# TBN's Praise-a-thon **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 8, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311 "2005-04-08T00:39:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/21 "2005-04-08T23:18:13Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Oooh! You can have crippled people come on and talk about how they’re still crippled! Yeah, and we’d frequently play the movie “Inherit The Wind” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/22 "2005-04-08T23:26:42Z")
By the way, is it true that [this](http://www.voyager.co.jp/news/img_jpg/trinity_bomb.jpg) is the official Trinity Broadcasting Network logo? ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/23 "2005-04-09T02:19:10Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Oooh! You can have crippled people come on and talk about how they’re still crippled! Thats because they didn’t have enough faith! :rolleyes: Although a preach-off between say Bob Larson and Mike Warnke would be worth paying for. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/24 "2005-04-09T02:22:15Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > One day, the doorbell rang and there was a flower delivery guy with flowers for me! The card said “Thinking of You, Dr. Scott” (insert google eyed smiley here). > > Yow! > > It took me about a minute to figure out it was my boyfriend that sent the flowers. That was one freaky minute! Love it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/25 "2005-04-09T02:34:44Z")
Paul Crouch-isn’t he the so-called “ex-gay” who was caught in a gay bar then claimed he just had to pee? ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/26 "2005-04-09T02:40:27Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > I sometimes flip on the Trinity Broadcasting Network for laughs when I’m bored, and lately it has been _highly_ entertaining. Currently, TBN is running what it calls a “praise-a-thon,” which is not so much about the praising as it is about the solicitation of funds from its viewers. In between appeals to emotion, dubious brags of TBN’s broadcast range (c’mon, TBN is bringing people to Jesus in Saudi Arabia and China?) and bouts of cold reading and [vague warnings of doom](http://www.tbn.org/index.php/7/14.html) (“prophesying” to the cognoscenti), the speakers exhort their viewers to “invest their seed,” which sounds faintly pornographic but turns out to mean “give money.” Paul Crouch and his wife, who looks like a [deranged cocker spaniel](http://www.smileofachild.org/)) ask their viewers to give their widows’ mites unto God, who by happy coincidence picks up His mail at the Crouches’ address. > > I understand that TBN doesn’t derive income from advertising like Comedy Central does, or from cable subscriptions, as HBO does, but Turner Classic Movies doesn’t take advertising or cable subscriptions and they don’t hold telethons begging for cash, promising supernatural blessings in return. And IMO, the calibre of entertainment on TCM is way superior to the low-rent tent revival circus on TBN. > > Now you’re asking, “Gobear, you loathe religion and think the Crouches and their henchmen are con men preying on the ignorant and the desperate,” and you’re right. but that’s not to say TBN doesnlt have something to offer even me. From their [FAQ](http://www.tbn.org/index.php/3.html): > > Speaking in tongues, indeed! I have to disagree, TBN has done a lot of good for people and many people credit the programming with helping to turn their life around or “save” it so if Paul and Jan need to do Praise-A-Thons to stay on the air then I’m all for it. I don’t think anyone has had a life changing experience watching Turner Classic Movies. I know people that TBN is the only channel they will watch. I personally wouldn’t go that far but the station has produced and aired some entertaining movies such as one of my favorites Megiddo-Omega Code 2. It’s a great channel for reinforcing religous beliefs in Christians and possibly uncovering hidden beliefs in some atheists. It just comes down to if you don’t believe any of the stuff they are saying like about God, Jesus, Blessings, Miracles, etc then of course watching will seem like comedy and you will wonder how anybody could send their money in but if you believe in it then you will have a totally different perspective. Bottom line it’s a good station and hopefully there will be more like it. Then I must admit that I don’t understand it when a preacher tells people that are in credit card debt to make a donation using a credit card so “Jesus can get on that card” but maybe for people who are faithful and willing to make a change in their spending habits God will supernaturally help them out of debt, sounds silly to some but not at all far fetched to a believer. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/27 "2005-04-09T02:42:58Z")
“Won’t someone send food to feed Rexella?” ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/28 "2005-04-09T02:59:21Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Paul Crouch-isn’t he the so-called “ex-gay” who was caught in a gay bar then claimed he just had to pee? No, that was John Paulk, board chair of Exodus International, an “ex-gay” group. He was caught in Mr. P’s, a gay bar here in DC (now closed). ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/29 "2005-04-09T03:03:57Z")
Actually, I read that accusation somewhere,though he was supposedly closet gay,not ex. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/30 "2005-04-09T03:17:23Z")
> [@START](#): > > I have to disagree, TBN has done a lot of good for people and many people credit the programming with helping to turn their life around or “save” it so if Paul and Jan need to do Praise-A-Thons to stay on the air then I’m all for it. I don’t think anyone has had a life changing experience watching Turner Classic Movies. Clearly, you’ve never watched a Bette Davis marathon on TCM! > [@](#): > > I know people that TBN is the only channel they will watch. I personally wouldn’t go that far but the station has produced and aired some entertaining movies such as one of my favorites Megiddo-Omega Code 2. It’s a great channel for reinforcing religous beliefs in Christians and possibly uncovering hidden beliefs in some atheists. > > It just comes down to if you don’t believe any of the stuff they are saying like about God, Jesus, Blessings, Miracles, etc then of course watching will seem like comedy and you will wonder how anybody could send their money in but if you believe in it then you will have a totally different perspective. Bottom line it’s a good station and hopefully there will be more like it. > > Then I must admit that I don’t understand it when a preacher tells people that are in credit card debt to make a donation using a credit card so “Jesus can get on that card” but maybe for people who are faithful and willing to make a change in their spending habits God will supernaturally help them out of debt, sounds silly to some but not at all far fetched to a believer. **START** , you’re a sweet kid so I hate to burst your illusions at such a young age, but TBN is an embarrassment to your religion. Hell, even the rabid fundies on Rapture Ready detest the naked greed and con artistry practiced by the Crouches and their droogs. Their programs are aimed at fleecing the ignorant, the poor, and the desperate. They’re granny robbers, conning vulnerable old people into sending them their Social Security checks by pleading poverty while driving expensive cars and owning several houses, including a $5 million dollar home in Newport Beach. Here’s a Christian [criticism](http://www.apologeticsindex.org/t27.html) of their fraudulent presentation of the gospel as some sort of divine barter system. In the old days, we’d call what the Crouches do [simony](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simony). And at some time in your life, you’ll realize that God has as much reality as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, and if He did exist, the Architect of the Universe would surely exhibit better taste than to draft a pair of sorry ass, trailer trash, penny ante, carny grifters like the Crouches to speak for Him. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/31 "2005-04-09T03:21:27Z")
> [@Good Egg](#): > > Actually, I read that accusation somewhere,though he was supposedly closet gay,not ex. There have definitely been [gay rumors](http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/137/11.0.html) about Paul Crouch–and looking at the horror show he married, no fucking wonder he got turned off pussy. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/32 "2005-04-09T03:38:08Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > And at some time in your life, you’ll realize that God has as much reality as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, NOOOOO!!! (sob) ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/33 "2005-04-09T04:17:59Z")
> [@Patty O'Furniture](#): > > [You have _got_ to be kidding me.](http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/~slavine/assets/PowerTeam2.gif) They look like baloon animals. There’s a _girl_ on the Power Team now?! That’s just _wrong_. > [@gobear](#): > > I’d particularly like to ask those guys how ripping a telephone book in half or smashing a pile of wooden tiles proves the veracity of the Christian faith. My favorite was always how they’d snap baseball bats because it was like breaking Satan’s arm. That and how sugar is evil because both “sugar” and “Satan” have five letters and start with “s.” > [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Oooh! You can have crippled people come on and talk about how they’re still crippled! Back in the day I went to a church in Texas for a lecture on the occult (the church, for the record, was opposed). The church had crutches and wheelchairs and shit nailed up around the edge of the balcony as a testament to the healing power of Jebus. Looking around at the abandoned medical hardware, my eye was caught by a prosthetic leg. A prosthetic leg? Were they really trying to sell the idea that someone had regrown a limb like a salamander? ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/34 "2005-04-09T04:20:59Z")
And here’s a fun [game](http://www.jesusdressup.com/#) for **START** and friends. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/35 "2005-04-09T04:50:54Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > No, that was John Paulk, board chair of Exodus International, an “ex-gay” group. He was caught in Mr. P’s, a gay bar here in DC (now closed). You’re probably going to hate me for this, but doesn’t that make it an ex-gay bar? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/36 "2005-04-09T04:54:10Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > You’re probably going to hate me for this, but doesn’t that make it an ex-gay bar? 😛 Indeed it is. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/37 "2005-04-09T05:02:50Z")
As I may have mentioned before, he said he was there to use the bathroom… …and nobody thought to ask him “for what.” Just remember, kids: John Paulk is just two letters away from Johan Paulik. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/38 "2005-04-09T05:08:58Z")
A couple of guys from the Power Team came to our church once a long time ago. One of their bits was to tear a local phone book in half. Being as we were a little eastern Kentucky hick town, our phone book was maybe 3/4" thick. This wasn’t very impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/39 "2005-04-09T05:28:31Z")
A Christian who can’t stand televangelists. To my shame, I use to watch TBN and PTL ☹ , but at least I wised up. 🆒 Whenever I saw them asking for money, and that was pretty much all the time, even when they weren’t running a Prais-a-thon, they would show people who would talk about how they sent in money they couldn’t afford, only to get it back, or get twice the amount, or even more. And that made me wonder. If God gives out money, shouldn’t the televangelists be loaded? I mean, why ask for money from their viewers when they could eliminate the middle man and to straight to the source? Right? ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311/40 "2005-04-09T05:48:40Z")
> [@Good Egg](#): > > “Won’t someone send food to feed Rexella?” That’s just too funny! Doesn’t she just remind you of Nancy Reagan? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tbns-praise-a-thon/298311.md?page=3)