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	<title>It&#039;s @cloften &#187; megachurch</title>
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	<description>He&#039;d rather be funny than good!</description>
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		<title>Why Do People HATE Megachurches?</title>
		<link>http://www.cloften.com/?p=1129</link>
		<comments>http://www.cloften.com/?p=1129#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Oct 2010 21:02:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cloften</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family and Parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[megachurch]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[You know what I hate?  Tomatoes.  Sure, if you process them enough and add plenty of salt, you can turn it into ketchup (I prefer the more phonetical spelling as opposed to the &#8220;I wonder it this comes from cats-up&#8221;) or pizza sauce.  However, even in pizza sauce, if you drop a tomato chunk in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You know what I hate?  Tomatoes.  Sure, if you process them enough and add plenty of salt, you can turn it into ketchup (I prefer the more phonetical spelling as opposed to the &#8220;I wonder it this comes from cats-up&#8221;) or pizza sauce.  However, even in pizza sauce, if you drop a tomato chunk in there, my response will be, shall we say, unpleasant.  I really do hate tomatoes (-es both times. Take that Dan Quayle.  Boom! Dated reference.  Yes I know it was potatoes.  Good grief).</p>
<p>Even though I hate them, it doesn&#8217;t really bother me that you don&#8217;t.  It doesn&#8217;t bother me that you love them.  The only thing that might bother me would be if I saw you bite into one as if it were an apple.  It would be both disgusting and dishonoring to apples.  But, as always, I digress.  My hatred for tomatoes does not move me to speak of the general evilness of them.  In fact, hate is way too strong of a word.  Hyperbole aside, I don&#8217;t like the taste of tomatoes.  It is a personal preference. (sudden transition)</p>
<p>People HATE megachurches, and I am going to have to confess that I don&#8217;t get it. I understand, &#8220;I don&#8217;t like the feel of a big church&#8221; and &#8220;I prefer smaller churches.&#8221;  When that extends to a general hatred and/or actively campaigning against them, I don&#8217;t get that.   I&#8217;ve worked for a megachurch and a small church and a medium sized church for that matter.  They all have strengths and weaknesses.</p>
<p>However, there is a sense in which it seems that a large church is by definition bad.  I felt that in seminary.  Churches with large congregations were sell-outs of some kind.  Small churches by definition were godly.  There was an inverse correlation between churches growing and whether or not those churches were pleasing to God.  Mind you, I&#8217;m not suggesting the opposite.  If I&#8217;m suggesting anything it is go to a small, medium, large, or extra-large church.  Makes no difference to me.</p>
<p>Is the church teaching God&#8217;s word?  Is it healthy?  Obviously, you can ask more questions than that, but most if not all boil down to those two.</p>
<p>So here&#8217;s the question.  Why the strong anger and disdain?  I know some reasons.  I read stuff and heard a lot of profs talk about it.  But I want you to go first.  What have you experienced?  Are you distrustful of megachurches? Do you think they are too _______? If so, I want to hear from you and get a good discussion going.  So, go!</p>
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