Author Topic: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.  (Read 3680 times)

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Offline Witchyjoshy

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Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« on: September 20, 2013, 04:23:37 pm »
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/homelesspastor.asp

I'm linking to Snopes and not the article itself, mostly because of the big fat "UNDETERMINED" on it.

Since I can't quote an entire article, I'll summarize it using my own words.

This guy (who is not actually pictured) is beginning his first day as pastor of this large church (100,000 members) disguised as a homeless man.  The church is pretty much horrible to him, refusing to talk to him, ignoring him when he asked for money for food, and the ushers ushering him to the back of the room.  When the pastor is introduced, he walks up and delivers a short sermon (this part is the one that's most unbelievable, IMO ;D ) by simply quoting the Bible where God is talking to the man on his left who "didn't feed him when he was hungry, clothe him when he was naked, yada yada" then dismisses Church until next week.

Personally, I don't think this actually happened, at least not like this.  That being said, I wish that something like this happened.  Would restore my faith in humanity a little.

Also the photo that the story presents is of an actual homeless guy.  Go figure.
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Offline Sigmaleph

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2013, 08:26:35 pm »
Have to agree with you. It sounds fake.
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Offline PosthumanHeresy

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2013, 12:11:53 am »
I hope it's true, just because, well, it'd be nice.
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Offline SkyTrekTower

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2013, 12:25:06 am »
It was supposedly at a 10,000, not 100,000 member church.  If it was 100k, then it would be untrue as no church is that big, but this occurring at a 10k member church is in the realm of possibility.  I also hope it is true as it would be incredibly eye opening for the congregation. 

Offline ironbite

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2013, 02:44:24 pm »
You obviously haven't seen some of the Megachurches that roam the midwestern states that are basically stadiums that house almost 100,000 people in them for a service.

Offline Ghoti

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2013, 03:31:43 pm »
My immediate thought is that it's fake. It seems a little too parable-y and glurge-y for me to take it super seriously. Even if it did happen, I'm willing to bet a good portion of the congregation said to themselves "Oh, that's so wonderful!" and went back to their ordinary middle-class existence as soon as the pastor said "Peace be with you. Go with g-d!".
I agree with ironbite that there are XXL megachurches that could hold 100k (I was baptized in one).
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Offline Xander Zzyzx

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2013, 03:55:50 pm »
I have to think it's false. For one thing, maybe it's just me, but I still have trouble getting my head around even a megachurch having a congregation of 100,000. That just seems too big and far too impersonal for a pastor to conduct a test of his congregants like that. Plus, with these megachurches I'm sure if there really was a homeless person in distress and in need of help, the pastor would probably have given the guy the boot because he doesn't have money to buy his salvation.

Offline ironbite

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2013, 04:05:48 pm »
(click to show/hide)

Ironbite-come on...keep thinking that these don't exist.

Offline Xander Zzyzx

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #8 on: September 21, 2013, 04:28:51 pm »
All right Ironbite, that's a massive church. But I still think the Snopes article is still false, because some rich evangelical preacher wearing a suit worth more than most peoples' annual salaries, probably wouldn't care much about actually testing the good of people.
« Last Edit: September 21, 2013, 04:34:05 pm by Tiado »

Offline Old Viking

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2013, 05:32:29 pm »
The story needs work.
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Offline SkyTrekTower

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #10 on: September 21, 2013, 05:39:23 pm »
(click to show/hide)

Ironbite-come on...keep thinking that these don't exist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_Protestant_churches_in_the_United_States

Lakewood, the church in the picture, has a membership of 44,333, and is the largest single site church in America.  The arena old arena it is in probably seats 18-22k at a time. 
« Last Edit: September 21, 2013, 05:42:47 pm by SkyTrekTower »

Offline majingojira

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2013, 03:00:03 pm »
There's a famous christian joke where a similar thing happens, only the homeless man is Jesus, and I think the person was preparing dinner for Jesus but ended up feeding the homeless man instead (who is Jesus in disguise).

Offline Witchyjoshy

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Re: Pastor pulls a fast one on his congregation - or maybe not.
« Reply #12 on: September 30, 2013, 03:08:21 pm »
The only famous Christian joke I can remember is...

Man: What is a million years to you?
God: A minute.
Man: What is a million dollars to you?
God: A penny.
Man: Can I have a penny?
God: In a minute.
Mockery of ideas you don't comprehend or understand is the surest mark of unintelligence.

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