Live data from Hacker News

Colorado pastor charged for cryptocurrency scam he perpetrated at God's command

web3isgoinggreat.com

51–60 of 166 posts

Re: Colorado pastor charged for cryptocurrency scam he perpetrated at God's command

#52
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bruh. It’s 2024. Can we stop assuming only religion on the face of earth is Christianity?

Muhammad and Siddharta are dead too.

Muslims would be pretty firm that Mo was just a prophet. They're worshipping God, not this prophet bloke. The Christians have this neat hack where their prophet guy literally was God. If you haven't grown up with it, the logic of Trinitarianism is completely batshit but if you grew up around Christians it just seems normal. An Iranian friend was astonishing that Unitarianism wasn't the default because it seemed less crazy.

Now, we do say "God is dead" but by that we don't mean in the sense that "Mohammed is dead" or "Elvis is dead" or "Margaret Thatcher is dead". We're talking about the idea, and so that's rejected by the Faithful.

Re: Colorado pastor charged for cryptocurrency scam he perpetrated at God's command

#53
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't know televangelist were a thing until a year or two ago, and remember having my mind blown (in a "but why" way). How is that a thing. Why do so many people fall for it? How do these people get discovered. The only reason I know about them is because of a meme YouTube video where a reporter drilled a televangelist on camera. Aside: may I propose we style the Internet variety as eVangelists?

Im gonna nerd out here: America has a long history of "preachers", and "evangelists". I was in a thread yesterday that referenced Johnny Appleseed who was ministering and planting nurserys. There is "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinners_in_the_Hands_of_an_Ang... ) That continues to be looked at and dwelled upon. This carries through into modern times... Sam Kinison who was a f…

Baby Billy's Bible Bonkers!

Re: Colorado pastor charged for cryptocurrency scam he perpetrated at God's command

#54
Lots of people mocking the “God commanded me to do X” but if you’re familiar with evangelical Christian culture, this line gets used to justify all sorts of behavior and life decisions that might go against what one would traditionally expect a devout Christian to avoid. Obviously fraud and financial crimes are an extreme version of this, but it’s a line I’ve heard to justify all sorts of legal albeit self-destructive behavior.

“I know I should be saving money for a house but god spoke to me and I spent the downpayment on ”

Re: Colorado pastor charged for cryptocurrency scam he perpetrated at God's command

#56
post #35
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the gist if it, isn't it? If the scam works it's Divine Providence, but if the scam blows up in their face then the devil made them do it. What matters the most is that it's never their responsibility and thus they are never responsible and accountable for anything they do.

Under christian theology the devil made me do it isn't an excuse it's a condemnation. The blame still lies entirely with you. That is in fact the whole point.

That's a good observation, but the part where this breaks down is that these evangelists are clearly not Cristian.

Re: Colorado pastor charged for cryptocurrency scam he perpetrated at God's command

#57
post #9
post #5

“Pastor for an online ministry” - the cool new way to say “televangelist,” and apparently just as trustworthy.

I didn't know televangelist were a thing until a year or two ago, and remember having my mind blown (in a "but why" way). How is that a thing. Why do so many people fall for it? How do these people get discovered. The only reason I know about them is because of a meme YouTube video where a reporter drilled a televangelist on camera. Aside: may I propose we style the Internet variety as eVangelists?

There's probably a better way to explain this, but I think it's just an emotional hook. A lot of things seem crazy when you don't get to experience the emotional aspect of the experience. You can sort of test this out by describing things which are commonly enjoyed, but in cold, cynical terms.

For instance, why do people like going to concerts? It's $100 or more to be surrounded by a hostile crowd, probably catch COVID, certainly induce some hearing damage, have zero peace and quiet for hours, etc. None of these "costs" really stack of up course if you find going to concerts rewarding in an emotional sense. If the concert itself never moved you emotionally, it'd be very difficult to see why people would put up with all the additional externalities of the whole event.

This isn't a perfect comparison, but I hope you can see what I'm getting at.

Re: Colorado pastor charged for cryptocurrency scam he perpetrated at God's command

#58
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't know televangelist were a thing until a year or two ago, and remember having my mind blown (in a "but why" way). How is that a thing. Why do so many people fall for it? How do these people get discovered. The only reason I know about them is because of a meme YouTube video where a reporter drilled a televangelist on camera. Aside: may I propose we style the Internet variety as eVangelists?

The son of some family friends decided one day to suddenly give up his life and devote 100% of it to some guru in India. He was moderately religious christian, as most are here in Norway, and I'd spent a lot of time with him as we were of similar age and our families met regularly through our childhood. As such I knew him as quite bright and well informed. Suddenly he was devoting all his time to studying rites and r…

what you say may be true, but it is remarkably blind to the possibility that this teaching community has real meaning for the guy, in addition to the social effects.

Re: Colorado pastor charged for cryptocurrency scam he perpetrated at God's command

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kinda a naive statement. Around 1/3 of males in the world are circumcised with highest rates in the US, Middle East, and South Korea. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/16194-circu...

Just to be clear, because the intro to that article is not, it's much more rare for circumcision to be required for purely medical or hygiene reasons. Let's not prepare that excuse. This form of genial mutilation is most often performed on babies for no reason other than perpetuating religious or cultural expectations of the parents.

I made no statement or determination on whether the practice was right or wrong or why it may be done. I only refuted the statement that it was only seen in the US and Africa. Your positions on the genitalia of American men sound very well thought out and I encourage you to pursue that further!

Re: Colorado pastor charged for cryptocurrency scam he perpetrated at God's command

#60
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Location. Like male circumcision it simply doesnt exist outside of the USA, unless you count random african countries like Ghana. No idea why, if anyone wants to enlighten me let me know.

Kinda a naive statement. Around 1/3 of males in the world are circumcised with highest rates in the US, Middle East, and South Korea. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/16194-circu...

Although you are being a bit rude calling me naive, you are not wrong regarding your percentage, and I was wrong in my general attitude that few people do outside the USA, however I meant, most countries that practice circumcision other than the USA ( western / developed ). However you are right regarding all countries, and for this I thank you for opening my eyes.

I am from Europe where it isn't a thing, this table should help explain the difference in opinion in the West.

Top 5 Countries by Circumcision Rate High and Low

United States 50-60%

Indonesia >90%

Pakistan >90%

Bangladesh >90%

Egypt >90%

(European Countries with Lowest Circumcision Rates)

Finland Denmark Norway Sweden Iceland PS - it was unprofessional to add a link to a random article on reasons for circumcision, it makes you sound butthurt, no one asked or cares to discuss genital mutilation reasons. If you are interested in sharing your vague opinion and articles about it then Ill bite. Not anyone cares in this thread about my opinion on this matter (understandably) but I find it barbaric and have only pity for any man subjected to it as a child.

TLDR We were just talking about how its unheard of in western democracies outside the US

Post reply on HN