Church wants your w2....what?!

originally posted by: eXia7
a reply to: Bluntone22

Gotta keep these mega churches going somehow. They don't want poor plebs to join their congregation, or how else can they afford a lavish lifestyle in the name of God?

It costs far more to go to a concert. Should the Rolling Stones perhaps be accepting donations instead of ticket sales?

Most mega-churches have musicians, public address systems, light-shows, assets that wear out (like seating) and public liability insurance to pay for, and yet they don't sell tickets. Giving in most churches is entirely voluntary.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Bluntone22

In the bible there is a quote. . . .

"For he who doesn't give me his money shall be bitch-slapped until I get my cut."
-Book of Coins, 3-4

Nope, there is no such quote, but there is one similar:

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it". Malachi 3:10.

Thanks for pointing this out, geez, I wouldn't join a church that wanted my W2. I would shop around.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: chr0naut

I've never seen a rich one.

Joel Scott Osteen has an estimated net worth of $40 million. Osteen is an American preacher, televangelist, author, and the leader of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. In October 3, 1999 Osteen took over from his father as pastor of their church; Lakewood church after his father passed away.

I didn't think he was in the Rolling Stones?

a reply to: intrptr

Either them or New Apostolic Reformation ...en.wikipedia.org... its not really new but has been flying under the radar so not a lot of people know about them .

a reply to: chr0naut


Who cares? He demonstrates there are absurdly wealthy pastors getting fat on the poor dupes attending their church.

originally posted by: Plotus
I'd like to think this isn't troll bait. He said, she said. Credibility is the issue.

Oh, don't worry, it's not troll bait. My friend's parents left their church last year because their pastor kept bugging them that they weren't tithing enough. They don't make a lot of money, mostly just enough to survive, and their pastor wanted them to tithe more.

I know their pastor, too, he used to live next to us. He was one of the rudest bastards I've known, and he had issues with me. Worst part is, he would never talk to me about them at my home, no, he would actually bug me about them at my workplace. Why?? I can only imagine it's because if I get mad and speak my mind, he'll turn me in and get me fired, because he was a "customer".

I'm a minister. I am not wealthy. We get by. I live below the technical poverty line in the US, though I don't consider myself poor as we have food, clothes and a roof over our heads.

I've never seen anything like that done, though I've heard of it. A man would have to be an idiot to submit to something like that. Chalk it up to stupidity.

originally posted by: iTruthSeeker
I've never seen a poor Pastor..

I knew one. He died recently. He lived in one-room cabin for forty years and tended a one-room church in the woods. He worked with his hands for a living and donated his labor to the poor and to refugees overseas. But that was just one guy I knew.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: chr0naut


Who cares? He demonstrates there are absurdly wealthy pastors getting fat on the poor dupes attending their church.

The average church size in America is 186 attenders reported by the USCLS survey.

Many pastors only make 100 a week 'pulpit supply fee'.

Pastors get no benefits like health insurance, car insurance, expenses for clothing or school, or vehicle.

The average US salary for pastors in 2012 was only $28,000 per year. Compare this to the average general wage in the US, in the same year, of $51,371.

Some pastors have no salary at all and work for nothing (at least on this earth) while others are bi-vocational and have to work to support themselves.

So, to gauge pastors incomes based upon the absolute top earner (in the world) is perhaps a little skewiff. The truth is that the majority of pastors are quite poor by the standards of those around them.

a reply to: Bluntone22

I'm no atheist (living as I do in a psychic/cultural foxhole) but I've no illusions about what makes the world go around. Tis the almighty dollar or its equivalent.

That is why we should pay our pastors a good salary, but make sure their lives are an open book to everyone in the community. Just an opinion. The problem is, the Board of Trustees of any wealthy church is sure to be at least a little corrupt. If that happens, the pastor is likely to be corrupt also.

Ernest L. Martin has a book dedicated to the subject that is both PDF and MP3 audio www.askelm.com... I guess it boils down to knowing what you believe and why you believe it .It should also be a lesson to teachers and preachers of the word that using one thing for another reason is not a sound thing to do . Thithing today is actually un-biblical ...Giving however is not .

With this being the definition of "sin," there are multitudes of preachers, priests, evangelists and theologians who are "sinning" on a daily basis in regard to their use (or better yet, their misuse or their abuse) of the biblical tithe. There is nothing more clear in the Bible than the teaching of God about the ordained tithe. The Bible shows who were to pay the tithe, who were to receive the tithe, the types of products that were to be tithed, who was not to tithe, how the tithe was to be used, along with regulations that gave limitations and restrictions on its use, yet these laws of God are being violated wholesale by preachers, priests, evangelists and theologians who want a ready money supply for their religious or church work. In doing so, they are deliberately committing outright "sin."

www.askelm.com...

a reply to: chr0naut


Irrelevant, you said you didn't know of any rich pastors, I gave you one that is stupid rich.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: chr0naut

Irrelevant, you said you didn't know of any rich pastors, I gave you one that is stupid rich.

Yeah, I have heard of Osteen, but I don't actually know him (me being on the other side of the planet and not really in to televangelists).

... and the icon was to signify that I was being somewhat sarcastic to someone who derides all pastors (who are, in my experience, almost universally poor) on the basis of the richest ones.

In regard to being required to declare income to a church. I'd just up and go to another church that wasn't so acquisitive. Churches should be about God, not conspicuous consumerism, like who has the latest Apple 'i-jewlery' and the largest flat screen.

I believe it is the Lutherans that have their own built in community including assistance and insurance. So , yes they may need that W2 . Not for nefarious purposes at all.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: chr0naut


Who cares? He demonstrates there are absurdly wealthy pastors getting fat on the poor dupes attending their church.

I got fat off of Cheese Whiz.


####ing stupid diet

a reply to: Bluntone22

This is nothing new. Some Catholic churches have been doing this for a very long time.

Just remember.... where two or more are gathered in my name, I AM there also

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

You mean the building fund?

originally posted by: chr0naut
... and the

icon was to signify that I was being somewhat sarcastic to someone who derides all pastors (who are, in my experience, almost universally poor) on the basis of the richest ones.

I don't deride all pastors, only the ones that are jerk offs.