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Preacher questions hell, loses congregation

Puppycow

Penultimate Amazing
Puppycow
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Jan 9, 2003
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This video what might happen when an honest evangelist actually uses his brain. My favorite line: "The more he studied, the more he saw the bible not as the literal word of God, but a book by men about God--primitive men, prone to mistranslations, political agendas and human emotions."

This is why Martin Luther warned that "Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his reason." And: "Reason should be destroyed in all Christians."

Rev. Pearson, the evangelist, still hasn't apparantly realized the full implications yet, because he still apparantly believes in heaven, but maybe he's on his way.
 
Smart guy.
That must take a lot of humility to be honest with yourself after preaching that doctrine for so long.
 
what the flip's with the newsreporter's summary -

"And he raises some serious questions - like how is he going to get people to give him money to prevent them from going to hell if there is no hell?"*


Since when is that a serious question?

...those theological concerns could really hit his bottom line....

unbelievable.





*[paraphrase]
 
andyandy said:
what the flip's with the newsreporter's summary -

"And he raises some serious questions - like how is he going to get people to give him money to prevent them from going to hell if there is no hell?"*


Since when is that a serious question?

...those theological concerns could really hit his bottom line....

unbelievable.





*[paraphrase]
Click to expand...


I'll second that on all counts.
 
andyandy said:
what the flip's with the newsreporter's summary -

"And he raises some serious questions - like how is he going to get people to give him money to prevent them from going to hell if there is no hell?"*


Since when is that a serious question?

...those theological concerns could really hit his bottom line....

unbelievable.
Click to expand...

Yes, I thought that a bit odd, but in practice it is an important consideration. If preachers have a financial incentive to preach hell and brimstone, then most probably won't be as honest as Rev. Pearson. I think one of the points of the video is that he thought himself right out of a lucrative job.
 
I guess the atheists never got the memo about superficial news reporters.

Ah, I found it:

"News reporters are superficial."
 
kellyb said:
Smart guy.
That must take a lot of humility to be honest with yourself after preaching that doctrine for so long.
Click to expand...

Not really, if he was smart enough to realize it own his own, what kept him from questioning and mired in his perpetual state of delusion was the congregation and environment itself.

In fact it took way too long, but eventually the truth of the situation will emerge much like being smacked around with a newspaper until you finally wake up.
 
"And he raises some serious questions - like how is he going to get people to give him money to prevent them from going to hell if there is no hell?"*
Click to expand...

I thought he said that "the preacher says 'how am I going to get people to give me money to keep them out of hell'".

I think the guy has nerve to say what he did. I'm not comfortable with the idea that Earth is Hell. I mean what can you say about us Atheists living in Hell (Earth) and have pretty good/happy lives?

I guess they are going to talk to a mass murderer when they run this special. How can you reconcile this notion that he will be going to heaven?

The preacher is thinking and that should be commended....I think he needs to keep reasoning this out. In the end the only conclusion a thinking person should come up with is that there is no heaven or hell as there is no god(s).

Susan
 
lolurigeller said:
Not really, if he was smart enough to realize it own his own, what kept him from questioning and mired in his perpetual state of delusion was the congregation and environment itself.

In fact it took way too long, but eventually the truth of the situation will emerge much like being smacked around with a newspaper until you finally wake up.
Click to expand...

Yes. When co-religionists are constantly reaffirming one's beliefs, it's hard to break out of that. The only way is through objective reasoning. The incurious will be unlikely to break out of it, because one shortcut to a worldview is to listen to others. Kids are made to soak up information as well as disinformation like a sponge. Then, once there is enough information and disinformation to form a semi-coherent worldview, the phenomenon of confirmation bias takes over.
 
I'm willing to give Rev. Pearson more credit. He isn't just a street corner preacher; he has some status in the Christian world, and he's risking all that, as well as a good livelihood, presumably, by having the sense to question a central tenet of his religion. Even if it's just the one idea he can't accept, it's that all-important first step. I'll bet more will follow eventually.

And nobody was smacking him around with a newspaper. He did it all on his own.

Good on him!
 
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