Is Ordination a scam?

[Sane Lunasea]

These ordination certificates people can purchase are all well and good, but officially they mean essentially squat. In order to perform any sort of official duties, you need a "Letter of Good Standing" from your organization. Is it possible for someone who actually wants to accomplish something, and not just hang a pretty picture on their wall, to receive a Letter of Good Standing from the Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster?


Sane Lunasea
The First Pastafarian Church of Japan

[skyweir]

Given the fondness for beer and life aboard a pirate ship, I suspect it might have to be a Letter of Good Rolling.

[Sane Lunasea]

Any pirate worth his salt would surly have his sea legs about him, thereby being worthy of a Letter of Good Standing!

Sane Lunasea
The First Pastafarian Church of Japan

[pieces o'nine]

Let's not bring surliness into this.

[skyweir]

If my posts get excessively surly, will I get a thorough planking? Please?

You could issue yourself a certificate of good standing, under the authority of the minister of your subsect. Or of good rolling, or of good planking...

[Sane Lunasea]

Aye. Anything said about a pirate without his sea legs must surely have been made in jest! Alas, me fellow uncooked pasta may have a point. What be the harm in writin' me own letter?

[pieces o'nine]

Have you considered what constitutes 'good standing' among those with officially flimsy morals?

[Cap'n Tedward]

I have my certificate proudly posted on my wall. But I recently registered to marry two couples at the end of this month in NV, and I had to provide not just a letter of good standing, but these foreign corporate documents:
http://www.themonastery.org/documents/corp/the-monastery-NV-corporate-qualification.pdf
Fortunately ULC isn't picky about ordinations and such, so I can offer services as an ordained Pastafarian monister, function wherever ULC allows me to function, and Bobby doesn't have to go through all the bull necessary to "officially" register CFSM.

I can't wait for my custom clerical wear to be finished...
https://plus.google.com/photos/114866542138806275428/albums/5641687763398869601
the Chasuble has strippers and sharks in the pattern. Way cool....

[skyweir]

Have you considered what constitutes 'good standing' among those with officially flimsy morals?

1) There's an erection joke in there somewhere. But more seriously,

2) Pastafarians have flimsy moral standards; but their moral performance tends to be robust. As opposed to say ordained Catholic priests, whose moral standards are high, but whose performance is so often not.

[Sane Lunasea]

Keep you're expectations low, and you will never be disappointed!

[skyweir]

Pastafarians are over-achievers! I'm trying to overachieve a chillaxed way of life...

[pieces o'nine]

Keep you're expectations low, and you will never be disappointed!

An old boss of mine used to say, "It's what you inspect, not what you expect."

[skyweir]

Cap'n Ted, congratulations! Looks great.

[Cap'n Tedward]

Cap'n Ted, congratulations! Looks great.

Thankie...
We still have some work to do on the chasuble (the big red poncho with the little stripper and sharks on it), we're going to decorate it like a pirate captain's coat. And the stole will have stylized FSMs on the bottoms of the front and one on the back. I'll post more in that album when it's done.

[PastorDeGranoDuro]

Yeah, nice work Cap'n. This is something I need to get onto when I can, along with my pirate clobber.

I don't know if our ordination is any more of a scam than Xtnty. In light of this, and also as a Priest of the First Church of Atheism I think I'll just marry whoever wants it.