Oral Roberts passes away

[Hometown]

Messed up Tulsa then went off to California to live.  He was the epitome of Protestant belief.  God rewards the righteous with money.  Which may be the historic foundation of Protestant wealth but clearly mundane and lacking in the spiritual picture. 

[Conan71]

Messed up Tulsa then went off to California to live.  He was the epitome of Protestant belief.  God rewards the righteous with money.  Which may be the historic foundation of Protestant wealth but clearly mundane and lacking in the spiritual picture. 

Yeah really jacked it up, left behind a University which provides jobs and buys from local provisioners and vendors and brings money into our economy from out of state and other countries.  Then there's that 1.9mm square foot office complex which used to be the ORU hospital which provides a place for thousands of Tulsan's to work.  Damn him! 

[FOTD]

FOTD reserves the rights to damNation on this forum, CoCo....

Oral liked Elvis (bet that Elvis loved oral) and that's good enough for me.....

[Conan71]

FOTD reserves the rights to damNation on this forum, CoCo....

Oral liked Elvis (bet that Elvis loved oral) and that's good enough for me.....

Damn you

[Hawkins]

This is by far the friendliest Oral Roberts thread on the internet.

Channel 6's went bad right away. Outside of Tulsa, it gets much worse.

I think the whole 'I have to raise $8 Million or God's going to take me home,' thing really damaged his reputation.

Others have said he made his living off of scamming the elderly.

Personally--not speaking as one without sin myself--but I would not want to die and have to explain to God why I was living in a mansion with security guards paid for by church donations.

Jesus didn't act anything like that.

Maybe all that money corrupted his brain to some extent. I just don't know, its up to God whether or not there is a mansion for him in Heaven, but somehow I doubt it.

--

[SXSW]

Sorry, while I respect the 'good intentions' behind ORU and evangelism Oral Roberts was a scam artist.  His son Richard was even worse embezzling university funds for his lavish lifestyle.  Good riddance, and I am glad the Roberts no longer have any control of ORU.

[rwarn17588]

On a related note, a very recent article in the Atlantic tied Oral Roberts' "prosperity gospel" to the real-estate bubble that burst. Pretty doggone compelling story.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/rosin-prosperity-gospel

O, Oral, what hath you wrought?

[Conan71]

The Atlantic?  Isn't that the rag that mega-conservative Andrew Sullivan writes for?  That article is really reaching or just a reach-around.

Let's blame Christianity for the housing bubble?  I'd expect that out of FOTD, but not you.

[rwarn17588]

The Atlantic?  Isn't that the rag that mega-conservative Andrew Sullivan writes for?  That article is really reaching or just a reach-around.

Let's blame Christianity for the housing bubble?  I'd expect that out of FOTD, but not you.

I'd never call it a rag -- especially when James Fallows still writes for it.

[Conan71]

Everyone is looking for someone else to blame for their own naivete, stupidity, and greed.  Does anyone believe in personal accountability anymore?

[Townsend]

Everyone is looking for someone else to blame for their own naivete, stupidity, and greed.  Does anyone believe in personal accountability anymore?

The investors or the Oral Roberts followers?

[Conan71]

The investors or the Oral Roberts followers?

All of the above

[Townsend]

All of the above

Not as long as they are allowed to pass blame, no.

[rwarn17588]

Everyone is looking for someone else to blame for their own naivete, stupidity, and greed.  Does anyone believe in personal accountability anymore?

Oh, I have no doubt there was naivete, stupidity and greed involved. One of these days I'll tell you more about when when my maximum mortgage qualification went up 100 percent in three years with the same lender, without the corresponding 100 percent increase in income. I knew then there was funny stuff going on in the real-estate industry (fortunately, I demurred in my "fortuitous" rise in credit).

But there's no doubt that prosperity gospel is one of the most bastardized interpretations of the Gospels ever -- and one of the most harmful. I've seen otherwise-sensible people over the years who've recklessly overextended themselves financially and slough it off by saying, "God will take care of it." It was piety that metastasized into stunning naivete or simple greed. There's no doubt that Ol' Oral, wittingly or unwittingly, was a big driving force behind that.

[Conan71]

But there's no doubt that prosperity gospel is one of the most bastardized interpretations of the Gospels ever -- and one of the most harmful. I've seen otherwise-sensible people over the years who've recklessly overextended themselves financially and slough it off by saying, "God will take care of it." It was piety that metastasized into stunning naivete or simple greed.

It's one of the primary reasons (if not the biggest) for my distaste of organized religion.  I can't stand the five minute appeal about responsibility when the plate is passed.  "I'm 44 years old, pass the bucking plate, I know what to do."