Mourning meditation

[rockhound]

IT is a circumstance not to be denied, that immense confusion exists
in the public mind touching the way of salvation. No matter whether
the cause of this confusion can be pointed out or not, the fact of its
existence can not be denied. It is also a fact that many men of good
character, fine intelligence, and who are excellent citizens, are
standing aloof from all connection with any church, or identification
with religion in any form. No doubt, a main cause of this is that a
large amount of the preaching is either insipid, lifeless, and
powerless talk, and nothing more, or wholly unintelligible; so that,
on one hand; there is no interest in it, and, on the other hand, they
can not understand it. No matter whether the fact can be accounted for
or not, it is a fact, and an indisputable fact, that darkness pervades
the public mind on the very matter of the highest importance to man of
all others--the way to eternal happiness and renown. It is useless to
try to blur it over, to disguise or deny it. There stands the
stumbling-block before the people. One teaches this way and another
that; one says, lo here, and another, lo there. Many stand confounded,
and know not which way to go.

- Benjamin Franklin

src: http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/bfranklin/TGP15.HTM

[rockhound]

rockhound <user@null.org> wrote:

>IT is a circumstance not to be denied, that immense confusion exists
>in the public mind touching the way of salvation. No matter whether
>the cause of this confusion can be pointed out or not, the fact of its
>existence can not be denied. It is also a fact that many men of good
>character, fine intelligence, and who are excellent citizens, are
>standing aloof from all connection with any church, or identification
>with religion in any form. No doubt, a main cause of this is that a
>large amount of the preaching is either insipid, lifeless, and
>powerless talk, and nothing more, or wholly unintelligible; so that,
>on one hand; there is no interest in it, and, on the other hand, they
>can not understand it. No matter whether the fact can be accounted for
>or not, it is a fact, and an indisputable fact, that darkness pervades
>the public mind on the very matter of the highest importance to man of
>all others--the way to eternal happiness and renown. It is useless to
>try to blur it over, to disguise or deny it. There stands the
>stumbling-block before the people. One teaches this way and another
>that; one says, lo here, and another, lo there. Many stand confounded,
>and know not which way to go.
>
> - Benjamin Franklin
>
>src: http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/bfranklin/TGP15.HTM

Complicated man, that Ben Franklin.

Personally, i find Jim and Tammy Bakker a bit easier to read, myself.


-----------------
Setting up shop in an abandoned furniture store in Charlotte, North
Carolina, the Bakkers launched their own network, PTL (Praise the
Lord), in 1974. Three years later, the Bakkers beamed their winsome
message ("God loves you, he really does") around the world by
satellite.

A year later, they broke ground for Heritage USA, a sprawling
religious theme park created to show that "Christianity should be
fun." Heritage USA trailed only the two Disney parks in attendance by
the early '80s, and it was the vacation industry's undisputed leader
in Christian kitsch.

The bottom fell out of the PTL empire amid media reports about Jim's
1980 tryst with Jessica Hahn and Heritage USA's practice of selling
$1,000 memberships for lifelong access to hotel rooms that didn't
exist. PTL went bankrupt only a few days after the Bakkers made a
farewell tour of their parochial paradise in June 1987.

As Jim Bakker went off to serve a 45-year prison sentence (he was
released after serving just under six years), his wife experienced
despair and drug addiction, and divorced him. The throngs who had once
idolized her now turned on her. For years her only claim to fame was a
T-shirt featuring a drawing of her face, a Technicolor glob, and a
punchline: I RAN INTO TAMMY FAYE AT THE MALL.

After her brief period of wedded bliss with second husband and
Heritage USA contractor Roe Messner, things got even worse. Messner
was sentenced to prison for his own role in the PTL scandals, and
Tammy Faye discovered she had cancer
(which is now in remission).

----------------------