Status: Real (I think)
At last you can enjoy your favorite passages from scripture
as interpreted by mimes:
Christian Mime Theater brings scripture passages to life through the ministry of pantomime. During the “voice over” reading of the scripture, people come to life in various light pools across the stage, portraying modern enactments of the timeless Word of God.
I'm assuming this is real and not some kind of
Objective-Christian-Ministries style parody. After all, it appears that you really can buy the Christian Mime Theater video, and the rest of the site appears serious. But it's still an odd concept. When I think of mimes I usually imagine tortured French existentialist types, not Christian theater.
Comments
so... I wouldn't be surprised if it was real.
I know that a lot of missionary groups that go, do mime-like productions b/c of the language barriers. *I* personally have never done this (I thought building homes was more important, silly me), but I have been with groups who thought this was the BEST. IDEA. EVER.
Earthlings are odd.
I can't decide whether Clown Ministries or Puppet Ministries is creepier, though.
But Rodeos for Jesus, I think, are still more downright stupid.
http://www.seanbaby.com/stupid/original.htm
http://www.seanbaby.com/stupcom/mrt.htm
(letter from a reader near the bottom who is a Clown for Jesus)
I'm sure this is the kind of bullshit Jesus had in mind when he was dying in agony, his screams of torment muffled by a throatfull of his own congealing blood. He was surely thinking, "It will all be worth it when they use clowns and puppets to spread my message someday! GAAAH!"
By the way, Barghest, you really made me laugh with that whole Jesus thing. Very funny.
Those that consider mime evangelism as an "annoyance" (or those that denigrate others involved in this type of ministry) have opinions, but are themselves parodies. Here's proof:
1 Corinthians 3:18-21
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world [which comprise the "wise"] is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
1 Corinthians 1:21
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
This is the fellowship baptist church on your blog. It is a parody, all of it is not real, including all links and all ads. It's all a joke put up by an atheist. They are the same creators for the Landover Baptist.
source: http://www.answers.com/topic/objective-christian-ministries
more info:
Domain Name:LANDOVERBAPTIST.ORG
Created On:07-Feb-1999 05:00:00 UTC
Last Updated On:27-Oct-2004 09:50:33 UTC
Expiration Date:07-Feb-2006 05:00:00 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Network Solutions LLC (R63-LROR)
Registrant ID:24451038-NSI
Registrant Name:oddities-inc
Registrant Organization:oddities-inc
Registrant Street1:PO Box 1000 PMB #252
Registrant City:FALLS CHURCH
Registrant State/Province:VA
Registrant Postal Code:22046
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.9999999999
Registrant Email:[email protected]
Domain Name:OBJECTIVEMINISTRIES.ORG
Created On:29-Aug-2005 04:39:02 UTC
Last Updated On:29-Aug-2005 10:54:34 UTC
Expiration Date:29-Aug-2006 04:39:02 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:New Dream Network, LLC (R173-LROR)
Registrant ID:ndn-104679
Registrant Name:Kev F.
Registrant Organization:NA
Registrant Street1:7101 35th St NW
Registrant City:Gig Harbor
Registrant State/Province:WA
Registrant Postal Code:98335
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.1234567890
Registrant FAX:+1.1234567890
Registrant Email:[email protected]
I'm not claiming this was a representative sample of the demographic or anything, but if you happen to know of a really great clown ministry out there somewhere, do me a favor and don't tell me about it.
"I guess I am stupid enough to think that teaching someone that there is a God of Love and that they can live with Him forever is more important than building them temporary shelter on this Earth."
Defender, I'm sure you're a nice person and all, but, sorry, I think that trying to convince people to believe in your personal superstition rather than helping them have shelter, one of the basic needs of a human being, is silly at best.
By the way, since you're into the Bible, did you miss the Beatitudes? You know, the part that says we should feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc. It looks to me like your book puts some value on those things.
I'm always appalled by how a lot of believers pick and choose the parts of the Bible they follow. Fundamentalism is pretty dopey but at least it's consistent.
Truth is truth no matter what ANYONE says about it. You can deny that 2 plus 2 equals 4 until you are blue in the face, but that won't change the fact that 2 plus 2 does actually equal 4. It doesn't equal 16 or 5 or anything else, only 4. Your arguing against the facts is just going to make you look like a fool and you in fact are a fool in that case. by the way the Bible says "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" (Psalm 14:1). It doesn't really matter if you spend your whole life mocking God and those who follow Him. Truth is truth and some day, weather you believe it or not. you WILL stand before Him (God) and He will judge you for the way you have lived your life, and if you are not covered by the blood of Jesus because you were too stuborn or blind to accept His free gift of salvation, it's YOUR soul the will be cast into hell for eternity. That's a long time. so if i were you i would figure out where i want to spend eternity. if you don't want to be tortured by your foolishness for all of eternity then choose God now. But if you don't want to believe then don't, but don't blame God when you are in hell because He gave you the chance to choose either Him or not Him. He isn't going to force ANYONE to follow Him or be with Him, though He loves us all and wants us all to be with Him, He isn't going to force you, He loves you and wants you to love him voluntarily, cuz that's true love.
So all i'm saying is God loves you no matter what you think of Him. And He is real no matter what you think. So it really doesn't matter what YOU think, truthfully you wouldn't be alive and "thinking" anything right now if it weren't for God. Kind of ironic isn't it? He created you to love you, and you turn around and mock Him and say that He doesn't even exist. But He DOES and if you don't experience that in this life, you most definately will once your body is dead and your soul is standing before Him. He is real. The "afterlife" is real (meaning that there really is a Heaven and a Hell, and not everyone goes to Heaven). That is the truth.
I had to write this to let you know that God does care.
John 3:16-19 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
"I'm always appalled by how a lot of NON believers pick and choose the parts of the Bible they want to ignore. Atheism is pretty dopey but at least it's consistent."
Since your post was a sort of parody of mine, allow me to respond.
I quoted the Beatitudes because I believe they outline principles that anyone can and should follow, without regard for the existance or non-existance of God. You certainly will NOT find me quoting, as something to follow, parts of the Bible that purport to "prove" the existance of God.
To give you another example, even though I'm 100% against fascism, if Adolf Hitler wrote that the sun rises in the East in Mein Kampf, I would agree with him on that point.
I guess I'd be classified as an atheist these days; I've certainly been moving in that direction for a long time now.
"There are many Faith based Fundamentalist Christian organizations that in addition to preaching our "superstition" actually DO "practical" things, like building shelters, feeding homeless, clothing and caring for broken people and other practical things."
I have a very good friend who is a born-again Christian. While I completely disagree with him about his faith, I very much admire the work he's done for the homeless of New York City. A person who takes time to help others should be commended, regardless of their personal superstitions.
It is interesting to read what everyone has to say about God and ministry, and a lot of it makes me very sad. Sad because i know so much of the world is so lost and dead in their sin that they can't or won't just accept the truth.
Truth is truth no matter what ANYONE says about it. You can deny that 2 plus 2 equals 4 until you are blue in the face, but that won't change the fact that 2 plus 2 does actually equal 4. It doesn't equal 16 or 5 or anything else, only 4. Your arguing against the facts is just going to make you look like a fool and you in fact are a fool in that case. by the way the Bible says "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" (Blah, blah, blah).
Posted by Lover of the Truth on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 12:04 PM
=============================================
Your name should be "Lover of the Myth".
Zeus is as real as "Jesus".
Your handbook was written by men with agendae.
Cavemen invented gods.
"Truth is truth no matter what ANYONE says about it. You can deny that 2 plus 2 equals 4 until you are blue in the face, but that won't change the fact that 2 plus 2 does actually equal 4. It doesn't equal 16 or 5 or anything else, only 4."
See, here's the thing, Lover: 2 plus 2 equals 4 because we can PROVE that it does. All you need is some fingers.
On the other hand (no pun intended), you CANNOT prove that what you say is true. You can repeat it all you want, but mere repetition does NOT make truth. After all, I could say "The Earth is flat" a million times but it wouldn't be any more true when I was done than when I started, right?
Believers seem to think that merely stating something over and over somehow elevates it to the status of FACT. It doesn't. No, it doesn't matter how much you believe it or how sincere your belief is; either something is true or it isn't and the truth of something is determined by testing. Religious belief is a "special case" in that it can't be tested. That "loophole," however, does NOT prove somehow that it is FACT.
We KNOW that 2 plus 2 equals 4 because we can TEST that statement. You, however, CANNOT test what you say about God and thereby prove it. You merely repeat it endlessly and expect us to accept it as fact based on your repetition. That isn't going to happen (nor should it).
I fully realize that, in response to what I've just said, you will again repeat your assertion as if WHAT I just said isn't accurate. That, unfortunately for you, will only serve to demonstrate that you don't get how logic works.
Believe whatever superstitious nonsense you choose, I don't care. Just don't expect to convert me (or any other thinking person) via the endless repetition of your voodoo.
"I just wanted to ask what is it that makes you believe that God isn't real? You say that you believe there is no proof."
C.C., I don't "believe" there is no proof. There IS no proof. Period.
One big mistake Christians and adherents of other religions make is to confuse their sincere belief in God with PROOF. It is entirely possible for a person to be absolutely, sincerely, convinced of the existance of something that does NOT exist. There are, for example, people who have devoted their lives to finding Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. Since you embrace Christianity and reject OTHER religions, you actually realize that belief is not proof of existance, although you do not apply it to your own circumstances.
"The reason for my writing is simply to tell you why we believe God is real and give you the oppurtunity to change your mind. It's your decision, but I ask you to at least consider the possibility before rejecting God."
Another mistake a lot of believers make is to assume that non-believers have had no religious training or that we were NEVER believers.
I went to 12 years of Catholic school and as a child I believed what I was taught about Jesus and God. I came to the realization that what I was taught simply didn't make sense and, acting rationally, I adjusted my point of view.
I am as familiar with Christian (specifically Catholic) theology as many, if not most, practicing Christians. My non-belief is NOT the result of not having knowledge about the beliefs and practices of Christianity. If anything, it is BECAUSE of my knowledge of them.
"The reason for my writing is simply to tell you why we believe God is real and give you the oppurtunity to change your mind."
I know you don't intend it to come off this way, but that statement really comes off as condescending. You don't control my "opportunity to change my mind" about the existance of God. I ALWAYS have that opportunity, with or without your permission or encouragement. As I pointed out in my previous message, I ALREADY HAVE changed my mind about the existance of God since I was a boy in Catholic school.
The only way you could change my mind back would be to show me incontrovertible evidence of His existance. That isn't going to happen, so my mind is VERY unlikely to change back. For the record, NO, quoting something from the Bible does NOT constitute "incontrovertible evidence" of anything.
From my perspective, it's believers who are "closed minded." After all, can you really say that you seriously consider the notion that there may be no God? If you can't even imagine that possibility, then YOU are closed minded.
I accept that there is a VERY small chance that there is a God. There's also a VERY small chance that there are green monkeys on the dark side of the moon that we just haven't seen yet. Since there's NO evidence for the existance of either of those beings, I see no reason to assume that they DO exist.
One of the things that Christians do is to quote the Bible to "prove" that your religion is the right one. That is, at best, circular reasoning.
"The Bible is the revealed word of God."
"How do you know?"
"It says so in the Bible."
See a problem with that, from a logical perspective?
Remember when I said, "For the record, NO, quoting something from the Bible does NOT constitute 'incontrovertible evidence' of anything."? That hasn't changed.
They are just as deserving of your belief and worship as your Christian god.
you said
"do you belive in and worship Zeus..."
No I don't, and I know they're not credible because God says they aren't. Because I ultimately belive in God and therefore the Bible. And what contradictions? There are NO contradictions in the Bible.
"It's not that you don't believe in God it's that you don't believe in the Bible, because if you belived in the Bible you would believe in God. Because they do go hand-in-hand. "
Um, is the concept of "circular reasoning" at all familiar to you?
As for your assertion that there are no contradiction in the Bible, you really don't want to go down that road, Dude.
If you DO, here's what will happen. Some of us will point out CLEAR contradictions in the Bible. Then you will invent rationalizations which are not in the Bible to "explain" them. Then we will point that out. Following that, you will AGAIN "explain" that the Bible is the "revealed word of God" and that the reason you know that is because the Bible says so.
At that point, we will be back to "circular reasoning" again.
I've seen this debate before; nothing good can come from it.
"I know God exists, I see God's handiwork in all of creation, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what had been made so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:20) Most importantly I feel His presence in my heart...Proof is everywhere, nature, the human body, animals, miracles...Being a human and fallible we do not and cannot posses such understanding. We must have faith. Because He is the Creator and we the Creatures (his creation) there is so much that we do not and cannot understand. All we know of spiritual things is what God tells us in His word. Apart from God there is no understanding, but through Him is the beginning of wisdom. "For the Lord gives Wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." (Proverbs 2:6)"
By the way...It's not circular reasoning.
Circular reasoning would be if I said I believe in the Bible and when asked why, I'd say because God says it's true. And I said I believed in God and when asked why I'd say because the Bible says so.
That isn't what I'm saying, there are several more reasons than that. I know that God is real because of all the evidence Quoted above not only because "the Bible says so". And so because I believe in Jesus Christ. Because of all the evidence, the Bible must also be true.
"That isn't what I'm saying, there are several more reasons than that. I know that God is real because of all the evidence Quoted above not only because "the Bible says so". And so because I believe in Jesus Christ. Because of all the evidence, the Bible must also be true."
WHAT "evidence" have you cited other than Biblical quotations?
I see nothing in what you quoted that proves ANYTHING at all.
Sorry, but you ARE employing circular reasoning. You belive in the Bible because the Bible says you should.
King James Version, though the others have similar lines, of course.
Psalm 88:1
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
1 Corinthians 8:5
For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)
2 Chronicals 28:23
For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.
Joshua 24:20
If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
Isaiah 37:12
Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
2 Kings 18:34
Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?
Deuteronomy 17:3
And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
Deuteronomy 10:17
For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:
Exodus 15:11
Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Sure seems to accept the existence of other gods to me. So the idea of there being no other gods directly contradicts many, many passages in the Bible.
The world you see around you exists, that is rather undeniable. But existence of the world is not predicated upon the existence of a deity. "Where did it come from?" you ask. Well, I don't know. But that doesn't mean God created it. Existence alone is not 'proof' of anything other than existence itself. I could just as easily state that the universe was farted out by a giant space amoeba and could use your exact argument to 'prove' it.
This doesn't mean God doesn't exist, of course. It simply means you can't use this argument to prove he exists any more than I can to prove my amoeba exists. In fact, each and every belief system you could conceive of can use the same argument, and they can't all be correct.
I am writing my final note, because I am not online enough to keep up with this chit chat. And you obviously don't want to debate this or are sick of the debate or something. Twas interesting.
*waits for the next person to come along, starting the whole argument over from the beginning*