That would probably be awesome if you could actually rob god. I bet that honky mother****er is LOADED.
It might end up being gaudy. The famous and beautiful ones are up on hills, which you can't do around here. It can't be any worse than that church on 59N that looks like a greek temple or the many car dealerships with the 2 acre flags and the giant inflatable dinosaur on rollerskates. I mean, the competition around here isn't that fierce.
I guess I don't think of this in terms of "competition". Just as I find it disgusting that a pastor would advocate the necessity of a tithe (the OP's story), I find it utterly repulsive that a church supposedly centered on jesus' teachings would blow so much money on a silly symbol. It's just another anecdote further reinforcing the stigma that most "christians" haven't the foggiest idea what jesus ever said or taught.
I guess you can add me to your list (well, except I'm not any sort of christian). I'm not sure how it is you think it is contradicting Jesus' teachings. And, I suppose I'd also object in general to calling a symbol silly, when they are so important to people.
I'm not sure I really want to get into this, but I'd wager blowing money on extravagent construction projects was not high on jesus' priority list. Neither were empty demonstrations of spirituality... I don't care about the symbol - it's the daffiness of such a huge one. It's not pretty, it's not artitistic, it's not going to make people find god. It's just a big ugly thing surrounded by billboards compensating for some particular group of people's obvious insecurity. We are talking about a 150' cross on the side of I-45. Not the Pieta.
Interesting you'd say that. If you don't mind - I'd like to hear why. But it's ok if you don't want to get into it - my curiosity is piqued now.
I thought you didn't want to talk about it? One could say that Christians should be using that money to help the poor or otherwise persecuted. But, that can be taken to a ridiculous extreme, giving all money to charity at the expense of investing in worthwhile projects. So, the question would be whether the project is worthwhile. In that regard, I think the cross is good marketing. It has a very succinct message that would be very hard to miss. The marketing can serve the aggrandisement of this church and the religion in general. Gaining converts is in the interest of believers (being their job and all). I don't think it is particularly extravagant. It'll probably be more expensive than the $1M cross the article mentioned, because it is actually a building they intend to use. But, compared to the expense of that building and the rest of the campus, the expense of putting up a big cross on top is likely not a large addition. And, I really think it'd pay for itself in additional tithes from additional congregants attracted by the landmark. I don't think it is much different from the motivation to build all the fancy cathedrals we have around, like St. Peter's Basilica, Notre Dame, and the rest. It's less beautiful, but less extravagant as well. But, all are attempting to glorify God, believers' other job. It is also not different from the government building a nice Capitol building, or a university building a nice campus, or Transco building a nice tower. And, I think its cool to have another landmark around.
for some reason I have always had a problem with this idea...I disagree with this line of thinking...But i could be wrong.
Nope. And that's why listening to priests beg parishioners to "act more like jesus" is about as ridiculously hypocritical as I can imagine. Of course, that's not always the case. Just most of the time. For the record, I've been in all those buildings. They are stupendously beautiful.
