"blatant ignorance"

Ok, so everyday I pretty much get consumed in reading news articles online. [My homepage in AOL -- so you know they always have these catchy headlines that just MAKE you have to read more, lol] Well today, I get on and see a headline saying:

pEEK INTO OSTEEN'S $70 MILLION CHURCH 'Christian-Lite' Service Has 43,000 Followers: Inside 10 Megachurches.

Okay, so I was kind of hesistant to read it because I felt like I was just going to end up being mad at the ignorance found in the article since so many people have big problems with megachurches and usually give them a bad rap -- well....I was wrong. The article was pretty good at giving a good overview of what all goes on in the church and how the money is spent, even acknowledging how Joel Osteen gave away in $200, 000 salary from his booksales to go to missions, etc. But uh, scroll down a little farther and start reading the random comments on the article --- and YEAH, there's that ignorance I was trying to avoid. I'm not sure why people have such big hang-ups with megachurches --- or even churches in general. All the comments on it are saying things like this:

"These people are so misguided that they think they have to give all their money to this man in order to buy the afterlife"

OR

"A true man of God does not use the people of the Lord to gain so much money for their own expense. Where is all of this money going? Right into his pocket."

OR

"If they are so morally superior, then why isn't this money being spent on ending world hunger and homelessness? Oohhh, that's right. You have to cough up 10% of your income in order to receive their help. How convenient for them that god only decised to unleash his magical powers (on you)..... "

:-|

Lol, not the magical powers. "I'm real mad at that" lol.......

But yeah, the ignorance gets worse and worse as you read on. Eventually, I just had to stop reading them. First of all, I'm thinking like this -- if I have such a dislike for something then why would I entertain it? Like really, if you have a problem with megachurches or churches in general, then why are you taking the time to read articles about them and commenting on it? You obviously don't attend one which means what they do have no concern or affect on your life, so just let people live their lives and you live your own. Secondly, and most importantly --- CAN YOU NOT READ? The article talks of how humble he is and how the money is spent. Churches do not pay taxes, but they can still be audited, trust me -- the IRS is on top of it, if a pastor is robbing his members they will be exposed. I then stumbled across this comment and if it was on facebook it definitely would have gotten that 'like' :

''I'm not a big Osteen fan, but I wish when people would comment on an issue they would do it prom a position of knowledge instead to blatant ignorance. The millions of dollars a church like this takes in goes to support such causes as feeding the poor and homeless, paying ministerial assistants to council people who have marital problems, drug problems etc. They also support the poor and under-priviledged in other countries. Churches like this have tremendoes children and youth programs to keep kids off the street etc. Yea, Osteen probably makes a very good dollar. But he has tremendous responsibilities as well. So while everyone is entitled to express their opinion at least know the facts before you reveal your assinine ignorance... Thanx!''

...No, thank YOU 'jjkibelbek' (that's the person's screenname -- don't ask lol) because I couldn't have said it better. Personally, I am not a fan on Joel Osteen either -- he is waaaay too happy and smiley-facey for my liking but that's fine because he has thousands of members who think otherwise. Plus, I do think the size of his church in pretty much ridiculous -- like I PERSONALLY would never want to go to a church that big because it takes the intimacy out of it. However, like I've already stated -- that's me and my opinion....I don't have to attend, so oh well. But the thing is, churches take in so much money and people like to comment about how they have such a problem with it and yet they want to leave out what the church IS doing with that money they recieve. Just taking a look at my own church, which I guess by standards IS a megachurch [more than 2000 members] ......I see exactly what they do with "all that money" that they take in. My pastors by cars for single mother's who are in need, they rebuild and remodel homes for the needy, on the days before Thanksgiving, my pastor stood in a grocery store in a poor part of DC and paid for EVERYONES groceries that came thru the lines, they gave out free gas at a gas station one day, they gave out free gas cards in church when the economy started getting ruff, they give away $100, 000 in scholarships each year to the youth, they are sending 20 men to Haiti in the upcoming weeks to build an orphanage. My own pastors have been audited twice and each time the investigation was over, the government owed THEM money. I can go on and on, if you're going to have an opinion about stuff at least make sure you know what you're talking about at least. But ok, enough of this. Goodnight :-)

Oh, and people give money to these preachers in hopes of buying an afterlife? BAHAHAHA. Lol, that's probably the most ignorant statement I've ever heard in my life. Statements like those don't even need addressing. Read your Bible people, k thanks.

Link to article if you'd like to read it: http://www.walletpop.com/article/_a/bbdp/americas-biggest-megachurches/548602?icid=mainhp-laptopdl2link3http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walletpop.com%2Farticle%2F_a%2Fbbdp%2Famericas-biggest-megachurches%2F548602

R.I.P. "King of Pop"

I was on the metro with Imani when we got the news about Michael Jackson passing away yesterday. At first, we thought it was a joke [we'd heard from a very unreliable source through a text message lol]. Plus, I don't know what it is with people loving to spread rumors about people dying -- Jaleel White [Urkel] and Kel Mitchell [from Kenan & Kel] have had stupid rumors about them being dead spread around a couple years back. But sure enough, it was confirmed. The King of Pop has passed away at age 50 after suffering from cardiac arrest [which IS different from a heart attack]. Shocking news. Almost seemed unrealistic. What!? It's Michael Jackson, he can't die, lol. One thing for sure, is that although he is gone -- he definitely will not be forgotten. He's touched many lives and has influenced music more than people give him credit for. To all the haters focusing on his downfalls and failing to acknowledge his great accomplishments -- get a life. My prayers are gone out to his friends and his family members.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson [August 25, 1958 - June 25, 2008]



P.S. definitely been neglecting this blog, oops. I'll get back on it soon!

r e s p e c t , find out what it means to me lol

I haven't really had anything pertinent on my mind lately, so I haven't had much to write about. Pastor preached on integrity on Sunday and I thought it was a good lesson -- told myself I was going to write about it but then didn't feel like it, lol.

However, I've been making some changes and making some decisions on my behalf, because as I have stated before...I've dedicated this summer to me, I'm working and focusing on me for a change. It's needed. But back to what I was getting at, I've been thinking about the things young women need to possess: character, self-confidence, integrity, etc ... but I honestly think the most important quality to possess is self-respect. Think about it, if we really respected ourselves [in all areas. respecting for our minds, our bodies, etc], held ourselves to high standards and realized what we deserved, we would not tolerate a lot of the things that we do and for sure wouldn't get mixed up in a lot of the things that we find ourselves mixed up in. We've got to learn to respect ourselves above everything else because if we don't respect ourselves, how are we going to expect other people -- and esp men, to respect us as well? Doesn't make sense. And we can go around all day long boasting that we don't care what other people think about us and "I'm just doing me -- hate it or love it." But uh, I truly believe we need to slow that down. Yeah, do you of course...do you and be confident in what you do. Of course, don't let other's opinions slow you down or upset you -- but quite frankly I think we should care if people don't respect us. "You don't gotta like me, but you will respect me" ... I think it's very important. Without respect, I'm not sure we can get very far in life. If no one respects you, your word, your opinions, your work...hmmmm then what validity do you really have?

Thoughts of the day.
Time to eat :)