US Religious Minister

Freddie Mcinerney

I just seen a Christian Minister dying of Covid. Went through some of his pages and other given their condolence.

What I notice, he and other Ministers seem to be quite wealthy.

Would that be normal for US ministers?

Peregrinus

There is no "normal" here. There's a wide range of incomes for Christian ministers in the US. This varies by denomination, and also varies within denominations, and there are also lots of Ministers who don't be belong to any denomination. Some are very well-paid and a few are very wealthy indeed, but at the other end of the scale there are many who don't earn a living wage from ministry, and who work another job to feed and house themselves and their families.

Freddie Mcinerney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249086#Comment_118249086

The very wealthy seem to be fanatical. Why is that?

Peregrinus

What you mean by "fanatical"?

Freddie Mcinerney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249092#Comment_118249092

Kenneth Copeland.

Peregrinus

Can you be a bit more helpful? I'm not asking you to name a fanatic, but to identify the views that you consider fanatical that seem to you to be held by wealthy pastors generally.

Cookie_Monster

what do you expect OP? Churches are just a way if funnelling money from attendees to the pastors / whoever runs the church.

100k average salary, good money in blabbing on about jesus and friends

https://www.salary.com/research/salary/benchmark/pastor-salary

Freddie Mcinerney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249107#Comment_118249107

Sweet for them.

Freddie Mcinerney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249100#Comment_118249100

Listen to Copeland.

fritzelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249095#Comment_118249095

This maniac - religion is a good business to be in if you have enough maniacs following you who give you all their money

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBkegy4aDvk

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249110#Comment_118249110

No offence, Freddie, but I'm not sure I want to spend my time researching your opinions if you can't be arsed to tell me what they are.

SouthWesterly

And yet I personally know dozens of pastors around the world who don't take a wage at all and work full time jobs. They're more the norm than the headline stars mentioned above. Z

Thinkingaboutit

A good few must regard bling as a sign of credibility, perhaps a character of Prosperity Gospel, where wealth is a sign of God's favour. Apostolic poverty after the model of St Francis of Assisi, where even meat was avoided unless given to him by a host, seems quite out of fashion among the notable ones.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249319#Comment_118249319

That's possibly because ministers of religion may be unlikely to become notable unless they are rich and ostentatious. Media culture, and particularly US media culture, is obsessed with celebrity and display. There might be only a small proportion of ministers who are conspicuously rich, but the media coverage will be devoted to them, and to ministers who become involved in sexual or abuse scandals. The rest will never be noticed at all.

Mr. CooL ICE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35K6vQRt67g

Shilock

These superstar pastor's make a lot of money. People give donations and pay to hear the word of the lord. They fill people with a mixture of joy and fear, the perfect cult. Nothing more powerful than a person who can make people experience fear,joy, laughter and shame all in an hour. It's been done throughout history....

Freddie Mcinerney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249397#Comment_118249397

You would think many of them don't believe what they preach.

Shilock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249492#Comment_118249492

I'd say a lot of them are on the fence who have no moral compass, potential sociopaths, psychopaths who prey on the vunerable. Probably failed CEOs etc

Effects

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249203#Comment_118249203

If a pastor is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, then he's not doing the work of god, he's serving himself.

riffmongous

"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God"

Funny how they or their flock never seem to remember that one

Freddie Mcinerney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249752#Comment_118249752

Exactly. Hubbard had the right idea.

SouthWesterly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249826#Comment_118249826

Do you actually know what that means? Obviously not given your comment.

It was a gate that couldn't take a camel and it's load together. The rider took the load off for the camel to go through and then took on his cargo.

Freddie Mcinerney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118253890#Comment_118253890

It is for meditation as well. If you are rich in thought, you will find it difficult to transcend.

Effects

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118253890#Comment_118253890

So basically Jesus was saying rich people can go to heaven, but it just takes two trips to get all your wealth in?

SouthWesterly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118254247#Comment_118254247

He said it was easier for a camel. He didn't say it was impossible for a rich man.

You also see the early church in Acts had rich men who had land. They sold it and gave to those in need.

But of course there are no rich men in heaven. They leave it all behind when they die. 😁

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249107#Comment_118249107

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249752#Comment_118249752

Oh, sure, no argument from me. But that's not the point that Freddie is making. His complaint is not that millionaire pastors are an obscenity; it's that millionaire pastors hold "fanatical" views. But he can't or won't say what views he is talking about.

Montage of Feck

“It is a sin directly against one's neighbour, since one man cannot over-abound in external riches, without another man lacking them.”

-Thomas Aquinous

old_aussie

Were they playing "another one bites the dust" in the background?

riffmongous

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118253890#Comment_118253890

Bullshit, there is of course the fact that there is no evidence that the gate ever existed. It was just made up a thousand years later

And why would the Apostles have reacted with shock to Jesus saying this if it was so straightforward? Funny how you don't remember that bit

Freddie Mcinerney

Who would you think play fanatical up at the podium?