Comments on: The Love of Money – Is Tithing Still Biblical? http://glowingnose.com/site/index.php/2009/11/20/the-love-of-money-is-tithing-still-biblical/ The inner workings of Christian film. This American Life meets the Bible. Discussion of Christian dating, Christian movies, Jesus, God. The official site for Between the Walls, Bringing up Bobby, and Pint Size Parables Tue, 12 Jul 2011 04:11:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Glowing Nose http://glowingnose.com/site/index.php/2009/11/20/the-love-of-money-is-tithing-still-biblical/comment-page-1/#comment-116 Glowing Nose Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:44:35 +0000 http://glowingnose.com/site/?p=704#comment-116 Thanks for the comments! Sorry for the delay in contacting you. It has been crazy busy juggling so many jobs! Its true that the government does take on a large part of the burden to help the homeless – which is another reason we pay taxes, and another good justification for not mandating tithing as a percentage. The cool thing (as you most certainly know) is that the church has a great open window by filling in the large gaps that the government cannot fill. I’d love to do a podcast on poverty and its relationship with the government, but I am by no means qualified to give proper evidence. And who needs to make more enemies? As for charging for church seats, that is one of just many silly mistakes performed by folks in the past. Christianity has long had an awkward relationship with money, especially in forcing people to pay. There are still churches that will require that their members submit tax forms and proof of income so that they can be sure that each family is giving their 10%. This is, of course, not particularly cool and really puts a damper on the whole spirit of giving. No only that but they would be hard pressed to find biblical justification for this. As for drawing people in and making them feel welcome… I feel like this is a discussion that is a symptom of an illness, not the illness itself. I honestly think that if our churches would preach serious Bible we would not need this discussion. Almost every church I have entered in the last 10 years have been really weak on preaching. Many of us believe that talking a psalm every week counts as preaching, or reading cute stories, etc. We like to believe that as long as something is “positive” or “family friendly” or if we “got something” out of a sermon then we have done church. I honestly believe that if we preached for real and educated our congregants they would know the seriousness of the matter and be out there reaching out. Yes we would lose some “seekers”, but they will undoubtedly find a coffee house church to take its place. And the numbers would eventually pick back up, or else, the quality of the congregants would be a solid off-set. I digress! Some day we may cover this stuff… Thanks for the comments! Sorry for the delay in contacting you. It has been crazy busy juggling so many jobs!

Its true that the government does take on a large part of the burden to help the homeless – which is another reason we pay taxes, and another good justification for not mandating tithing as a percentage. The cool thing (as you most certainly know) is that the church has a great open window by filling in the large gaps that the government cannot fill. I’d love to do a podcast on poverty and its relationship with the government, but I am by no means qualified to give proper evidence. And who needs to make more enemies?

As for charging for church seats, that is one of just many silly mistakes performed by folks in the past. Christianity has long had an awkward relationship with money, especially in forcing people to pay. There are still churches that will require that their members submit tax forms and proof of income so that they can be sure that each family is giving their 10%. This is, of course, not particularly cool and really puts a damper on the whole spirit of giving. No only that but they would be hard pressed to find biblical justification for this.

As for drawing people in and making them feel welcome… I feel like this is a discussion that is a symptom of an illness, not the illness itself. I honestly think that if our churches would preach serious Bible we would not need this discussion. Almost every church I have entered in the last 10 years have been really weak on preaching. Many of us believe that talking a psalm every week counts as preaching, or reading cute stories, etc. We like to believe that as long as something is “positive” or “family friendly” or if we “got something” out of a sermon then we have done church.

I honestly believe that if we preached for real and educated our congregants they would know the seriousness of the matter and be out there reaching out. Yes we would lose some “seekers”, but they will undoubtedly find a coffee house church to take its place. And the numbers would eventually pick back up, or else, the quality of the congregants would be a solid off-set.

I digress! Some day we may cover this stuff…

]]> By: Peggy Hoff http://glowingnose.com/site/index.php/2009/11/20/the-love-of-money-is-tithing-still-biblical/comment-page-1/#comment-115 Peggy Hoff Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:37:57 +0000 http://glowingnose.com/site/?p=704#comment-115 Hey, Guys! Still funny and smart as ever, I hear! You all made excellent points on a difficult subject for many. Two opinion/comments I would love you to comment on: #1 the government now does what the church SHOULD be doing - feeding the poor, etc. #2 the church throughout its history charged for the better seats in the house, relegating the poor and disenfranchised to the gallery or back area. The Free Methodist church, established near Buffalo, was the first to refuse to charge for seats (hence "free"). It was a radical new idea, necessitating a new denomination, one that has stayed rather plain over the years. Let's face it, though todays churches have barriers, too. We have "small church" cliques, lack of communication, or the need for technological competence, expensive conferences or activities that many cannot enjoy without feeling out of place. It is rare today for a church to be without an image concern. A know a couple of guys who dress down for Sunday am, and our folks tend to leave the visitor spaces for visitors, but what more could should be done? Hey, Guys! Still funny and smart as ever, I hear! You all made excellent points on a difficult subject for many. Two opinion/comments I would love you to comment on: #1 the government now does what the church SHOULD be doing – feeding the poor, etc. #2 the church throughout its history charged for the better seats in the house, relegating the poor and disenfranchised to the gallery or back area. The Free Methodist church, established near Buffalo, was the first to refuse to charge for seats (hence “free”). It was a radical new idea, necessitating a new denomination, one that has stayed rather plain over the years. Let’s face it, though todays churches have barriers, too. We have “small church” cliques, lack of communication, or the need for technological competence, expensive conferences or activities that many cannot enjoy without feeling out of place. It is rare today for a church to be without an image concern. A know a couple of guys who dress down for Sunday am, and our folks tend to leave the visitor spaces for visitors, but what more could should be done?

]]>