I have a peculiar fascination with TV evangelists and I watch them on occasion to see what they are up to. On Saturday I watched evangelist Benny Hinn and today I saw Atlanta pastor Dr. Charles Stanley. Of interest, both ministers were talking about "God's grace." Apparently, if you follow a series of steps from the Bible you can unlock "powers."
In Hinn's stream-of-consciousness, rambling rant he talked about all these powers you can get from praying certain prayers, including prosperity. Stanley's sermon was much more mainstream and he seemed to actually follow an outline. The things that Stanley mentioned that you can get from God's grace were less exciting -- things like strength and peace.
The problem is that both of these Bible teachers are making claims and presenting them as fact, even though they don't have a lick of evidence to support their claim.
Let's put it to the test using the scientific method. We will have one group of people following the Biblical instructions for obtaining wealth, strength and peace. We will then have a control group that won't do any praying. What do you think the result will be in a properly controlled experiment? Answer: Nothing.
For centuries, religion has been held to some higher standard where ministers can get away with dishonesty, and you, a mere mortal, are not allowed to question or challenge the religious claims. In any other situation, these men would simply be liars, but when they stand on their religious mantles they suddenly have the green light to say anything they want, as long as they can conjure it up from scripture.
Through the years people start believing the dishonest lies and claims, and they desperately try to justify the lies. They cling to a pack of lies, and somehow rationalize that this makes their god happy.
And for me to even challenge the "God's grace gives you powers" crap is taboo. Most Christians would be offended by me calling any religious claim a lie. But they can't prove otherwise, so, really, all religions are dishonest, and, thus, corrupt.
More and more people just need to say, "Where is your proof?" That is at least a start.
Goose
2 comments:
I love religious debates.
See, I believe whole-heartedly in a higher power that set this Earth spinning. Do I think that's an old white dude who looks like Gandolf, no. But I've always been fascinated with religion and spiritual beliefs. And I get it. Maybe because I think about it a lot and believe, but I get it for what it's worth. The beauty in any religion is that it's faith based. We can't prove it, and we're not meant to, but we have to believe. That belief is the power and the grace that we seek. Because when nothing else is there, belief can keep us warm at night. Just as our belief that we can make a difference to the world keeps us going, it's the belief that out there, someone cares that keeps the spiritual going.
Is organized religion flawed? Heck yea! Everything that man has touched can't be trusted. And so those evangelists who put their own spin on things can't be taken literally. But there is a beauty in having something to believe in, and when you remove the crazies and the rules and the man made components of organized religion away, it's a rather simple, yet wonderful, hope for humanity.
But damn the institutions.
Well said, CCT Girl. I'm working on a "Part II" of this post, which will somewhat fit into what you said.
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