This doesn’t sit well with me. Can you recall the last time a foreign star - athlete, movie star, whatever - was allowed to hold a 7,000 strong evangelical gathering in Taiwan to promote his religious agenda? God made him score points, God got him where is is, etc. How many young impressionable minds is his poisoning with this stuff? Everyone’s free to believe in whatever they want - Scientology, Satanism, Evangelical Christianity, whatever - but to have such a large platform to proselytize on, isn’t this crossing the line?
Why? Very simple. Money. Behind all this there’s someone paying lots of cash. It’s how it works.
Why? Very simple. Money. Behind all this there’s someone paying lots of cash. It’s how it works.[/quote]
Its no different than what he did three weeks earlier in Xinmenting. This time instead of pushing tennis shoes for Nike he is spreading the good word.
We are gonna criticize people no matter what they do, and I personally can’t front on a guy for using his stardom to forward his beliefs.
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The whole thing stinks, stinks to high heaven.
I saw the whole speech he gave and he wasn’t really promoting any agenda - he just described his story and what his religion meant to him. The same concepts he talked about could equally apply to any religion. Also, probably 95% or more of the crowd that watched are already Christian anyway - it was organized by a church after all.
I’m not (nor have ever been) a Christian but nothing at all that he said bothered me or made me feel in any way uncomfortable. He simply stated his beliefs as they relate to his life.
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High heaven? No irony in that statement?
It bothers you because of what? What is going to happen?
On the grand scheme of religious indoctrination it’s fairly innocuous, don’t you think? There are far worse preachers who are spreading violence, hate, and war to all that are heathens in their particular religion.
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Yeah, no, that sounds wonderful and all, but come on, do you really believe it’s all as harmless as you think? Do you know about, studied, followed the preachings, scandals, news surrounding the evangelicals in the US. Believe me, it would be a rosy world indeed if it was just a nice guy sharing his thoughts on God and whatnot, but in reality it goes far deeper, and far uglier than you can imagine.
But whatever, let this not be another one of “those” posts about religion and all.
The whole Jeremy Lin story in Taiwan, in my opinion, sucks on so many levels it’s not funny.
No.
Yes.
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I think it’s called Linvangelism.
Look, we all know he’s going to get hundreds of new converts from all of this. So sad, but anyway, hopefully they’ll not take it too seriously, and keep it all pseudo-christian like, red-neon crosses shining through my window, taiwanese style and all!
So what?
If people genuinely feel that his words make them want to convert to being Christians, what does it matter?
And I repeat again, it was organized by a church and almost everyone in attendance either at the venue or watching streaming in a church, are already Christian. So what does it matter?
cfimages, if it was Tom Cruise promoting Scientology, with all that we know without ANY, absolute ANY doubt, that Scientology is an outright fraud, and is destructive, etc, would that be ok? How about if he was a staunch believer in anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-science, the world is 6,000 years old, women are subservient, etc, etc. would you still have such a relaxed attitude about it?
Win.
I have no problem with what Lin is doing. I do however have a little problem with the Christians always saying I am blessed by God to have this “skill/achievement” or something along those lines.
It makes me uncomfortable because it’s the reserve way of saying what some reincarnation believers sometimes say “this happened to you because you’ve done something (in past life even) to deserve it”.
I still remember hearing some preacher dude say on the news that Tsunami happened to Indonesia because they were unjust, similar really inconsiderate, over zealousy stuff. In this cause it’s just the reserve. Instead of they’ve done bad, it’s I’ve been good (implying they’ve been bad).
Fine, even if they don’t really mean they are blessed because they have faith in God, they just have to mention how they appreciate God chose them to bless in this particular field, it’s still saying that the opponents aren’t blessed by God. Some would say the others are not bless for this thing, but blessed in other matters. Really? So some kid abandoned at birth, born without arms and legs really wants to be an NBA player, but he can’t. Why? You gonna tell him cause he isn’t blessed by God?
Yes, God works in mysterious ways. But the way these “appreciations” are thrown around, sometimes feels like a very low key bragging to me.
Nothing against the concept that faith will bring success or that showing precipitation and humbleness by attributing all your success to God. But is it the best way to practise these things without considering what it might imply for your opponents, or simply others?
As long as nobody is promoting violence or harm to others, then what’s the problem? If people want to speak about their beliefs and others want to listen, then good for them.
What Lin said about his beliefs and the metaphysical stuff he got into was no different than I’ve heard said by Buddhist monks and Hindu babas. JL said Jesus, a monk might say Buddha, a baba Shiva. The underlying concept was the same.
well, in the examples given, I think anti-gay and anti-abortion is actually harming others, both physically and mentally.
guess that’s why i have an issue with all religions in general.
I’m afraid I don’t understand the nature of the OP’s complaint. Is your objection to Christianity itself, or a particular form of it? To evangelism / proselytization in general? To the granting of visas to foreign nationals for the purpose of said evangelism? To the use of star athletes, rather than professional clergy, as a draw? To the promotion of “foreign” religions? (Defined how?)
If religious freedom is to mean anything at all, then messages like Lin’s are going to be heard, regardless of whether you agree with him or like him. By the way, Protestants seem to comprise about 2 % of Taiwan’s population, though this of course ignores inter-denominational differences.
guess that’s why I have an issue with all religions in general.[/quote]
Actually what he said could equally to non-religious people. He spent most of it going on about how the success, money, dream come true etc still left him wanting more and he hadn’t been able to find lasting satisfaction in it.
Everyone can say what they want, and if they are paid to do so… well, they’re free to do it, as long as the country where they are allows them to do so (sadly, there are still some countries that don’t allow free speech).
I think that everyone should be able to believe what they want, unless this beliefs step on the liberties of someone else. Again, there are still some religions/superstitions that clearly attempt against other’s freedom.
I read a sentence some time ago… I don’t remember it exactly, but said something similar to: “Having a religion is like having a dick. You can play with it in private whenever you want, but please, don’t go showing it in public”. Not that anyone has to hide from his/her religious beliefs, but the world would be a happier place if noone tried to convert anyone else. If they are interested, they’ll ask.
[quote=“Blaquesmith”]
I read a sentence some time ago… I don’t remember it exactly, but said something similar to: “Having a religion is like having a dick. You can play with it in private whenever you want, but please, don’t go showing it in public”. Not that anyone has to hide from his/her religious beliefs, but the world would be a happier place if noone tried to convert anyone else. If they are interested, they’ll ask.[/quote]
Which is basically what happened here. A Christian church organization organized an event for Lin to talk about his beliefs and how they impact his life and career.
There’s no point somebody walking into a church and then complaining when they talk about Christianity which is essentially what the OP is doing here.
If it were a basketball event and Lin spent all the time talking about religion, then criticism may be warranted. But this was a church event, attended by, for the most part, other Christians. The expectation was for him to talk about his religion.
[quote=“cfimages”][quote=“Blaquesmith”]
I read a sentence some time ago… I don’t remember it exactly, but said something similar to: “Having a religion is like having a dick. You can play with it in private whenever you want, but please, don’t go showing it in public”. Not that anyone has to hide from his/her religious beliefs, but the world would be a happier place if noone tried to convert anyone else. If they are interested, they’ll ask.[/quote]
Which is basically what happened here. A Christian church organization organized an event for Lin to talk about his beliefs and how they impact his life and career.
There’s no point somebody walking into a church and then complaining when they talk about Christianity which is essentially what the OP is doing here.
If it were a basketball event and Lin spent all the time talking about religion, then criticism may be warranted. But this was a church event, attended by, for the most part, other Christians. The expectation was for him to talk about his religion.[/quote]
That’s right. The church sponsored it, so they get what they paid for. No complaints here. But the OP wondered why this happened, and my first answer was “Money”. Because probably the church paid Lin to speak about their beliefs. Are they using Lin’s popularity to “sell” religion to people? Of course. They are free to do so? Yes.
Another matter is what thinks Lin about being used to sell religion to others. Probably he doesn’t mind. 