Can a preacher be sincere and intelligent and still perform his duties?

Truck Captain Stumpy said:
I do thing the Pastafarians should go for a 501(c)3 though. I know it's been judged "not a religion", but if we can have Moonies, I think we should allow Pastafarians... what do you think,
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I defer to your judgment on that subject, Captain. (However, if one might venture a comment on sir's attire...)
(better yet, what would Bertie do? - LOL)
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He would defer to one's judgment on this, as on many other subjects.
 
Jeeves said:
You quoted this:
....And we have to face the fact that more weird religious shit happens in the US than anywhere else, because Americans are so open to all manner and weird shit - and so tax-allergic....
and responded with the non sequitur:

I suggested nothing about good or real religions, nor having any religion at all. Earlier, and several times, I have made that quite clear.
So, I ask again, why the accusatory tone?

Yes; we understood that to be your strongly-held opinion.
How does that qualify you to judge other people's sincerity or intelligence?
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I'm from the Iceaura school. Anyone who doesn't agree with me is a wingnut who is either lying or stupid.
 
Truck Captain Stumpy said:
so we're starting another humour thread here? :D
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Hey now, this is serious business! First we can spend many posts addressing the way you have chosen to spell humor. Next throw in the bandar-log reference (why, I don't know) and address why this isn't really funny. End it all by accusing everyone else of calling names while pointing out how stupid they are and letting us all know that I'm not really having a melt down, I'm not upset, who me?

alfred-neuman.png
 
Seattle said:
In my first job out of school I worked in a office where the laziest guy there was a religious guy that spent most of his free time going to church "pie socials" and otherwise hanging around the church.

He eventually quit his job and somehow got a church of his own.

Another guy that I knew from scuba diving was a minister and was an attention whore. I'm not saying that they weren't believers, they were, but they mainly seemed to be into the attention, free housing, food, people fawning over them, etc.

It's easy to be traveling and eating all the time while "ministering", going to conferences, figuring out how to "grow" the congregation. Most of their friends are from the congregation so it's a pretty closed world.
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Dickens made exactly the same observation about these self-appointed men of God. See Mr Chadband in Bleak House: "A large yellow man, with a fat smile and an appearance of having a good deal of train oil in his system"

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/bleak-house/characters/mr-chadband

Plus ça change.......
 
People don't marry in church to make it legal - they do it to please their families and get the approval of their community.
They can do it just as well, in a secular community, by going to city hall, or having a guru at their beach party or whatever kind of ceremony suits their life-style. The rites of passage vary greatly by culture, but all cultures have some ritual to mark the passages.
PS I don't think pastafarians are any more special than scientologists; I wasn't going to list (let alone read up on!) all the fringe religions and cults in America, so I stuck to the obvious ones that sway the largest number of people.
 
exchemist said:
Dickens made exactly the same observation about these self-appointed men of God. See Mr Chadband in Bleak House: "A large yellow man, with a fat smile and an appearance of having a good deal of train oil in his system"

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/bleak-house/characters/mr-chadband

Plus ça change.......
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Addendum: I looked up "train oil" and found it has nothing to do with railways but is an old word for oil from a marine mammal e.g. sperm whale, which was widely used for a variety of purposes. The etymology appears to be from Dutch traan. (In fact, when I first started working in the lubes business, in 1978 there was still a very small amount of sulphurised sperm whale oil used, as an additive, mostly for lubricating plain bronze bearings, which funnily enough, were used on the axles of old-fashioned railway wagons. :smile: At Shell we were well down the road to substituting this with synthetic alternatives.)
 
Michael 345 said:
In Australia no need to even have a wedding

Live together 6 months and you are deemed, by the government, to be married
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it's called common law marriage (or sui juris) here in the US and it's recognised by the legal system in some states still, but only a few. It's been in steady decline in western cultures since the Council of Trent in 1563 ruled that no marriage would be valid in the eyes of the Church unless it was solemnised by a priest.
Jeeves said:
People don't marry in church to make it legal - they do it to please their families and get the approval of their community.
They can do it just as well, in a secular community, by going to city hall, or having a guru at their beach party or whatever kind of ceremony suits their life-style.
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whereas this is true, it's also not complete. Many marry in the church because the church is (typically) legally able to sign the marriage certificate.

In order to legally marry a couple you have to either be a Notary Public, religious or public leader (Mayor, Justice of the Peace, Governer, Supreme court judge, official appointed for that purpose by the quorum court of the county where the marriage is to be solemnized, etc), or somehow given permission by the state allowing you to perform whatever ceremony is required, which includes the signing of the legal marriage certificate. In order for the marriage certificate to be legally binding, it absolutely must be signed by someone on the county clerk's list in our county (which is likely similar in most places). Getting on the list isn't all that hard though as it only requires presentation of certification or ordination to the county clerk and ensuring the people to be married have the license.


Jeeves said:
PS I don't think pastafarians are any more special than scientologists;
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Hey now! At least we know Pastafarianism is a farcical view of religion and that it's all just made up!
LOL
 
Ok, I just saw this shared and I felt this was a good place to share it
"You could easily spot any Religion of Peace. Its extremist members would be extremely peaceful" (@RickyGervais).
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It may not reflect what we see in the world with "religions of peace", but it sure is something worth considering!
 
Jeeves said:
And that distinguishes it from Scientology - how, exactly?
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Scientology, as a made-up religion, still behaves approximately like a religion. Pastafariansim is a supremacist movement masquerading as a religion.

But they're also generally similar if we limit our description to the idea of using fake religion to hurt the religious. Scientology is a vice of its inventor and founders and leadership. Pastafarianism is a vice of the flock.
 
Tiassa said:
Scientology, as a made-up religion, still behaves approximately like a religion. Pastafariansim is a supremacist movement masquerading as a religion.

But they're also generally similar if we limit our description to the idea of using fake religion to hurt the religious. Scientology is a vice of its inventor and founders and leadership. Pastafarianism is a vice of the flock.
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I'm just glad Tom Cruise still looks and acts great. As long as that continues I think Scientology is fantastic.
 
Tiassa said:
Scientology..... Pastafarianism
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Their differences don't matter in this context: what they have in common is not being mainstream. I left them out, along a number of legitimate spiritual practices, because I can't easily get data on them, as I can on the established, accepted mainstream ones, and don't want to comment from a position of ignorance.
 
Seattle said:
He acts crazy. His acting is pretty good. Looks...dyed hair on a diminutive frame...whatever.
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You sound like a stalker. Do you enjoy the Mission Impossible movies? I think they're brilliant, so in my life Tom Cruise is all I'm interested in in this context.
 
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