1 (edited by Justinian I 25-Jun-2009 20:56:07)

Topic: Prosperity Gospel

Why haven't the American preachers who preach this been imprisoned for operating a ponzi scheme yet? The empirical evidence shows that there is no relation between investing in to a church and receiving a financial return. Investing in a church is not an asset that appreciates in value, rather it's scamming stupid and subservient religious people of their money.

As little as I respect the idiots who buy in to the scam, I think the kingpins who are operating it need to be arrested for operating a pyramid scheme. The sad part is that enforcing the ponzi scam laws would imprison a lot of the elites in the religious right, which is where they belong so they can't harm anyone rofl.

Re: Prosperity Gospel

Then you'd have to slam the Federal Reserve, the last 3 presidents and congress for racketeering

You think we're gonna give China $900 billion over 30 years? That money could be spent on a lot of damfool ideas

The core joke of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is that of course no civilization would develop personal computers with instant remote database recovery, and then waste this technology to find good drinks.
Steve Jobs has ruined this joke.

Re: Prosperity Gospel

Why does it bother you how other people spend their money? If you don't like it then dont do it lol. I think you have given huge amounts of money to the church in the past and havent received anything. Thats why your so cranky.

Re: Prosperity Gospel

> Red_Rooster wrote:

> Why does it bother you how other people spend their money? If you don't like it then dont do it lol. I think you have given huge amounts of money to the church in the past and havent received anything. Thats why your so cranky.>

This isn't tithing or donating. It's a ponzi scam. Telling people they will receive a return on their investment when the evidence says otherwise is outright fraud.


Yell,

Haha. Yes, I agree. They deserve prison time too rofl.

Re: Prosperity Gospel

Maybe you are forgetting that religion is just a collection of beliefs. You are trying to equate the bible to wall street financial analysts. It is not the same. If you want to know the difference I will gladly help you out smile

If I believe that I will get a return 10 fold what I give to the church, then it is my belief and no one can/should stop me.

Re: Prosperity Gospel

i think justinian likes fish sticks tongue

7 (edited by Justinian I 28-Jun-2009 07:08:56)

Re: Prosperity Gospel

> Red_Rooster wrote:

> Maybe you are forgetting that religion is just a collection of beliefs. You are trying to equate the bible to wall street financial analysts. It is not the same. If you want to know the difference I will gladly help you out smile

If I believe that I will get a return 10 fold what I give to the church, then it is my belief and no one can/should stop me.>

Don't put words in my mouth. The bottom line is that if you tell investors that they will receive a return 10 fold and the empirical evidence suggests only a loss in 90%+ of the cases, then it is definitely counted as a pyramid scam. Whether it's a religion that is advertising that is irrelevant. It's a pyramid scam, period.

Re: Prosperity Gospel

can you provide a link to one of these things? i dont think i've ever seen what you're talking about.

9 (edited by Justinian I 28-Jun-2009 09:05:57)

Re: Prosperity Gospel

All you have to do is listen to popular Televangelists like John Piper and Joel Osteen.

Of course, they don't represent the majority of Christians, but it's nonetheless a scam.

Re: Prosperity Gospel

It's preached all over early morning television worldwide - wherever there's a decent sized Christian population. They even try to target the especially vulnerable by asking them to give whatever little they have left with faith for a ripe harvest.

No idea why these preachers haven't been banned yet, most Christians probably don't enjoy being represented by such.

Re: Prosperity Gospel

"Don't put words in my mouth. The bottom line is that if you tell investors that they will receive a return 10 fold and the empirical evidence suggests only a loss in 90%+ of the cases, then it is definitely counted as a pyramid scam. Whether it's a religion that is advertising that is irrelevant. It's a pyramid scam, period."

okay i guess u want me to explain how stock analysts are different from christian preachers... if it is not obvious enough.

Okay first off, like i said, religion is only a collection of BELIEFS. Not much facts involved here. But people who are trying to scam people through stocks usually provide false "facts" which are lies to mislead the public. Now Christianity, like all religions, only preaches its beliefs to other people and if they believe they will give. Have you ever thought that maybe these people are happy in giving even if they dont recieve ten fold in money? Have you even considered that people give in hopes that they will recieve other blessings from their god.

If you can provide one youtube video of a televangelist saying that you will recieve back whatever you give in money then I accept defeat.

Since you havent even provided that single source for the original post I really cant take your argument very seriously.

12 (edited by Justinian I 28-Jun-2009 17:09:12)

Re: Prosperity Gospel

> Red_Rooster wrote:
okay i guess u want me to explain how stock analysts are different from christian preachers... if it is not obvious enough.

Okay first off, like i said, religion is only a collection of BELIEFS. Not much facts involved here. But people who are trying to scam people through stocks usually provide false "facts" which are lies to mislead the public. Now Christianity, like all religions, only preaches its beliefs to other people and if they believe they will give. Have you ever thought that maybe these people are happy in giving even if they dont recieve ten fold in money? Have you even considered that people give in hopes that they will recieve other blessings from their god. >

A pyramid scam is not disqualified from being a pyramid scam because it's intertwined in to religion. A religious pyramid scam is still a pyramid scam, and all your talk about the differences between a businessman and preacher are absolutely irrelevant.

<If you can provide one youtube video of a televangelist saying that you will recieve back whatever you give in money then I accept defeat.>

Thank you for saying something relevant. Here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlbWSvrZ27g

Re: Prosperity Gospel

Is there even a remote chance of these preachers being prosecuted for fraud, embezzlement or whatever else is relevant though?

"Oh Kent, anyone can make up statistics to support their point of view.  92% of people know that"

Homer Simpson

Re: Prosperity Gospel

Why should we allow govt prohibition on religious gifting?  If you wanna throw your money away, go ahead, its a free country.

The idea that a poor woman who gives away her house to some Protestant makes her a victim, well that's nice, how about a poor woman who spends "too much" on private schooling for their kids? its all the same thing, the State must protect these lovable goofballs from themselves right?

The core joke of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is that of course no civilization would develop personal computers with instant remote database recovery, and then waste this technology to find good drinks.
Steve Jobs has ruined this joke.

Re: Prosperity Gospel

yeah man I don't do charity, I do porno

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Re: Prosperity Gospel

I know, I'm still feeling ill.

17 (edited by EliteInternetWarrior 30-Jun-2009 21:56:02)

Re: Prosperity Gospel

I don't see why we need to protect people from their stupidity. It only kills the fun of those who are intelligent.