Even in the Antipodes we know about the Crystal Cathedral and the
Hour of Power, courtesy of weekly telecasts on
Prime and
Shine. News that the good folk who have stood by Robert Schuller through thick and thin will now have to walk away from their extravagant facility brings back memories of the sell-down of another architectural masterpiece in Pasadena some years ago. Then the transfer was from a dying apocalyptic sect to a clap 'n stomp Pentecostalist cult.
This time the beneficiary is the Roman Catholic Church. In three years time the Crystal Cathedral is to become, it seems, a
real cathedral, complete with missals and incense to incense the 'marshmallow evangelicals' who currently attend there.
Monuments. Mad religious empire builders. The bigger they come, the harder they fall. And the 'little people', the grassroots followers, the people who sacrifice for a Great Cause - giving their time and talents, embracing the vision?
Tough luck!
A few days ago we learned that another monument-making lemming drive is on the drawing boards - the subject of the last posting. You'd think we'd all learn from past lessons, but apparently not.
Vanity, vanity, as the Preacher of Ecclesiastes says. Too bad Schuller, Armstrong, Flurry, Pack and a thousand others didn't spend more time in
that book.
Much like WCG, here we have another case of family division at the top of a powerful church.
ReplyDeleteThe founding Dr. Schuller had disagreements with his son - and that seemed to start the ol' slippety-slope down for man's "Crystal C."
I've asked this before and I'll ask it here - is it only a matter of time before Gerald Flurry kicks his
son out of PCG?
is it only a matter of time before Gerald Flurry kicks his
ReplyDeleteson out of PCG?
His son has nothing to worry about as long as he keeps paying the bail to get his father out of jail.
A failed attempt to adapt Christianity to a late 20th century WASP market by essentially deleting 99% of the received canonical corpus (makes you appreciate what a genius Marcion was).
ReplyDeleteHow alarming that the educational/ethnic reality of 21st century California dictates a reversion to Catholicism
FWIW, I have it on hearsay (so take with a block of salt, etc., etc.) that the money from the sale of the campuses went to fund the North American (you read that right) pension fund.
ReplyDeleteCharming, what?