An Interesting Thought About Hillsong

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I wonder if when the pedophile issue was revealed to the Senior Pastor at Hillsong Australia, that someone called in and said, "Houston, we have a problem..."

 

[jiminpa]

Dark, twisted, and very funny.

 

[hislegacy]

I wonder if when the pedophile issue was revealed to the Senior Pastor at Hillsong Australia, that someone called in and said, "Houston, we have a problem..."

Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

Christians are the only ones who take pleasure in the fall of their brothers to the point of making a joke.

The man sinned - he owned up to it and resigned from a global organization he and his wife founded. That was the right thing to do. Why poke fun at it? Why? There are 300 churches worldwide who are effected. Shouldn't we be praying for them instead?

 

[jiminpa]

Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

Christians are the only ones who take pleasure in the fall of their brothers to the point of making a joke.

The man sinned - he owned up to it and resigned from a global organization he and his wife founded. That was the right thing to do. Why poke fun at it? Why? There are 300 churches worldwide who are effected. Shouldn't we be praying for them instead?

I think we can do both, and that it's a bad thing that humor is becoming a lost art. Humor can give us the ability to talk about the elephants in the room, as well as just let us have some fun.

 

[hislegacy]

I think we can do both, and that it's a bad thing that humor is becoming a lost art. Humor can give us the ability to talk about the elephants in the room, as well as just let us have some fun.

The man spent 40 years of his life following God - because of his actions - its all gone

His wife has been publicly disgraced.

There are 300 congregations world wide who just lost the founder of their churches

There are 300 senior pastors who have to field issues in their churches and communities

There is perhaps hundreds of thousands of Christian Brothers and Sisters effected by his sin.

His children and grandchildren have to deal with this in a very public way.

What about that should we have fun with?

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

Christians are the only ones who take pleasure in the fall of their brothers to the point of making a joke.

The man sinned - he owned up to it and resigned from a global organization he and his wife founded. That was the right thing to do. Why poke fun at it? Why? There are 300 churches worldwide who are effected. Shouldn't we be praying for them instead?

I became a Christian in Frank Houston's church in Lower Hutt New Zealand in 1966. I had, and still have every respect for him. When I heard of the news about him I immediately thought, "He who has not sinned, let him cast the first stone." What I have observed is that a lot of holier than thou religious people who think they have never sinned, have cast quite a few stones at him over just one historic vague complaint. And now these same "righteous" people have forced his son's resignation from what was an effective and godly ministry.

Frank Houston was never brought to trial, and given a chance to defend himself, but was rather convicted by the kangaroo court of self-righteousness.

So, what I consider absolutely no joke is the way that father and son have been treated by self-righteous pelicans who think that their excrement doesn't stink.

By the grace of God go all of us.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

The man spent 40 years of his life following God - because of his actions - its all gone

His wife has been publicly disgraced.

There are 300 congregations world wide who just lost the founder of their churches

There are 300 senior pastors who have to field issues in their churches and communities

There is perhaps hundreds of thousands of Christian Brothers and Sisters effected by his sin.

His children and grandchildren have to deal with this in a very public way.

What about that should we have fun with?

Brian Houston did nothing wrong. In fact, he is the one who knows the real story about his father, and he decided along with his father that the latter should stand down from ministry to save his son's church and ministry from falling into disprepute.

What we have to look at are the self-righteous condemners who decided to destroy a godly ministry and a valuable church by raking up a man's past which most certainly had been confessed to the Lord and forgotten by Him. "There is forgiveness with Thee that Thou mayest be feared". and "Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more."

So, who are the sheep and who are the goats here? The Judgment will find out who is who.

 

[jiminpa]

The man spent 40 years of his life following God - because of his actions - its all gone

His wife has been publicly disgraced.

There are 300 congregations world wide who just lost the founder of their churches

There are 300 senior pastors who have to field issues in their churches and communities

There is perhaps hundreds of thousands of Christian Brothers and Sisters effected by his sin.

His children and grandchildren have to deal with this in a very public way.

What about that should we have fun with?

The joke was funny. The situation is not. In my very non-expert opinion, the joke doesn't detract from taking the real issue as seriously as it should be.

If I'm wrong about that, it won't be the first time today that I've been wrong, and not very likely to be the last.

 

[Panevino]

Isn’t there something in the way hillsong, and churches that mirror them, run their services that promotes an atmosphere of flirting and attraction

 

[hislegacy]

Isn’t there something in the way hillsong, and churches that mirror them, run their services that promotes an atmosphere of flirting and attraction

Not any more than the Catholic church does - or the Baptist - or the Methodist etc.

 

[Panevino]

Not any more than the Catholic church does - or the Baptist - or the Methodist etc.

I’ve attended them several times (with a friend. I am securely Catholic) and the service is quite unique and to me seems to strongly aim for an attractiveness of people, music and musical expression(I know that’s strong and I don’t at all mean to be disrespectful) but there are always several attractive people on stage all dressed somewhat modestly yet intentionally fashionable and attractively. They all sway for atleast an hour singing praise songs which are eerily like a secular love song ballad, with closed eyes for extended periods with all visual focus on the people on stage, their actions and the musicians.
Some that I’ve been to are basically a very loud pop concert with the main singer dancing a lot just like a teenager pop concert and all the congregation sway at seats and a lot of the younger ones dance at base of stage.
All the young people and the adults seem to try very hard to dress a certain fashionable / trendy way (nothing wrong with that)
It’s all very far from worship for me (but I know that is subjective to some and the swaying and inner feelings they experience / express is part of what they consider worship).

I dont know but I can see pretty easily the possibility the atmosphere makes for the kind of issues someone like brian Houston experienced (no judgment on him from me) I just find the expression of the services very strange and it’s hard to understand how others find it fine

 

[jiminpa]

Wrong thread.

 

[lismore]

It’s all very far from worship for me (but I know that is subjective to some and the swaying and inner feelings they experience / express is part of what they consider worship).

I heard from an Australian dentist friend some mention of a psychedelic repetitive style in music to be found in some churches there. God Bless

 

[Blade]

I have heard things about this.. this joke seems to flew over me lol. None the less I guess it what we focus on. We forget what Christ did for us and always forgives us... and never remembers what and never holds it against us. Lets speak words of life...treat His kids His Children as He still treats us every day. A choice.. NO but YES talking about the joke. Well how old is this?

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I have heard things about this.. this joke seems to flew over me lol. None the less I guess it what we focus on. We forget what Christ did for us and always forgives us... and never remembers what and never holds it against us. Lets speak words of life...treat His kids His Children as He still treats us every day. A choice.. NO but YES talking about the joke. Well how old is this?

Think back to Apollo 13, and Tom Hanks' line in the movie about it.

 

[jiminpa]

Think back to Apollo 13, and Tom Hanks' line in the movie about it.

... and that line was an actual quote from the real incident.

 

[spiritfilledjm]

I wonder if when the pedophile issue was revealed to the Senior Pastor at Hillsong Australia, that someone called in and said, "Houston, we have a problem..."

I'm going to be honest...if I ever worked with Houston...I'd be fired in about two days for calling him up any time some issue arose and saying that line every time.

Hilarity aside, yes, the incident that happened way back when was bad and his son did what he thought was best at the time. The fact that he wasn't prosecuted is a miscarriage of justice as we know it now but this was also at a time when these kinds of things only got a slap on the wrist at best. My paternal aunts went through absolute unspeakable things with my grandfather that would have made national, if not international, news in the 1950's. The courts never prosecuted him for that and only took the children to live with other family when he and his wife were convicted of welfare fraud.

 

[lismore]

The practices and attitudes of the Hillsong brand seem to be the opposite of biblical principles. Unaccountable leaders, deception, protecting the business brand at any cost, persecution of victims and no care for vulnerable persons. This will hopefully serve as a learning experience for the church at large. Popularity does not equal truth and Godliness. Giving people what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear is not the way to go. God bless.