LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This AlterNet article talks about the fundementalism that makes former pastor Ted Haggard's life hell on earth:

According to Bishop Carlton Pearson, Ted Haggard isn't going to hell. He's already in hell.

Pearson, 53, was a leading light of the contemporary Pentecostal -- or charismatic -- movement until he rejected the concept of hell a few years ago. Hell, Pearson says, does not exist. Salvation by Jesus, he maintains, is not required for eternal grace. Everyone is saved. The only hell is right here on earth, a creation of fundamentalism, scriptural literalism and the terror that fills the hearts of fundamentalists at each impure thought, each shameful moment of sexual longing. "I'm not trying to convert anybody," Pearson told me recently. "I'm just trying to convince everybody that they're loved. Ultimately redeemed, whoever they are." Pearson calls the notion that a supposedly merciful God would torture people in an eternal hell "absurd and vulgar." It's no wonder then, that Pearson was roundly condemned by his peers, including the pre-scandal Haggard, for his radical views. Haggard, Pearson said, "denounced me and said, 'hell is a physical place.' ... Well, he's right, and he's in that hell right now."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY exotic_princess)

Found this interesting...

Link here


Saint Matthew's Churches, Inc.
Christians send in money for prayer requests which may just go up in smoke
By Craig Malisow
Published: March 22, 2007

There is a big difference between kneeling down

And bending over...

-- Frank Zappa

Behold the Faith Check. It is written on the Bank of Heaven. Bank President: God, the Father; Vice President: Jesus, the Son; Secretary and Treasurer: The Holy Ghost.

Written instructions: Place the Faith Check in your wallet and keep it there until the blessing unfolds. Whisper the name of Jesus three times as you write your name on the back of the check. Send it to a Tulsa PO box along with your prayer request.

Unwritten instructions: Scrape up whatever cash is on hand and send it to some dude in Beverly Hills. Have a smoke, 'cause you've just been screwed.

( Rest of article here )