A simple question, great punchline

[mhewett]

Hi everyone,

here's the question,

"what do the words catholic, episcopalian, mormon, anglican and I think also presbyterian have in common?

I promise, there is a punchline and it is good,

what say you?

[mhewett]

Antidisestablishmentarianism?

wow what a mouthful lol, interesting, I am almost bursting to tell the punchline but I have to wait, be patient for a few more guesses

[Obrien]

:-w

[boo]

Antidisestablishmentarianism?

Hey that was my guess !

[boo]

They all fit the definition of cults ?

[boo]

Mmmm They all think they are the only true church ?

[boo]

Well I apparently didn't get it right yet and it is getting late so i will try once more. They are all corporations?

[boo]

OK one more time and then I quit for the day . Maybe they are all run by fallible mortals ? Or they all think they are inspired by God? OK so that was 2 for a total of 5 tries. I give up whats the answer ?

[marc]

He's not talking about the religions. He's talking about the words.

[boo]

He's not talking about the religions. He's talking about the words.

Ah I am just too slow to play I guess. Do you know the answer ? If so share it so i don't have to lie in bed thinking about this

[marc]

I'm going to go out on a limb and take a stab at it. None of these words or names originated with the founders/foundation of the church. In other words, we were dubbed Mormons by non members just as the Catholics were given that name by others and not by themselves, and so on for the rest of those mentioned.

[boo]

I'm going to go out on a limb and take a stab at it. None of these words or names originated with the founders/foundation of the church. In other words, we were dubbed Mormons by non members just as the Catholics were given that name by others and not by themselves, and so on for the rest of those mentioned.

Not bad but I like mine better . Of course I tried 5 times to your one . Hardly fair I guess. but i am old and slow while you are young and vigorous so maybe it evens out, Any way thanks for your efforts . M. must have fallen asleep.

[marc]

Well, at 45, I consider myself middle-aged. But I am still vigorous! Anyway, that's my best guess, but I suspect I am correct, or at least, if that isn't the answer m is looking for, I believe it is nonetheless correct. And it is almost 2 am. I'm going to sleep.

[boo]

See you are smart, Don't let the bed bugs bite

[boo]

I think mhewett got asked this same question and doesn't know the answer so he's trying to get us to figure it out for him. ;)

I like you . You have a wonderfully devious mind . Note I said "devious' not "deviant."

[Obrien]

I think mhewett got asked this same question and doesn't know the answer so he's trying to get us to figure it out for him. ;)

I like you . You have a wonderfully devious mind . Note I said "devious' not "deviant."

I know a guy who has made about 60% of his career this way ( getting others to answer questions for him...)

[Epistemology]

Each claim apostolic succession

[Epistemology]

.

[boo]

Come on M Be a man and take responsibility for what you started. Inquiring minds what to know what YOUR answer is.

[Desert Roses]

K, so I just Googled: The Catholic church is officially "The Roman Catholic Church"; the Episcopalians are the "Episcopal Church", the Anglicans are "The Church of England", and the Presbyterians are "The Presbyterian Church." So the names of Catholics and Anglicans are not "official" but the other two are.

MHewett, I am just waiting for the punchline.

[Epistemology]

To get to the other side?

[butterfly]

aren't these groups all named as right winged extremists by the dept of homeland security and in need of being watched/controlled?

[mhewett]

Well I had planned on replying a couple of days ago and I know you've all been waiting for the answer to the question with great anticipation (sarcasm) so I am sorry and apologize profusely for the delay and making you wait so long, I got caught up with other things, you know, like life, anyway,

What prompted this question was a comment on one of the posts I wrote and out of disgust I posed this question, I guess with the intent of showing how ridiculous that comment was and say gotcha!!! well I don't feel quite the same now but I guess I have to follow through with the answer which some may find amusing and others I know will not, I don't find it so funny now because it is about an issue that many on this site struggle with but I hope at least that it edifies some of you a bit and maybe be a bit uplifting and give validation to some in their commitments to remain true to Jesus Christ and His Church.

Now the 'punchline', first a bit of info (please stay with me). I did a bit of digging and came across a book that increased my learning on the subject involved. The book is called, “Sacred Origins: Organizational Aspects of Religion and Religious Aspects of Organizations”. One of the chapters talks about the exact subject of interest to us and that is, yes Boo, about corporations and in particular, Corporation Sole” of which category the church is in. (Thanks to those of you who pointed that out to me, I obviously was asleep when that section came up in my studies) It takes a bit to get your head around what it all means and all of the implications and requirements, at least from the chapter. One statement from the book is, “It (corporation sole) is an extraordinary, irregular, custom tailored effort at translating religious principles into secular terms.” One thing that this says to me is that even the Federal Government recognizes that there are 2 parts to a church, an obviously religious part but also a secular part. Corporation sole is suited to the type of Organization that churches are. So if the Federal government recognizes that there are 2 parts to a church why can't some of us? Well now we can answer the question I posed.

I did some more digging and discovered the churches listed in the question also use Corporation Sole which means the assets of the Catholic Church has the Pope as, in Boo's terms, the sole shareholder, though if you learn about Corporation Sole, you will discover in the case of churches, it has a lot to do with what happens when the 'shareholder' dies and the transfer of assets to the next 'shareholder and is nothing to do with someone at the top with unfettered access to all of the money.

So with that in mind, the answer to the question is that they are church’s and yes ,Boo, they are corporations, but corporations known as corporation sole. The punchline is this, the person who made the initial comment to me about bearing my testimony about ridiculous things about the church being a trademark and that the members are members of a corporation and not a church, and you know who you are, I'm afraid you have one hell of a lot of work to do. There are 1.2 billion Catholics waiting for you to tell them they don’t actually belong to a church but they belong to a corporation, then there are the hundreds of millions of Church of England who need you to tell then they belong to a trademark. Then there are the Episcopalians etc, you have a big task my friend, better get started

Well,doesn't seen so funny to me now and I have not meant to ridicule you but what I want you to know is that a little knowledge can go a long way to dispelling falsehoods, learn about corporations and you will learn it does not have to be an issue.

[Obrien]

so the punchline is that all those " wrong" religions are legally organized just as the " only true and living church on the face of the whole earth" is organized? everyone must adopt Babylon to have a continuation in mortality?
that is a joke...

[Lizzy60]

Totally lame. Not a great punch line at all. I agree with Obrien -- we seem to be just like all the other "wrong" churches, more and more.