clearing up some misconceptions

[MorningGlory]

Some of my family went there on vacation; they said that most of the city is pretty run down. This doesn't jibe with what I see on t.v. What's the real story?

[Marnie]

Some of my family went there on vacation; they said that most of the city is pretty run down. This doesn't jibe with what I see on t.v. What's the real story?

I can tackle this one; I lived on the outskirts of Vegas for a few years. Vegas is like any other city; it has a "strip" where all the hotels/casinos are located, but a few blocks away from the strip, Vegas could be anybody's hometown. It has schools, and clinics, churches, homes, banks, apartments, etc. In fact, whenever I had to go into town to do stuff, I'd avoid the strip like the plague, using the back and side roads.

I think your family might have been exaggerating, though. Vegas, I think, is as prosperous as anywhere else in the southwest.

[Vickilynn]

Shalom,

The only Vegas I know is what I see on CSI.

They show some lovely homes (lotsa money!!) and some run-down places and some really huge casinos.

Other than the casinos, I'd say Vegas looks like any other town, as Marnie said.

We lived in Miami for many years and it looks similar to Vegas (the strip vs the real town). And the city vs the suburbs.

I think that the marketing for Vegas makes it seem as if it's all about sin. "Sin City." and the fact that prostitution IS legal in parts of the state and the main draw is gambling, clubs and partying. But, hey, that could be said for NYC, Miami, LA and other cities. Here in the rural mtns of NC we have a huge casino on the Indian reservation. It's Harrah's! Just like Vegas, where there's shows, drinking and of course, legal gambling. But, you certainly can't call Cherokee "Sin City"! :24:

[nebula]

...basically, it's a church with a real heart for hurting people. lots of encouragement, lots of prayer, but none of the condemnation towards the individuals. (the condemnation is directed at the activity that destroys one's relationship with God, not at the person who is trying to get their face out of the dirt.)

That's really awesome!

by the way, just so everyone knows, i'll be leaving soon for the nascar qualifying race, so i may have a lot to catch up on tomorrow!

When you come back, please post in the NASCAR 2008 thread (Sports forum), and let us know how it went - from the live perspective, OK?

Have fun!!!

[nebula]

Some of my family went there on vacation; they said that most of the city is pretty run down. This doesn't jibe with what I see on t.v. What's the real story?

TV shows the rich part of town - that's why!

Plus, camera angles can focus on the nice building but leave out the run-down building standing next to it.

[Guest]

recovery churches, or at least ours anyway, tends to reach out to those who have had a lot of history with substance abuse, gambling addiction, prostitution, homelessness, etc. but the sermons aren't milky by any stretch. there's a lot of meat and substance in the messages, because the attendees really need to hear the whole truth and nothing but the truth. but it's done with love and compassion. nobody's sins are hidden here... not a week goes by that someone isn't giving a praise report on how long they've stayed clean, or asking for prayer for themselves or a loved on who has slipped back into their addiction.

basically, it's a church with a real heart for hurting people. lots of encouragement, lots of prayer, but none of the condemnation towards the individuals. (the condemnation is directed at the activity that destroys one's relationship with God, not at the person who is trying to get their face out of the dirt.)

by the way, just so everyone knows, i'll be leaving soon for the nascar qualifying race, so i may have a lot to catch up on tomorrow!

This sounds really great. Too bad there doesn't seem to be something like this in my area. (I've looked.) It sounds like the kind of church that's more into equipping believers for real life in this world than entertaining them.

[Richard_yaash]

This sounds really great. Too bad there doesn't seem to be something like this in my area. (I've looked.) It sounds like the kind of church that's more into equipping believers for real life in this world than entertaining them.

You might inquire at a 'Nazarene' denominational church. Some offer some good programs.

[Guest LadyC]

Some of my family went there on vacation; they said that most of the city is pretty run down. This doesn't jibe with what I see on t.v. What's the real story?

your family probably saw very little beyond the downtown area, off the strip. despite the glitz and glamour, the seedier area of town is just around the corner. the majority of vegas is quite nice actually, with the average home ranging about a 1/4 million dollars or more. (don't freak out over that amount.... you could buy an identical house in most cities for less than half that!)

i'll post in the nascar thread tomorrow... right now, it's bed time!

[irishcowboy]

Is there a strong Christian presence in the city? Are churches commonplace or rarely seen?

yea, and the churches even accept casino chips in their offering.....

this has been going on for soooooo long they are spending a great amount of time

sorting the chips by casino, and then taking them back to cash them in.....

with each church doing this, it has become quite a hassle, so they have come up with a

great new way of sorting the chips and then returning them.

to save time, each church has a committee that sorts the chips according to casino,

and also by size..... then they come together with the separate bags of tokens with

other church groups that are doing the same, and they combine the ones going to

each casino, and one person then goes to each casino, and then they return to

meet and divide up the cash that was received for returning the tokens to the

casino's....

this group has become affectionately known as the CHIP MUNKS

HEHEHEHEHEHEHE

really thou, i have no clue about there, i know here, you do not see evidence of

the church folks on the streets unless you count all the fish on the cars, their

driving and actions do not say anything about church or Christ.... for instance,

coming out of the bank parking lot the other day, the road way is only about

1.5 cars wide, so I stopped to allow an on coming car to enter the drive area

before i exited. "Jesus" on her car, and she stopped half way down the drive

area, and started just a mouthin', and would not move, and her face had the

most bitter look, like in the old saying........IF LOOKS COULD KILL...... she

would not move..... not until i was out of the way, so i drove off a bit into the

grass so i could get around her, and she just stared and well, i am glad i had

the windows up, for her words were not nice as she followed us with her face

and voice.....

like the saying goes,

accused of being a Christian?

is there enough evidence to arrive at a conviction?

mike

[Smalcald]

I have been there visiting my brother and his family.

It certainly is no worse than New Orleans or San Francisco and yes there are many Christians who happen to live there, they just have very little impact on the city itself and its industries. It certainly is not run down it is a boom town up until the recent housing bust, it is growing like crazy as big time gaming is growing. I hope the Christians who do live there stay there as they are very needed in this place and have a wonderful opportunities to reach out to the people there caught up in various things. I hope that I never gave the impression on previous threads that Christians should not live in Las Vegas, in actuality we should be there in big ways.

However I will always speak out against the essential sinful nature of what I would call the "public" Vegas the gambling, adult entertainment, a culture of drinking and partying, greed and the whole mocking of marriage industry that goes on there. You have an entire American City based on nothing but vice, things which used to be illegal in the US and should be today if we really had a Christian culture.