Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am certain that Christians would say it is not a business.
However, it has a product -- absolution / forgiveness, by extension existential peace ... and in some flavors, healing, wealth and good luck. Also by implication, wisdom and esoteric knowledge, especially one's fate in the afterlife.
The price is some amount of loyalty, $$, and "involvement" and "support" for the activities of the church, as well as entering into and supporting the shared illusions.
I'd certainly say no. But it does exist within a secular state and has to pay up on things too. Spirits can't help there no way...and they're surely have to be a friend of Bill's like everybody else!.....But yes I'd certainly be very disappointed if they had sales on indulgences once again..........;-)...
As non-religious as I am, even I can see that in order to maintain a church, even the basics such as heating and electricity, you need money.
Now how much money - that's where the corruption part comes in, obviously.
is Christianity a business?
if so, what is it selling?
If not, why not?
It's a club or a society (like a 'secret society' thing). They have to maintain things. They have to add more people to keep it going. So they do things to accomplish that. But it's not a business.
My sources may have been biased, but I learned that a big part of Martin Luther's impetus for schism was opposition to certain practices in the R.C. Church that resembled business. (As was Jesus's opposition to elements of the Jewish temple).
However, it seems that most Protestant denomintions have long caught up.
I fail to see how anyone can honestly believe that it's NOT a business. It's a nonprofit one, I'll admit. They are tax-free entities. They receive their money much in the same way that your local PBS station receives its money, albeit with a collection plate instead of a pledge drive. But it's a business. Anyone who claims otherwise is stuck on semantics.
This applies to all religions, by the way. Not just christianity.
It is a faith and an organization because that's exactly what God intended for it to be. How else would the word have been marketed across the world? How else would churches have been built and ran? How else would parochial schools have started? How else would the billions of charitable goods and aids (that Christianity is majority responsible for and fyi, that's why they aren't taxed) been taken to millions of countries? The Bible says "your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven." The church is ran the way God runs his kingdom in Heaven.
Last edited by allenk893; 12-03-2014 at 11:18 AM..
Location: Sitting on a bar stool. Guinness in hand.
4,428 posts, read 6,506,556 times
Reputation: 1721
Quote:
Originally Posted by ABQConvict
My sources may have been biased, but I learned that a big part of Martin Luther's impetus for schism was opposition to certain practices in the R.C. Church that resembled business. (As was Jesus's opposition to elements of the jewish temple).
However, it seems that most Protestant denomintions have long caught up.
I believe the RCC church was selling indulgences at that time. I sure that peeved Luthur off to no end.
You know what funny though. If you look at who was pope at the time at the beginning and look at his last name and his successors last name, you can see why some practices "seemed" to resemble a business.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
