God sucks!

[Locutus]

Manipulation of those who are young and willing. Sad.

Indeed!

However, it's indicative of a larger problem with people of that persuasion.  By that persuasion, I mean those who believe in the man in the sky.  I've yet to find a single one of them, in real life and in these online venues, who is willing to question and scrutinize their beliefs.  The people in the video obviously haven't as is evidenced by the Bible verses I posted above.  What they're doing is in direct violation of what Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians.   

Now if they are all as familiar with that book as they think they are, they wouldn't be doing what they're doing.  I would love to hear one of the leaders of that fleeced flock explain those activities in light of the verses I cited.  You'd better bet the farm that if I believed in that crap, and thought what they were teaching me violated the scriptures, I'd damn well be asking some fucking questions as to why. 

[Lester Sasquatch]

Indeed!

However, it's indicative of a larger problem with people of that persuasion.  By that persuasion, I mean those who believe in the man in the sky.  I've yet to find a single one of them, in real life and in these online venues, who is willing to question and scrutinize their beliefs.  The people in the video obviously haven't as is evidenced by the Bible verses I posted above.  What they're doing is in direct violation of what Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians.   

Now if they are all as familiar with that book as they think they are, they wouldn't be doing what they're doing.  I would love to hear one of the leaders of that fleeced flock explain those activities in light of the verses I cited.  You'd better bet the farm that if I believed in that crap, and thought what they were teaching me violated the scriptures, I'd damn well be asking some fucking questions as to why.

One rule I never break is not to drink the koolaid when offered by members of a strange church.

[Locutus]

One rule I never break is not to drink the koolaid when offered by members of a strange church.

That's very sound thinking.  What I find particularly troubling about those videos is, as FTW duly noted, they're brainwashing impressionable children and teenagers with that garbage.    I'll bet you any amount of money that those people would all call the Moonies a cult, and call the Hare Krishnas a cult, yet they would never consider themselves as one.   If they really do believe in eternal damnation if you 'eff up, they better turn to some serious introspection. 

[Lester Sasquatch]

That's very sound thinking.  What I find particularly troubling about those videos is, as FTW duly noted, they're brainwashing impressionable children and teenagers with that garbage.    I'll bet you any amount of money that those people would all call the Moonies a cult, and call the Hare Krishnas a cult, yet they would never consider themselves as one.   If they really do believe in eternal damnation if you 'eff up, they better turn to some serious introspection.

They indeed do act like a cult, and if the shoe fits... Hitler did about the same thing with the young children in Germany, indoctrination into the third Reich. But I do not feel this video is indicative of most practicing Christians in America. I went to a Full Gospel church once and felt very uncomfortable with the way they worshiped. When I feel uncomfortable I don't go back. Also many people are to lazy to read the scripture themselves. They put some money in the plate as it passes and listen to the preacher thinking that's all they need to do. Very few sit down regularly and read the Word themselves, they just assume the man in the pulpit is preaching according to the Bible. Some churches go as far as to discourage the members from private bible study, these are like cults to me.

[LOsborne]

  They just spew that BS willingly and en masse. 

You're reading too much into it, Locutus. They are flat out stoned-high-intoxicated-f*cked up by the hypnotic and controlling techniques practiced by their charismatic leader.

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/studymethods/ss/leadership_4.htm

What the video doesn't show is the embarrassment of these kids after the contact high wears off.

[Locutus]

You're reading too much into it, Locutus. They are flat out stoned-high-intoxicated-f*cked up by the hypnotic and controlling techniques practiced by their charismatic leader.

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/studymethods/ss/leadership_4.htm

What the video doesn't show is the embarrassment of these kids after the contact high wears off.

Oh you're quite right.  No disagreement about the "flat out stoned-high-intoxicated-f*cked up" part of what you said.  My grandmother was into that crap and I've been to a few services with people who were in a state exactly as you described.   The fact that parents would allow themselves to become caught up in that crap is bad enough, but to indoctrinate their children is worse. 

[LOsborne]

However, it's indicative of a larger problem with people of that persuasion.  ...the man in the sky.

Relax. It's their drug of choice. Their choice. And ultimately their responsibility.

Ya know, you can get SSDI now for depression. I wonder how long it will be before you can get disability compensation for being devout. At the root, it's a medical impairment, brought about by low self-esteem.

[Locutus]

Relax. It's their drug of choice. Their choice. And ultimately their responsibility.

Ya know, you can get SSDI now for depression. I wonder how long it will be before you can get disability compensation for being devout. At the root, it's a medical impairment, brought about by low self-esteem.

Reminds me very much of the words of Jesse Ventura. 

"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."

[LOsborne]

What I find particularly troubling about those videos is, as FTW duly noted, they're brainwashing impressionable children and teenagers with that garbage.

Isn't it a rite of passage? I still treasure the memory of Mark Rudd  (then president of SDS) and Rennie Davis (Chicago Seven) handing me a doobie when I was seventeen. Magical thinking is by right the territory of the young.

[Locutus]

Isn't it a rite of passage? I still treasure the memory of Mark Rudd  (then president of SDS) and Rennie Davis (Chicago Seven) handing me a doobie when I was seventeen. Magical thinking is by right the territory of the young.

I'm don't think that's a very valid comparison.  By accepting your doobie, I would take it that you had a choice in the matter.  Even though you were younger, I'm quite certain you were able to assess the risks of what you were doing.  I doubt any of these children were presented with a choice when their parents dragged them into the FWC.  They were most likely forced into that environment at an earlier age, and they were put in a place by their parents where they were subjected to a constant stream of that garbage along with a threat of eternal damnation thrown in for good measure. 

[LOsborne]

By accepting your doobie, I would take it that you had a choice in the matter.  Even though you were younger, I'm quite certain you were able to assess the risks of what you were doing.

Bullshit. I was star-struck.

[Locutus]

Bullshit. I was star-struck.

[me]

I would definitely have been shunned because after I got over the horror of it all I would have been in fits of uncontrollable laughter. 

[LOsborne]

...  after I got over the horror of it all I would have been in fits of uncontrollable laughter. 

See? You don't need any "herbal enhancement" to improve your fine sense of the ridiculous, me.

[me]

Ya got that right.     I was told once I was a bad candidate for hypnosis because my mind was too active and I was too inquisitive and there were a few other things thrown in and maybe that's why I was never taken in by that type of thing. 

See? You don't need any "herbal enhancement" to improve your fine sense of the ridiculous, me.