>>588762
>>588765
On the nose. Hagee is a prophet, don't you know? Don't forget your offering on top of your tithe; you won't be blessed otherwise. :^)
>>588775
A quick rundown of my experience in the Christian community, the majority of which is from my 'devout' parents:
>Have severe health issues since childhood; be shooed away for issues like seizures, heart condition, spine injury, etc, told to just pray more
>Regular abuse of almost every kind; told that 'rebellion is as witchcraft' and I'll go to hell if I protest
>The pastors at the churches I gone to to run it as a cult of personality where you're expected to help out not just the church but the administration's personal lives for free
>Women accepted into the clergy turn it all into a social club for self-congratulatory harpies to get together and wax emotional about things they refuse to try to understand
>Head pastor gives (((wife))) equal standing in the clergy; she literally does not even know the meaning of the word 'Hermeneutics' when she was asked; she's a leader now
>"Covering theology"; gotta have someone above you at all times, or you have no connection to God! This is in a Protestant church, mind you.
>You're disrespecting authority if you don't refer to clergy by their titles at all times. The pastor's kid, who I grew up with, now demands to be called "Pastor" by everyone.
>I discovered that that church in question is connected to a bunch of other churches like a pyramid scheme, the highest of which says "nulla salus extra ecclesiam" on their website
>Again, this is a Protestant church
>Church literally exists at railroad line between rich and poor part of town; twist prepubescent children's arms from the ghetto, out of sight of their parents, to tithe the money they have
>Clergy lives exclusively in rich part of town
>Gift shop out front is larger and better stocked/maintained than the kids' church
>They now host a Christian-themed diploma mill that targets said harpy flock with worthless pieces of self-affirmation (((for a nominal fee :^) )))
>The curriculum contains things such as "Temperament Theology", which is literally pagan Greek humour-based personality-determination pseudoscience
>We're seriously one step from listing blood type on profiles like the Japanese do, but as long as the women can feel empowered into leadership, whatever I guess
>Regular big-name guest speakers who are announced and treated like rock stars. They get their own separate tithe/offering event and always bring tables full of merch to sell in the back of the sanctuary itself, not even in the gift shop
All full of the most plastic, shitty, one-dimensional brown-nosers I've ever known that act like they're on set for an infomercial and have to act like every breath of the host is the greatest thing they've ever heard. The simulated wonderment on their eyes reminds me of Disneyland commercials every time I see it.
I am, somehow, against all odds, still a Christian. I think I'm more Christian than the people who told me to be, sometimes. I'm not a good one, but at least I actually believe there's a truth to be found and adhered to. I can't stand people using it as an identity. You don't use things you truly are as a stylistic flourish. You just are them. Actually, saying that just made it dawn on me. It's all words over actions. They're pretenders. I want something real. In some sense, all this bullshit backfired horrendously on them because now I have a deep-seated and burning, wrathful need for truth and integrity.
I've seriously considered telling the world to fuck off and going to live in a stone monastery or something, but then aren't I just abandoning the world to the above outlined version of Christianity? Seems to go against the spirit of 'go ye therefore and teach all nations'. Even if I don't think I can be a leader in literal terms, shouldn't I at least find something I can be content with and be a purveyor of it by example?
I don't even know what denomination I am. I've started to refer to myself as a "Matthew 21:12 Christian", because nothing else seems more appropriate.