Well, I agree with what you are saying in principle. However, it is not money itself that is evil, but the lust thereof. The lust of money is indeed evil and can cause evil acts.

Originally posted by jimmyjackblack
[If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm starting to lose hope in the church and in humanity.

Honestly, the "church" has been corrupt since 325 A.D... The whole Ncean Council threw true Christianity into a tailspin which hasn't stopped yet. As far as humanity goes, well,.....what can you say?

I do not follow any religion. The text and stories that the faiths are based on are archaic translations of translations of translations made my the most scholared people of the time.
One of the books is the "King James Bible". That statement, embossed on the cover of the book itself, is telling by itself. That alone tells you that it is not the true work, rather a commission of a one-sided view.
Next, lets look at the commandments. In the bible, any Judeo-Christian bible will do, there are 10 commandments that are to be followed. However, the God of Moses did not hand down 10 commandments. It was more like 100 or more commandments. What happened to the rest of them? Some of them are spread out through the bible as God's laws, but most of them did not even make the cut. The reason is supposed that it is because they are, by the modern times of the writing of the bible, considered archaic and unpracticed disciplines of faith. Wow. So, this is yet another skew of the text. Basically, they just cut and paste what they think is important into the tome and let the rest fade into obscurity. If faith and following of God's word is so important and the only true law over mankind, then how can it be toyed with so offhanded? Does that mean that when it comes to law, we are allowed to obey what we want and toss the rest?
I promise I am getting to a point.

So, the examples above are just a few, but they lead on to the ongoing corruption of the church. When man has made a decision to pick and choose what to follow and what to ignore, then corruption and chaos insue. The bible says "the borrower is slave to the lender" which is just one teaching about how the misuse and worship of money leads to corrupt control. Jesus cast the merchants down from the steps because they were corrupt in their fiscal dealings. When Moses accended the mount, the people began to worship a golden calf and were punished by God.

Tithing, by my own experience, has been heralded as paying your due to God. God does not need money. Tithing is a way in which the priest can afford to live, the church can maintain its structure and funds can be used to help those in need. On top of that, churches pay no taxes, so they are allowed to spend 100% of the money where needed. I agree with all of these reasons for making donations to the church. I do not agree that a person should be chastised or threatened with damnation if they choose not to do so. Tithing is a donation to a charitable organization, no different than the Red Cross, Salvation Army or those people who feed the kids in Africa and Haiti. It should be revered as such and appreciated.

I once asked the pastor of the "church i used to goto" what happens with the tithe that goes to the church. I ask in what respect does it go to help the comunity or the congregation he told me it spent the way that the Board of the church sees fit for it to be spent. i notice that most of the weeks tithe is given in excess of about 3000.00 + this bothered me so i asked my uncle since he was on the board and exspressed my concern he said i shouldn't worry about it. this made me mad so i confronted the pastor again asking him since he had a fulltime job as an engineer why was he collecting a salary from the church he got furrious as so i did and that lead to one very load conversation. I told him that he was not fulfilling his duties as a pastor to recieve a salary from the church. meaning that if i have a problem that i should be able to call on him for spiritial guidaince at any time. he told me that he was not at the beck and call of the congregation, and that set me off and the last time i attended service. I'm still a believer, but i don't associate myself with this kind of thigs anymore. this was not the only church that this has happen to me before. by the way 2 weeks later he was missing from the church with all the churches savings but enough to pay church expenses with was about 100,000.00

A "preacher" is supposed to have a regular job. The "tithes" are supposed to go to 1) widows, orphans, and other people that need help, and 2) Spreading the gospel to people who have not heard it.

Anything else, and you are shortchanging God, I would think.

I think it ought to be LAW for EVERY church to have to post the pay of the minister, and how much they spend feeding and clothing widows and orphans RIGHT BEHIND where the preacher preaches every Sunday.

Honestly. I had to chuckle when I heard the Pope say the other day money was evil and our economies built on sand.

The Vaticans enormous riches are unfathomable. Can you say Vatican bank scandal?
The kettle calling the pot black.

Ah yes. The good old double shakedown. Back in my day they did not go beyond two for a special secondary purpose. Apparently things have changed.
I remember one year when I was 14 I tithed more than my Dad with my paper route money. The priest called him on it at the end of the year. He was pissed at me lol.

S&F for you JJB!!! thank you for posting this! I will agree with the youtube vid as well. Being a christian and servant going on 30 years and have been in small to medium churches, it has been my experience that all of them 'required' a tithe.

Interestingly enough, there are only 2 methods I've chosen over the 30 years when paying 'tithes' to the church. 1). I ask Father how much HE wants me to give or (2). I give what I 'feel' that would I'd would be able to give joyfully. 90% of the time, it has NEVER come up to 10% every time. Sometimes, and more often than not, He asks for more because He knew what was needed for me and for the body. ONLY on 1(one) occasion in 30 years did he EVER require me to give a full paycheck. Even in the face of having to pay rent, food, utilities, etc. not to mention a marriage on the rocks, in which the wife had decided to not to follow the Lord. (STRESS) Later that year, it was returned to me 3 fold in one paycheck. As I opened the envelope and looked at the amount, the Lord said.."I appreciate your obedience in giving" Obedience is better than sacrifice.

Now, when I gave that much, it was pure obedience, I never did think 'God will compensate me later.. " he was silent when he instructed me to do so.

I completely and whole heatedly believe that the Church is/has been, falling back into the days of Jesus whipping the money changers out of the court of the gentiles (saved for another discussion) I was asked a while ago to preach with some other brothers on a Sunday night using Acts chapter 2. Getting before the Lord to ask what He wanted to say, God said, "THAT chapter is my blueprint of what I desire how the church to be conducted, even to the very day of my return"

Here's what I think/believe is what should be happening with ALL the currency/possessions that is brought into the hands of the church. It's Acts Chapter 2 all over again. When each believer brings anything to the body to shared, it s/b gathered, stored, and distributed amongst those that are widows, orphans, and believers that can't not make ends meet.

All 'fund raising' in each dept s/b treated the same way. Yep! I said it. Why? What about youth groups that need money to go on 'special' trips? Good question. My answer to that is~ what are we teaching them by taking them to a swim park and having fun? How about teaching them the principles of helping those that can not help themselves. The reward they will receive won't be in $ value, as it would putting integrity, and self-esteem back into them KNOWING they could have been in that spot as well, but, a church decided that it was more important to share the wealth of the world with the poor of the world.

That, is the lesson we should be teaching to every believer. In all the preaching/teaching I've done, I've never taught on 'tithing' .. maybe now I know why.

So it goes back to the age old question: If a man with a family took a bullet for you and died, but you survived because if it. What would you return back to his family for being grateful you lived?


Yep! If Jesus didn't give his life, and make such a HUGE sacrifice, then the return wouldn't be what we have today as believers. We'd still be men most miserable.