My unfortunate example of large evangelical church on Easter.

[Diablo del sol]

Last edited Mon Apr 18, 2022, 05:51 PM - Edit history (1)

My 18 year old nephew attends a church in the OC, good kid.

So we all go and it was a damn eye opening experience.

The head pastor gets up and uses a plethora of RW trigger words, fake news, Critical Theory and he had to throw in Critical Race Theory. He missed Grooming and Cancel Culture, likely too tough for him to come up with any stories to support his bullshit.

Spends literally the first half your negative selling against Atheists, Relativism, all of his perceived evils of the world. No if I go to buy something, lets say a new car. and the salesman focuses on all negatives on the competitors, I walk. Just a basic bullshit radar I have. When you have a good product, sell the positives of your product.

But the worst part was the lame arguments used. Sophomoric would be kind, they were laughable, twisted stories.

For Relativism he claimed he and a fellow "believer" were sitting in the Spa at the gym when some guys joins them and starts berating him. (Gotta be the victim) Claims the guy rudely rips on Christians for shoving beliefs down everyone's throats. (may have happened, but expect him and his buddy came in after the other guy was there and started up on their bullshit. Then he claims the guys tells him his beliefs and the pastor comes back with, "so I can do anything I want? That is what you believe?" Supposed rude guy says yes, so the loving pastor gets up walks up to the guys and says, I want to punch you in the face, that is what you believe, right? Goes completely off the rails and claims the guy scrambles out of the jacuzzi. So other that the absolute incorrect understanding, the guys is proud that he threatened physical violence.

The attendees ate it up! These people are way past delusional and are openly advocating violence if people don't jump on board with their ignorant beliefs.

Starts at about 45 min. Jacuzzi fiction starts around 57 minute mark.
http://www.crosslinechurch.com/livestream-catalog

Note: this is NOT meant to be Christian bashing. There are, and I know, some truly great Christians.
This is meant to be enlightening to what is being said in numerous mega churches to provide insight to the hate filled rhetoric included in sermons. He is basically preaching to the choir, so like tRump he is a symptom. The masses consuming this are the cancer.

[NewHendoLib]

1. Cult

[RKP5637]

2. Exactly!!!!! n/t

[themaguffin]

3. ...a cult based on a grift

[CurtEastPoint]

4. say what you will about the Catholic church but in my nearly 60 years of attending Mass, I NEVER

EVER heard anything remotely like this. It is always a positive message.

[onecaliberal]

6. 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[Diablo del sol]

14. I have seen some minor BS on Easter

Not at a Catholic Church but another mega church. Pastor used the Resurrection to rip on other religions because Christians follow a living god and all other religions follow dead guys.

Again, huge issue with me when disparaging remarks are used, other than focusing on why a belief is better.

[wnylib]

38. Due to covid, I watch church services at home.

There are two churches near me that I have attended, so I checked them both out for Easter.

One spoke of Easter symbolizing love and hope, and how in a world turning upside down at home and in Europe, we should look for and appreciate both love and hope wherever we find them and not forget that they are there.

The second one spoke of death and life in terms of endings and new beginnings. During the announcements, the pastor said that a couple who are members of the church will have a meeting at the church later this week to discuss their recent return from humanitarian work in Poland for Ukrainian refugees and the need to raise funds locally.

It all depends on which church you go to.

[BlackSkimmer]

16. I haven't attended church in some time, but the Episcopal church doesn't do this either.

Not any I ever visited.

[wryter2000]

45. I describe my Episcopal church below

I'm pretty sure we all would have walked out in protest if someone preached like that in our church.

[empedocles]

20. In my Catholic childhood experience, in a growing suburban county, the angry pastor

was popular. A prodigious fund raiser - built a, preliminary church, convent, rectory, and elementary school, in a little over a decade.

Speciaized in cultural anger against, rock n roll, suggestive movies [Legion of Decency], and, women smokers.

Nuns drove in a 9 passenger station wagon. The pastor had a big, new, Mercedes.

The 3rd new priest, was usually quite popular among the young. The 2nd priest, always rotating their whole careers it seemed.

[CurtEastPoint]

22. Oddly, my experiences were in Charlotte and Atlanta and never heard all that.

[empedocles]

30. No offense intended. My larger sense was there was a lot of Church popularity,

but 'conservative' cultural roots do go back.

I recall JFK quoted as saying the priests and nuns are Democratic, the church hiearchy Republican.

[CurtEastPoint]

34. None taken. And I think that's pretty much still true! The USCCB are a bunch of RW asshole pasty

fuckers

[Walleye]

24. Same here. I was raised in a Methodist Church. Our sermons were about tolerance and love

[RaDaR63]

35. Keep the parishioners happy

while their children are being sexually abused.

[Hamlette]

52. well, there was Father Coughlin

I wonder if he's the reason Catholic Churches stay away from politics

[bhikkhu]

58. Same here, though I haven't been much of a churchgoer for years

Raised in it though, and 8 years of Catholic school. Never heard a word of politics from the pulpit, never even heard a sermon talking about contraception or abortion. Mostly the priest would start with some personal story of his own of something a parishioner was going through, and then read from the bible and offer explanations and guidance that way. That a church would do anything other than that has always been surprising to me.

The most controversial thing I ever saw was one Saturday before the superbowl (we always went to Saturday evening mass), the priest sat a helmet of his favorite team on the altar and asked us to pray. Even then he only asked us to pray for the best team to win, though there was no mystery as to who he wanted. It was a little cheesy and taken as kind of a joke, everyone kind of laughed about it afterwards.

[Ms. Toad]

67. I grew up Quaker, my spouse Catholic.

When we were first married, we alternated Sundays between the two. That ended when the Catholic sermon one week was that women were here to serve men, and the second week that women are the downfall of men.

Prior to that she had tolerated a whole host of mysogynistic messages - including one which kept her (a decade later) doubting whehter she shouldn't just settle for marrying a man - even though she has known she was a lesbian since she was 5 or so.

So mass (and other messaging) isn NOT always a positive message.

We are now both (for around 4 decades) happily Quaker.

[Hekate]

5. On Easter Sunday?

X

[Diablo del sol]

11. Here you go.

Last edited Mon Apr 18, 2022, 05:11 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.crosslinechurch.com/type/sunday-morning/

Here you go, watch then come back with your correction.

Edit to add video is up. Watch from about 50 minutes on. Jacuzzi story starts at about 57 minute mark. BTW, watching just a few clips, it was much worse than I thought. Slamming just about everyone Gays, Feminists.

[Hekate]

13. Well okay then

[Diablo del sol]

19. Rather than doubling down

Suggest you wait for them to post. It is one of the key differences between tRomp supporters and intelligent posters.

Or you have the link, feel free to attend. Just off
The 405 in Lake Forest.

[Hekate]

21. Did not double down. Yielded your point. Sorry for your horrible experience.

All done?

[Diablo del sol]

26. Wow

Quite passive aggressive of you. Bookmark it, watch it when available, and leave it at that.

Or feel free to attend live. Just down the road from the Old Irvine Meadows Amphitheater.

405/5 merge off at Lake Forest or Irvine Center. From JWA just a short drive.

[jaxexpat]

60. Whassamadduh, kiddo? Shoulder pain? Potatoes hurt sometimes. Too many carbs. Switch to fritos.

[NotTodayPutin]

79. Here is the Easter Link... it was on the main Watch Page

http://www.crosslinechurch.com/livestream-catalog/

[BlackSkimmer]

15. I saw a lot of links but couldn't find the Easter morning one.

[Diablo del sol]

18. Could be a delay in posting.

Wait for Easter Service and
Forward to main Pastor. JP. A big guy does the intro. Then JP jumps into the crazy stuff.

I have no stomach to even click on any link and watch anything they push out.

[RKP5637]

7. When I was a kid most religion was about love and kindness, and do unto others, etc.

Now, it's all about hatred, division and potential violence. Religion is ugly, backward and mostly about persecution of the targeted "others." SEND MONEY NOW.. And cult behavior.

[Cosmocat]

39. They have completely allowed themselves to taken over by right wing politics

this was a strategy that was put into motion in the early 80s, I knew someone who did unspeakably bad things who was one of the ring leaders to pull it into the western PA area.

[RKP5637]

48. It's quite sad the disgusting spectacle religion has now become. n/t

[cilla4progress]

8. I see it,

too.

Desperate clinging.

I predicted this once the truth and impacts of climate collapse were upon us.

Expect it to get worse.

[Novara]

9. Tax the fucking churches

[housecat]

57. YEEESSSS!!

[fierywoman]

61. WHY ARE THEY STILL TAX-FREE ???

[Achilleaze]

10. Preacher bullshit level: Putin. Or maybe DirtyDonny.

The so-called preacher has obviously degenerated to become a tool of Satan.

[Tracer]

12. This was at a church?????

What kind of church has a pastor yapping about things like this?

I'm gobsmacked!

All stories that I ever heard from pastors were from the New Testament and how the parables could help us be better people.

[BlackSkimmer]

17. I've seen people eat up stories like that too...

Trying to remember where…

[JHB]

25. Bill O'Reilly's entire career, maybe?

I dunno, there are so many options it's hard to single out just one.

[Sympthsical]

74. So I says to this lady at the gas station . . .

And she reluctantly admitted she agreed with me, and the guy who was buying slim jims gave a knowing nod.

I adore this stuff, lol.

[BlackSkimmer]

87. Lol, nailed it.

[NotTodayPutin]

81. Twitter

All too often... people post fantastical stories about events in stores, malls, road rage... regularly. They pander to their "fans/followers" with the appropriate words and phrases...

and those followers just eat it up, giving it likes shares, etc...

It is like they have zero suspension of belief for even a minute to think critically about what they are liking/sharing.

Just craziness

[JHB]

23. Standard "blowhard" story framing...

Victim of someone elses's belligerence? Check
That someone else practically runs down a checklist of your audiences biases and preconceptions of how "they" act? Check.
You have snappy comebacks that eviscerate his so-called argument? Check.
Encounter ends with that someone else cringing in fear/slinking off in shame at how you've effortlessly wiped the floor with whatever they'd claimed? Check

The only reason I'm not more skeptical that the encounter went the way he said is because the bulk of my skepticism is for whether it happened at all. My suspicion is that it's a story he's been recycling for years, with only occasional variations to keep it fresh or create the illusion that it happens to him all the time.

[Walleye]

27. Like TFG's "sir" stories

[Diablo del sol]

29. Agree

He had to play the victim first then turn into super hero.

His other stories were so equally cringe worthy. Indirectly tried to defer the racist label for his flock by stating Jesus was a MidEastern Jew. More non whites becoming Christians in India and Asia, lol.

[Wednesdays]

42. It's like the Internet memes about the Christofascist student vs. atheist teacher

The narrative reads like it truly, absolutely happened in real life. An "atheist professor" says something to the effect of "prove to me God exists" (in all my years of college, I've never heard ANY professor question the existence of God, or anything similar, but I digress). Then a sweet, innocent Christian student says something that challenges the prof's assertion. The professor invariably is humiliated to the point where he/she has to slink out of the classroom in utter shame.

[JHB]

68. The internet was merely a new delivery mode. Those stories...

...existed for a long time before. They were just relayed via sermons, plays, and religious radio & tv.

And Jack Chick tracks.

[Initech]

28. How is this not blatantly breaking IRS 503(c) rules?

[Diablo del sol]

33. He never used Dem or Repub, he never talked about a policy

Just the trigger words. The definition of preaching to the choir.

[Initech]

41. Wow, is there any aspect of life that hasn't been ruined by Fox News?

[RAB910]

31. that evil fake preacher is all about anti-American hatred

he doesn't give a crap about being a good person or a good Christian or a good American

[Mariana]

55. That "fake" preacher has a real congregation of over 2000 people. nt.

[RAB910]

69. which truly disgusts me

[milestogo]

32. That was a sermon?

[vercetti2021]

36. Would have yelled thats bullshit and left

Cult is a cult

[tanyev]

37. Easter Sunday and he talks about all of this crap?

That’s very odd.

[Bev54]

40. Any churches that preach this type of nonsense should not be getting tax breaks.

[wryter2000]

43. That crap has nothing to do with Easter

I spent the last five days (and weeks in preparation before that) singing glorious music surrounded by people I love in a joyous celebration of something that certainly never happened over 2,000 years ago. The messages were quite unhappy during the early part of holy week. We did frankly silly things like clapping two 2x4's together to simulate the rending of the curtain of the temple and allowing the priests to wash our feet. And I loved very effing minute of it, even when my feet and back were killing me from standing/sitting/standing over and over.

After the service yesterday, we shared a meal, and I got to look at the faces of so many people I haven't spent time with for over 2 years. The fact that that hateful moron could defile Easter in that way makes me want to punch someone.

[sdfernando]

44. I went to a service with a friend about 1 month ago. He was trying to find a new good church.

He went for several months. They day I went with him the started with music and singing. Then the head pastor comes up and starts the service. A few minutes in he calls up his friend. This friend is a state congressman who proceeds to start campaigning (because his district changed borders this year) and he wants everyone to know it will be tougher for him. The area he represents is fairly RED so I knew he was a trumper before he even said it. The guy was campaining from the pulpit with the approval of the pastor!!!! My friend and I got up and walked out and my friend said he would never return to that church again.

This was City View Church in San Diego. Stay away!!!!

[Cheezoholic]

46. Here they come again

[GB_RN]

47. Reichwing Christianity...

It's all about the cruelty to others and yet somehow, they're the victims. I suppose when you don't get to shove your cruelty, bigotry and vileness on others, you MUST be the victim, right?

[1cheapbeemr]

49. Saddleback?

Rick Warren? Worked there a couple of years as a temp in facilities, a real eye opener. His son shot himself you know.

[Diablo del sol]

56. Nope

About five miles away. Competing with Saddleback. (And by that I mean for the same dollar).

Due to me, Saddleback is off the list too. A Christmas sermon years ago. Cringe worthy in a different vein. But never saw Warren drop to this level.

And yes I am aware of his sons suicide. Poor kid never had a chance

Did you know Warren knows Bush, Obama, McCain, Kerry, Clinton, Bono? Of course you do if you attended any of his services. He always found a way to work it in.

[Diablo del sol]

83. Ok. Now time for the Warren story

Christmas Eve service, first one actually on the 23rd

He walks on and places two are three really nice 4x4 in. mahogany display boxes on the lectern. About halfway through he picks one up and says it is his late brothers Super Bowl ring. He got one and both of his sisters got one. His brother was an offensive lineman for the 49ers in the Montana era.

Now I am getting agitated, but reason that he is going turn this into possessions don’t matter, it all comes down to being a good person, regardless of personal rewards. I am still pissed that he is so shallow or bitter or both that he uses his dead brother to make the point. A guy who spent his teen years and into his thirties getting his head and legs abused.

So a bit later he does partially pivot to my expected point but no mention of the other display boxes. And then he does it, picks up a box and then says he wants his is a pen from Mandela (or some other world leader) I put them in these boxes because I don’t want to risk carrying them and have someone come up to me in the airport and have me sign a copy of Purpose Driven Life and walk away with my pen. Reaches into coat. Pulls out cheap Bic pen and states these are all used for signing. Ends service. Luckily I am about 20 feet from the East entrance. Make it one step on to the cement and loudly say FUUUCk!

Only one non family member approaches me, thinking here it comes. Guy asks me what caused that out burst, tell him that BS story disparaging his brother while pumping up his own over inflated ego. Guy looks at me and says I am a five year member, and agree with you 100%.

[littlemissmartypants]

50. I saw this on Twitter yesterday. Seems appropriate to share...

Agnus by Konstantin Korobov

https://t.co/XAKAO6JFJr

"Dogs surround me; a pack of evildoers closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and my feet"

- Psalm 22:17

❤ pants

🌻🇺🇦❤🇺🇦🌻 Slava Ukraini! 🌻🇺🇦❤🇺🇦🌻

[Farmer-Rick]

63. Ahh, that poor lamb

I raise sheep. When the lambs are born, I spend a lot of time holding them. They are just so sweet, cute and aren't afraid of humans.

It breaks my heart how realistic that picture is.

[LiberalLovinLug]

64. What kind of God would create such vicious beasts!

And allow such predators to roam the Earth attacking weaker animals for survival? (So we can use it as an analogy of evil doing)

...........oh wait.

[Mariana]

51. The majority of Christian voters cast their ballots for Trump.

It's easier to understand once you realize that there are many, many Christian churches like this one.

[flying_wahini]

53. I could never just sit there, afraid I would have to have a 'Bullshit' coughing spell.

[AllaN01Bear]

54. not a man of the cloth. i wonder what they do for the poor/

[Celerity]

70. this

[AllaN01Bear]

72. friend of mine was at a local big box mega church in the area that i live,

she asked ,"what do u do for the poor" and the pastor goes ," o them".
and out of her mouth popped this biblical quote , it is easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle , than it is a rich man going to hevan. wonder if she shocked them

[vlyons]

59. What you witnessed was "spiritual materialism"

which is where people use religion to enhance their egos. It can take many forms, such as look at me, I do so many rituals, and adorn myself with special clothing to signify how holy and special am I -- to let's make everyone wrong who doesn't adhere to our only true church, so we can make ourselves feel right and better than those "others."

Is it any wonder why people are leaving Christianity?

[Bucky]

62. Can you imagine the BALLS it takes for Republicans to attack moral relativism?

The party of Trump, the party of the contras, the party of "compassionate" conservative, the party of small government, the party of fiscal responsibility, and the party at family values that grooms and protects child predators...

Geeze Louise, their depths are bottomless

[Celerity]

71. they are a cult, they do not even think, they simply say (and believe) that EVERYTHING

they want and believe, not matter how hateful or illogical, is 'godlike' and murder force is all good to achieve it, and ANYTHING they dislike, do not believe in, is 'satanic'/communist and deserving death/absolute annihilation (death is the ultimate endgame dream/nightmare they envision for the 'resistors' and their ideology, not just submission and a temporal truce, as they see it all in a quasi-biblical end times template)

The US is careening towards a violent kinetic civil war before the current iteration of the nation state (the US Constitution went into effect in 1789) turns 250 years of age in 2039. (250 years or so is the average length of empires throughout the last 7,000 years of human history)

[lastlib]

65. The last time my mother was able to drag me to her fundy church for Easter.....

...the nutjob pastor turned the crucifixion myth into a tirade against evillution. I walked out, and never went back. Well, I had to wait for Mom to come out of the service, and before she did, I got to see the pastor outside the sanctuary shaking hands and greeting his flock as they came out of the service. I shook his hand and told him, "By the way, you're nuts." When he asked why, I told him that molecular biology, genetics, and a few other things were indisputable proof of evolution. Then I walked to the door, got Mom and left. Have never been back.

They really are beyond delusional.

[Aristus]

66. Another time-honored evangelical bullshit story:

Brother X is dying of cancer. They've done surgery, radiation, chemo, the works. Then a bunch of evangelicals go into the hospital room, pray out loud, sing one of their interminable boring songs, blaba-laba-laba, all that good shit.

Then the doctor comes in with the chart and says: "I can't believe it! The cancer is gone! You're cured! It must be...must be...must be a miracle!"

Proof that God HEALS!

Never once do they say that it was likely the surgery, the radiation, or the chemo.


Not once has any of them ever, ever done something quantifiable, like laying hands on an amputee and having the limb miraculously grow back. That has never happened in history.

[ThoughtCriminal]

73. Fundamentalist churches always fail my Jesus quote challenge

I minister of a local church stopped by my house while I was having a yard sale and asked me if I attended a church. I told him that I no longer did since every single one that I attended in recent years would mention Jesus many times, they would NEVER quote him. He agreed that that was unfortunate and assured me that if I came to his church he would hear Jesus quoted many times.

As it happened, a short time later, a family member invited me to Easter services at that same church and I decided to check it out.

I was a bit surprised that he did in fact manage to quote Jesus exactly ONCE during the sermon: "It is finished".

[Sympthsical]

75. So I started listening to the sermon

Because I always wonder how people characterize things vs. what was actually said or happened.

Plus I finished work early and am procrastinating on an essay due at midnight. Workers are installing solar panels on the roof rather loudly so I can't concentrate. So, let's do this thing!

45:00 - He said "the good news, the bad news, and the fake news of Easter." He basically calls anyone disputing the historicity of Jesus' resurrection as fake news. A Christian pastor believes the resurrection is true and disbelieves attempts to deny it. This isn't breaking news. Goes through a whole spiels of Biblical proof of it. Says atheists are trying to discredit everything about the resurrection. Again, this isn't something radical or unusual.

52:00 - Starts in on secularism/post-modernism. Secularism rejects absolute truth, embraces relativism. Starts in on critical theory. Oppressor vs oppressed. Gives birth to Marxism, feminism, queer theory, etc. People call Christianity an old white man's religion. Jesus did more to free women and minorities than anyone.

Ok, I got ten minutes in. Your characterization seriously checks out.

That was weird. I've been to evangelical churches before, but this guy just went all in on political ideology in the first ten minutes.

I think he said "fake news" several hundred times in that small slice I managed. That was wild.

That gym story is hilarious. His entire point about relativism only works if he pretends there is no such thing as a social contract. It's basically a straw man. No one argues you can harm whomever you want because you want to. He just elided past it, and then somehow tied it into historical research. He talks so fast and hops from place to place so often, you almost don't notice it's half non-sequitur.

Which is usually the point.

[Diablo del sol]

76. Crazy isn't it

No logic to any of his arguments all easily disproven.

I am tempted to go to his gym, hang out in the jacuzzi and wait for him to threaten to punch me in the face so I can knock his teeth out or break his nose. Thing is he can get a nose job or new caps to go along with the eye job he had.

[Mariana]

86. You know in real life he most likely wouldn't utter a peep

no matter what you said or did. I suppose he might go whining to the manager.

[wiggs]

85. victimhood leads to polarization leads to cult loyalty. Very sad...basically it's marketing and

it works, whether we are talking about political parties, nations at war, campaigns, neighborhood design battles, or religion there will be some who use the low bar of hate, fear, polarization to gain money or votes or clicks or loyalty. gop does it much much more...it's the only tool they have remaining.

[pfitz59]

77. That area of the OC is hard red

with a lot of angry rich white people

[Diablo del sol]

78. Katie Porters district

So not hard red. It is representative of how the remaining will fight. Rather than ponder their ignorance and attempt to get along with the majority, they will fight, using lies and violence. Exactly like Jan 6 terrorists.

[kskiska]

80. As a child in the 1950s I attended a Catholic church

where one of the priests turned out to be a John Bircher. He was later transferred to a different parish where he was reprimanded for his views, giving sermons endorsing a petition calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren for his "communist views." He led a drive against smutty literature and urged his parishioners to boycott stores whose owners refused to remove objectionable material from their shelves, and was instrumental in a police drive in that direction. He was eventually kicked out. He then joined a Catholic sect in a neighboring town that was more in line with his views.

[canetoad]

82. It's a type of hypnotism

Intended to break down their critical thinking.

I bet it was accompanied by much singing, chanting, hugging, clapping.... helps to reinforce the message.

Good on you for sticking through it and reporting back to us.

[Diablo del sol]

84. Tons of bad generic music up front

Trying to figure out how to talk to my nephew. Good kid, his Dad is a MAGAt. He is trying to do the right thing but with is way to smart for this crap.

[Skittles]

88. it kills me that anyone puts up with such nonsense

it's all just over-the-top ridiculous