 1 hour of church for every ten dollars of the final bid. Now this sounds ridiculous but it is quite interesting. The results from the winning bid of 504 dollars were quite fascinating. As the atheist began traveling to Churches around America he soon became very amused by the Christian media and the local Church. And how can I blame him? We have people like Joel Olsteen on the same TV channel as Pat Roberston, and the local hell-fire and brimstone preacher down the street, and they all three are proclaiming the "Good News" or Jesus suppossedly. There is such a huge contradiction in our "Message" that it is no wonder atheists and non-believers are turned off or simply amused by our foolishness. So before we think negatively and make judgement of the "Ebay Atheist" and his attempt to make a few bucks, lets be sure to think of our own "Christian" televangelists who try to sell us "holy water" and prayer rags for "easy payments of $19.95" and promise us freedom from sin.
So if your still interested in reading this guy's comments about the "Christian Church" from an oustide point of view, you can read an entire article from this link. Or you can check out the Ebay Atheist's blog on "Why I'm addicted to Christian Media" here.
4 comments:
G'day guys
I read that article by the E-bay Atheist, and it got me thinking. To be honest, in Australia, I'd say there really aren't all that many insane churches out there. Nor is the Christian media as numerous as yours. So what are American churches really like? I've been to one in the UK, and it was small and quiet, and I went to one in Pennsylvania when we visited there,and it was HUGE and scary. I almost understand where that guy is coming from, from my limited experiences. But then again, in Australia, our churches, while big, and sure we've got Hillsong and stuff, arent' really into the whole 'you are doomed' thing. Are American churches really all that crazy?
Hey Emily, whats up? Glad to hear from ya again. You bring up a hard question to answer, concerning what are American Churches really like. I would say that most churches are not really that crazy. Most churches don't always preach about sinners being doomed or condemned to hell. I would say that the average church has somewhere between 100 and 200 people but I've been to churches that have had as little as 15 people and to a church that has over 20,000. So to answer your question, there is a huge variety of churches in America depending especially upon what part of the country you are from. What church did you go to in Pennsylvania? You mention Hillsong; have you ever been there? I really enjoy some of the music I've heard from them. The new trend of churches in America are those who are like Hillsong. They are called Megachurches here and they are all very big churches with thousands of people. They usually have very contemporary music, which is played loud, and preaching that is more suited towards people who aren't Christians or are curious about the faith and the whole Jesus thing. Then there are churches here that don't allow any instruments in their music, they only sing with their voices. If you are in the Northern part of America like Pennsyvania, New York, and so on; most of the churches there are Catholic churches. In the Southern part of the US which is where most of the people on the blog are from, most of the churches are Baptist. The different types of churches are called denominations. Here is a website address for some facts about Christianity in America, like how many people go:
http://www.thearda.com/Archive/Files/Analysis/GSS2004/GSS2004_VAR1187_1.asp
If you have any more questions just post em up and someone will definitely get back to ya. Thanks for reading!
Hey sorry the link didn't show up. So here it is below and it should take you to the right site:
Link to Statistics
Good question Emily, it probably does seem like American churches are crazy. But to be honest, generally speaking, most of them aren’t. Chance did a good job of describing all the different types and denominations of churches over hear so I won’t get into that. There are good Churches here that are active in their communities and for the kingdom, but you don’t ever hear about those do you? You always hear about the crazy ones. You hear about the televangelist and so on that make lots of money off of other peoples problems, or preaches that preach damnation and judgment all the time.
There are also a lot christian cults here in America which are often associated with true biblical Christianity. You have such cults as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Christian Science, Christadelphianism, Shepard’s Chapel, Unification Church, and so on. Some of these churches tend to be a little out there, so very often it makes all Christian churches look crazy.
So there is all kinds of stuff going on over here, but you very seldom here of the good churches in the media. What type of denominations or religions are typically found in your area of Australia?
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