$35,000 motorcycle awarded to TV evangelist Tamaki

[Coldkiwi]

Did the pizza guy declare tax on the income? He isn't a registered charity unlike the organisation giving him $800. If he didn't both parties broke the law.

must we go through this??? The pizza dudes money was never actually the churches anyway (went straight from wallets, to collection to pizza guy) so no problems.

Brian Tamaki has labelled me and my lifestyle as being anti-christian, and has publicly stated that a great deal of the ethics that make up my personal belief system are a crime against God and humanity. He has done this in a public forum to hundreds of thousands of NZers. Why are you sticking up for a man that would happily bully the poor and underprivileged into tithing if they want to belong to his church? Why would you support a man who provides no reasoned argument himself for why his belief system is right, as it it is structured entirely on faith?

I don't know enough about Destiny or Brian Tamaki to actually start defending his attitude or the running of his church. But what I am suggesting is that NO-ONE here knows enough about Destiny or Brian Tamaki to be taking such grandiose pot shots with such a miniscule amount of evidence (one web article). I will tell you for a fact that i have heard stories of strange attitudes and proceedures at Destiny that I don't understand and wouyld be pretty uncomfortable with if my church started implementing them. Because of that, I'm not going to defend what he does, but that doesn't mean I have the right to villify him as some all-hating homophobic who's trying to demonise the NZ populace. For all the people brandying around 'hatred'
"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".... as a wise man once said. You'd care to suggest otherwise?

[James Deuce]

must we go through this??? The pizza dudes money was never actually the churches anyway (went straight from wallets, to collection to pizza guy) so no problems.


I don't know enough about Destiny or Brian Tamaki to actually start defending his attitude or the running of his church. But what I am suggesting is that NO-ONE here knows enough about Destiny or Brian Tamaki to be taking such grandiose pot shots with such a miniscule amount of evidence (one web article). I will tell you for a fact that i have heard stories of strange attitudes and proceedures at Destiny that I don't understand and wouyld be pretty uncomfortable with if my church started implementing them. Because of that, I'm not going to defend what he does, but that doesn't mean I have the right to villify him as some all-hating homophobic who's trying to demonise the NZ populace. For all the people brandying around 'hatred'
"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".... as a wise man once said. You'd care to suggest otherwise?

I watched Brian Tamaki on Television for 12 months because I was intrigued to see how a NZ Televangelist would work. Before you scoff, I'd be up feeding kids before work and it was the only thing on. To start with it was "down home", unpretentious, and full of common sense wisdom for getting through life in general.

Destiny has turned into a grandiose production, full of bigotry and faith based leaps of logic that defy the practical evidence of what it takes to get through life, either as a faith advocate or a "faithless bum". Mr Tamaki has developed a following and a culture to suit the goals and aspirations of that following, while lining his pockets with tithes.

As for the $800, if I earned $800 I'd declare it. I've got this weird integrity thing that says that tax isn't optional, and everybody avoiding is making people like me have to pay more and more as time goes by. I guess you have no problem with that.

[Hitcher]

An $800 tip is pretentious. I'm sure Jesus had something to say about that.

The same amount would run two African orphans for a year.

[R6_kid:Me]

get him to head out to mangere bridge and preach to all the people down there, but wait, what financial gain would they get from that.... none

Same thing with City Impact Church, the to pastors from that place live round the corner from me - $500,000 house, both have vehicles worth $40,000+ each... the church has a cafe in the foyer...

as my friend that used to go their says its not a church its a cult

tui says - its not a cult its a church, yeah rite!

[Bob]

Guys,

I hate to go all "Moderator" on you, but I think the time has come to close this thread.

I'm really, REALLY pleased to see the debate has, as far as I can see, all been very good natured - but I think perhaps this is not the forum for a theological conversation - and I'm also worried this is going to overshadow all the other news items coming up (and personally I'm more interested in reading about a 320bhp turbine powered superbike!)

Hope this is OK with everyone and you understand why I've done this,

Bob