Tweet
I had a quite appalling experience while at work today. A little background first. Last fall, a twenty-something couple was out riding a four-wheeler, and in a freak accident, were struck and killed by a falling tree. It was a devastating loss for the community, and quite unexpected. Fast forward to today. An elderly lady came in to get gas, and handed my boss a little pamphlet. She passed it off as just being information on the couple I just mentioned. What it turned out to be, was a photo of them on front, a blurb about each inside, and the rest was a religious pamphlet. It declared, 'They were prepared. Are you?', called them a true match made in Heaven, and listed sins, things to do to be prepared for the Lord, etc.
I turned it over, and sure enough, it gave the name and address of one of the more... out there... Baptist churches, in the big city to the south. This church is huge, and though I barely know much of it, what I do know makes me think of it more as almost a cult. They're forever passing out these pamphlets, trying to recruit kids to ride their bus to church, and on and on. This pamphlet that I saw today, though, was a new, sickening low. Preach all you want, pass out the stupid literature all you want, but don't use someone else's tragic loss to try and scare people into joining yourcult church! These two young people may have been members of your church, may have welcomed the Lord, but they most certainly weren't prepared to die at such young ages. If their families approved this, then why? Why would they want their deaths to be used that way? I just don't understand. It angered me that the church would do such a thing, and I never even knew the couple!
Is this a common thing? I know churches like to hand out pamphlets, fake money, whatever, to try and recruit members. I see that all the time. This, though, was appalling to me. It comes off as pompous and ignorant, to me at least. Am I reading too much into this? Would this have upset anyone else?
I turned it over, and sure enough, it gave the name and address of one of the more... out there... Baptist churches, in the big city to the south. This church is huge, and though I barely know much of it, what I do know makes me think of it more as almost a cult. They're forever passing out these pamphlets, trying to recruit kids to ride their bus to church, and on and on. This pamphlet that I saw today, though, was a new, sickening low. Preach all you want, pass out the stupid literature all you want, but don't use someone else's tragic loss to try and scare people into joining your
Is this a common thing? I know churches like to hand out pamphlets, fake money, whatever, to try and recruit members. I see that all the time. This, though, was appalling to me. It comes off as pompous and ignorant, to me at least. Am I reading too much into this? Would this have upset anyone else?
Comment