That doesn't beat the one in Effingham, IL (^).

Furthermore, isn't Houston known for its codeine addicts (^) who would give a shiat about this, if they could only get off the couch?

*twitch* *twitch*

Speaking as a current but not future resident of Houston, I can safely say I wouldn't really mind if all of the megachurches around here burned to the ground due to lightning-sparked fires. It would be ironic and an overall good thing for the city.

Didn't Oral Roberts already have a vision for a 900 ft Jesus?

/I light the fires while the city sleeps

Didn't god say something about not making idols or some shiat? It's been about 15 years since I've read the bible but from what I remember these "HEY LOOK AT HOW GREAT A CHRISTIAN I AM AND HOW MUCH MONEY I SPENT" people are doing it wrong.

Megachurch pastor wants to erect crosses near major highways to mark Houston as a "city for God"

For what, a warning? Come back, and we'll crucify you a second time?

dj_bigbird:Didn't Oral Roberts already have a vision for a 900 ft Jesus?

/I light the fires while the city sleeps

It was a vision of a 900 foot Jesus, it told him to build the City of Faith Medical and Research Center and the hospital would be a success.

/the killer inside me

I don't get the whole "cross" thing...if you're trying to impress Jesus, do you really think that constantly reminding him about that whole nasty business with the Romans is the way to go? Hey Jesus - we really appreciate all the nice stuff you did and we think you're swell..so to honor and remember you, here's another statue of you hanging from a farking cross...enjoy!

Just what Houston needs - another gaudy eyesore.

FireBreathingLiberal:Help the homeless?
Feed the hungry?
Care for the sick?

BUILD A BUNCHES OF GIANT FARKIN' CROSSES!

This is pretty much what I came to say.

Given some of the recent articles here about Houston's finest, it would be a lot more encouraging if the believers in this "city for God" showed some public concern about racism, 'bearing false witness' and harassment being perpetuated by their public servants...

"What does God need with a township?"

Nabb1:Just what Houston needs - another gaudy eyesore.

Yeah, they just need to build one massive one.

example:

Well, at least if they do this, we can finally teach that Paul Bunyan a lesson he'll never forget.

"This will mark our city for God," he said. "If this doesn't work - nothing else will work. But if we get it right, everything will fall into place."

Wait ... what? Is this supposed to be like a Post-It Flag on Houston for when the Rapture comes? "Oh hey, God, in case you forgot about us, this is so totally your city! See, we marked it and everything!" This guy makes his God sound like an idiot or a chihuahua or something.

When I graduated from college and was out looking for an IT job, I saw a posting for Grace church. I asked around and heard that you had better be a righteous god-fearing dude if you worked there (definite religious discrimination). I considered how I would fake them out. The problem was that I am forgiving, don't think I'm better than others, don't do good deeds just to be seen doing good deeds, tolerant, not greedy, treat others as I would like to be treated, etc. In other words, they would instantly see I'm not a Christian, so I gave up on that idea.

What happened to humility? I don't recall anything in Christianity that says "Brag as loud as you can, and don't dare spend any money on helping people"

I recall long ago in some pre-req business class that it was often noticed that those companies with the worst products often advertised the loudest.

Why not just look up every gruesome martyrdom and erect a monument of the device used in it? After all, it's for Jeeeeezus.

I just, honestly, can't even begin to understand what makes this guy tick.

Maybe he isn't a Christhuahua (Although his desire to mark all of the major city entrance points does really imply some tree-peeing tendencies.)

Does he think that commuters are going to spontaneously convert? That somehow, these people who are not otherwise aligned with his convictions about God are going to look up and see a giant cross in the smoggy afternoon haze and go, "Oh hey! That's it! My life now has meaning! I must give up drinking and wild women and music and teh buttsex become a Christian! How come it never occurred to me before? Thank goodness for this giant ass religious symbol."

Special. Kind. Of. Stupid.

why can't the holy rollers have even one little smidgen of a sense of taste?

ThisIsNotSubtle:giant ass religious symbol

now see, that's a symbol I could get behind.

le mew:ThisIsNotSubtle:giant ass religious symbol

now see, that's a symbol I could get behind.

They place a great deal of emphasis on turning the other cheek.

Because Jesus would frown upon spending the time, energy, and money it would take to build those massive crosses to do stupid things like feeding the hungry and providing shelter to the homeless.

nashBridges:At least they are using their own land for it.

But seriously, ostentatious religious symbols usually turn me off, particularly if they are as garish as this:

That statue really needs to be at one end of a football field.

Eventually, Riggle would like crosses at every entrance to Houston.

"I would surround the city," he said.



Rome, Appian Way, Spartacus, etc.

Gwendolyn:Didn't god say something about not making idols or some shiat? It's been about 15 years since I've read the bible but from what I remember these "HEY LOOK AT HOW GREAT A CHRISTIAN I AM AND HOW MUCH MONEY I SPENT" people are doing it wrong.

ThisIsNotSubtle:Wait ... what? Is this supposed to be like a Post-It Flag on Houston for when the Rapture comes?

Matthew 6:1-6
"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

Emphasis added.

I consider Bevets a better Christian than these steerfarking cretins.

Actually, I hope it works. Sorry for the folks in Houston, but it would make my life a hell of a lot easier if all of these assholes would just go scream at each other while the rest of us move to somewhere a little less "pious".

I'm sure that this is exactly the sort of shiat Jesus wants you to spend your time and money on.

Great joerb, Pastor Riggle.

clgrin:And the Lord Did say:Hunger not, for I hath caught a fish THISSSSS big and it shall nourish us

And the lord looked upon his works.. and did thusly state.

ITS GOOD!

/Now for the extra point.

//Has a love hate relationship with Touchdown/Big Butter Jesus

Let us praise God. Oh Lord, oooh you are so big. So absolutely huge. Gosh, we're all really impressed down here I can tell you. Forgive us, O Lord, for this dreadful toadying and barefaced flattery. But you are so strong and, well, just so super fantastic. Amen.

Riggle doesn't mince words when he says that the country is headed in the wrong direction politically and spiritually. The only way out, he adds, is what he believes the Founding Fathers always intended the United States to be - a Christian nation. He says the project is a start in the right direction.

Historical documents beg to differ...

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian Religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as teh said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries." - From the Treaty of Tripoli. Drafted in 1796 under George Washington and signed by John Adams in 1797.

Why does he want it to be a city of god?



that sounds a little scary.

abb3w:Matthew 6:1-6
"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

This

cerote:That doesn't beat the one in Effingham, IL (^).

Came here to say this. Just drove by it yesterday.

FTA:Riggle feels that, in recent years, rulings and regulations have fabricated, "the truth of history. We are not afraid of the truth, are we?" he asked. "We can make up our own mind what the Founding Fathers meant."

FTFY

Hey, it's their land. They pay taxes on it like everyone else. They should be able to do whatever they want w... oh, wait.

He did play Jesus in a film ya know...

I love it how modern Christianity represents nearly EVERYTHING that Christ preached against 2000 years ago.

Pray with 100,000 other people at the top of your lungs and condemn everything and everyone not like you! That's what Jesus wanted!

What's a shame is that chopping these monstrosities down is considered a "hate crime" and subject to harsher penalties than just plain vandalism would be.

/just trying to have a little fun, your honor!

FTFA: Riggle last week disclosed a plan to erect 150-foot crosses ...

Methinks the pastor doth compensate too much.

This is exactly how the Boxer Rebellion started. Damn feng shui.

Whatever

.

"I was going to go rape that nun and smoke some crack, but then I saw that 150 foot cross, and decided to live my life for Jesus."

I guess if Jesus comes back as a giant we'll still be able to torture him to death. If I were Jesus you couldn't get me in the same timezone as a cross.

Some people have no grasp of the idea that pilots do not like tall things near airports.

I remember when one city wanted to build a football stadium next to the airport.

They reassuringly said that "Pilots will only have to take off at a 15 degree higher angle, and there won't be any problems."

A local radio station got a call from a pilot after it was announced, and they foolishly put the call on the air, live.

In the 10 to 15 seconds he was on the air, before they cut him off, I'm not sure he actually said a word that you can say on radio. But he did say a whole bunch you can't.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or free exercise thereof..."

What is there to misinterpret?