Churches make more money than most listed companies.

[Chruch Bling]

New Creation Church raised a mind boggling $21million in a single day for their new church, The Straits Times reported today. The new church to be built at Buona Vista, is actually a combined church, retail and shopping mall, worth $1,000,000,000. I typed out all the numbers to show how much frickin' money it is.

$500 million is being provided by Capitamall and another company. The New Creation Church's own kitty is at $250,000,000.

Now maybe it's just me, but I don't think a church would cost $21 million to build, let alone $250 million, let alone $1 frickin' billion.

Singaporean Churches are the most UNhumble I've ever seen.

Mother Teresa must be turning in her grave.

[Bigger than most]

Did you know they have a congregation of 22,000 regulars? A church big enough for that many people would be expensive.

[scarbowl]

Yes, there are a handful of large churches in Singapore.  But your headline is incorrect.  There are relatively few of them and most, if not all, listed companies are going to have more than $21M a year in revenues.

It's a topic worth discussing.  But let's do it on a factual rather than misleading way.

[Woopsy]

So let me get this straight. Do the charasmatic mega preachers who build this kind of thing then get up and tell the assembled masses the  parable of how it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle than for a rich person to go to heaven. And how Jesus said suffer the poor for they are closest to me, and smashed the wares of the merchants who were selling stuff in the temple.

Or do they blank out these parts and focus on something else?

[Vulcanl]

Interesting topic.  There was a huge write-up about all this in the Straits Times about a month ago (an entire section was devoted to it).  Then a week or two later it was reported that one of these "Churches" ran out of space and had to book a hall at the MBS!!  Yes folks, 'services' were held at a casino resort complex.

Christianity is fundamentally incompatible with being rich (as defined by high material wealth).

These (the prosperity gospel) are not real religious teachings but rather the 'sanctioned' worship of money (the most corruptive influence of evil on Earth), plain and simple.

This kind of hucksterism is prevalent in the USA (primarily in the South), and I am sure it has been around as long as religion itself.

[Mr Porky]

My imaginary friend is richer than your imaginary friend.

[Blaze]

So let me get this straight. Do the charasmatic mega preachers who build this kind of thing then get up and tell the assembled masses the  parable of how it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle than for a rich person to go to heaven. And how Jesus said suffer the poor for they are closest to me, and smashed the wares of the merchants who were selling stuff in the temple.

Or do they blank out these parts and focus on something else?

Isn't this ironic, even the priest/minister doesn't get to heaven.. But what about the donators? After all, they are 'partners in crime'.

[scarbowl]

My impression is that part of the message of some mega-church pastors is that good (Christian) people become prosperous due to their righteousness.  In other words, they help people feel good about having money - part of which is donated to the Church. 

[cynic]

1) Rich people who feel a need to "compensate & redeem" for some wrongs they did... Don Corleone went to church too ...
2) Poor people who desperately want wealth no matter how they can get it... its worshipping money.
3) Gullible people who get suckered into thinking that they must give money as an "insurance" about their imaginary future destination.

[scarbowl]

Yep!

[sosilly]

Are they supposed to fit 22,000 ppl under a hdb every sunday in a tent? Are they going to hire lots of porta toilets for this idea?

I remember an article in an Australian paper *exposing* a large church. The first complaint was that "a hot chick in jeans was directing traffic with walkie talkies"  -- just hilarious.

Hot rich chicks go to church in nice buildings. 

[It makes sense]

Protestants, by and large, believe that the Lord helps those who help themselves. The harder they work the more wealth they acquire, the more it proves that they have been chosen to receive God's blessings for a good life.

I would suppose that Asians of Taoist/Confucian tradition would be able to embrace the Protestant philosophy quite easily.

[fareastjunebug]

Interesting topic.  There was a huge write-up about all this in the Straits Times about a month ago (an entire section was devoted to it).  Then a week or two later it was reported that one of these "Churches" ran out of space and had to book a hall at the MBS!!  Yes folks, 'services' were held at a casino resort complex.

Christianity is fundamentally incompatible with being rich (as defined by high material wealth).

These (the prosperity gospel) are not real religious teachings but rather the 'sanctioned' worship of money (the most corruptive influence of evil on Earth), plain and simple.

This kind of hucksterism is prevalent in the USA (primarily in the South), and I am sure it has been around as long as religion itself.

Oh God, I agree with Vulcan. The end of days are near!

[Poverty Joe]

Protestants, by and large, believe that the Lord helps those who help themselves. The harder they work the more wealth they acquire, the more it proves that they have been chosen to receive God's blessings for a good life.

Is the converse then true- that they blame the poor for their plight?

how does that then fit in with Jesus' teachings of respecting poverty and the meek?

[It makes sense]

Protestants, by and large, believe that the Lord helps those who help themselves. The harder they work the more wealth they acquire, the more it proves that they have been chosen to receive God's blessings for a good life.

Is the converse then true- that they blame the poor for their plight?

how does that then fit in with Jesus' teachings of respecting poverty and the meek?

I think in the US, while a lot of Protestants don't believe in Darwinism, many have been quick to embrace a sort of "social Darwinism" that they feel justifies the political movement to cut social safety nets. I do believe, particularly in the US, that the divide between the haves and the have nots has grown so wide that people are out of touch with how the other half lives. There is a growing movement that sees the poor as the architects of their own condition, and I think that's what's behind some conservative tea-party actions - protect the individual at the cost of society as a whole. Small wonder many are stockpiling gold and ammo. The society their policies would create might require building home fortresses. But that's OK, because in the end Jesus will see that they are the truly virtuous.