That's Entertainment III: Do We Really NEED All This Stuff?
Or Do You Want To See The Choir Go Naked?
The French Cathars of the 13th Century considered themselves Christians. They believed in doing good deeds. They met in houses or open fields. However, they did not eat meat, they did not have priests, they did not have graven images of God or Christ. They did not believe in churches. Nor the pope. It's quite understandable why they became the first case of genocide in Western Civilization (the Crusades don't count simply because some people actually survived the Crusades). Mennonites and Amish seem to get by with all the "worldly" goods in and around our churches today. But look at who's PRODUCING some of those worldly goods!
There are: 300,000 churches in U.S. with 118 million church goers in 227 denominations
Spiritual Inspiration Costs:
Average Worship Center (New Church Building): $2.5 million Pastor salary: $85,000 "Parsonage": $225,000 Choir Robes: $65 each Vestments: $2000 Average yearly donation (per capita): $1800
Again, ask yourself: what do you NEED to help you attain spirituality? Even REDEMPTION doesn't cost this much! So why do we lavish money on churches? Rick Warren emphasizes a "social theology" as opposed to a "prosperity theology." But if you look at both their ledgers, they spend about the same. And as for selfishness: do the churches with priceless artifacts make more money by tourism than the artifact is worth? Whatever happened to "sell what you have, give to the poor and follow me"? Just a thought.
1 comment:
Wonderful! May we add your blog to one of our link pages?
The term "Cathars" derives from the Greek word Katheroi and means "Pure Ones". They were a gnostic Christian sect that arose in the 11th century, an offshoot of a small surviving European gnostic community that emigrated to the Albigensian region in the south of France.The medieval Cathar movement flourished in the 12th century A.D. throughout Europe until its virtual extermination at the hands of the Inquisition in 1245.
There are an ever increasing number of historians and other academics engaged in serious Cathar studies. Interestingly, to date, the deeper they have dug, the more they have vindicated Cathar claims to represent a survival of the Earliest Christian Church.
Thank you!
Brad Hoffstetter
Communications Division
Assembly of good Christians
http://www.cathar.net
Post a Comment