Author Topic: Tithe  (Read 2183 times)

Sriram

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Tithe
« on: June 15, 2015, 07:01:41 AM »
Hi everyone,

The guy who wrote this article calls church titheing as 'Sunday morning stick-up'.

http://us.cnn.com/2015/06/14/us/sunday-stickup/index.html

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David Lee had just opened his wallet for two successive offerings at a church one Sunday morning when a pastor walked onto the pulpit to pass on a request.

"You all going to think I'm crazy, but God says give again," the pastor said.

The congregation rose from their seats to march to the front as the church organist played a soothing melody. As they dropped off their offerings at the altar, the pastor urged them on with, "God says give everything; don't hold nothing back."

The organist then picked up the tempo, and the pastor shouted, "God says run!" The offering ended with people surging toward the altar like music fans rushing a concert stage.

"It was pandemonium. They weren't just giving money, but shoes, watches and diamond rings," Lee says. "There were people dropping alligator shoes on the altar."

Were these people cheerful or gullible givers? For Lee, a church elder who spent 30 years marketing and selling church products, they were victims of the "Sunday morning stickup" -- his term for manipulative tactics pastors and churches use to get your money.

People widely condemned an Atlanta megachurch pastor who asked his church to buy him a $65 million private jet. Yet there is no condemnation for countless church leaders across America who have turned the Sunday morning offering into a form of spiritual abuse, Lee and other church leader says

These rituals, they say, violate New Testament teachings about how and why people should give.

.....when the cash gets tight, some go into Sunday stickup mode by deploying three tactics.

No. 1: The myth of the mandatory tithe

No. 2: Elevating the biggest givers

No. 3: Distorting two popular scriptures


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Do you agree...or is he hyping it up the wrong way needlessly?

Sriram
« Last Edit: June 15, 2015, 07:11:00 AM by Sriram »

Leonard James

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Re: Tithe
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2015, 07:21:01 AM »
Scrounging from the rich is OK if the results are used to help the needy, otherwise it is highly immoral.

Scrounging from the poor is reprehensible.

floo

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Re: Tithe
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2015, 08:21:22 AM »
Hi everyone,

The guy who wrote this article calls church titheing as 'Sunday morning stick-up'.

http://us.cnn.com/2015/06/14/us/sunday-stickup/index.html

***********************************************************************

David Lee had just opened his wallet for two successive offerings at a church one Sunday morning when a pastor walked onto the pulpit to pass on a request.

"You all going to think I'm crazy, but God says give again," the pastor said.

The congregation rose from their seats to march to the front as the church organist played a soothing melody. As they dropped off their offerings at the altar, the pastor urged them on with, "God says give everything; don't hold nothing back."

The organist then picked up the tempo, and the pastor shouted, "God says run!" The offering ended with people surging toward the altar like music fans rushing a concert stage.

"It was pandemonium. They weren't just giving money, but shoes, watches and diamond rings," Lee says. "There were people dropping alligator shoes on the altar."

Were these people cheerful or gullible givers? For Lee, a church elder who spent 30 years marketing and selling church products, they were victims of the "Sunday morning stickup" -- his term for manipulative tactics pastors and churches use to get your money.

People widely condemned an Atlanta megachurch pastor who asked his church to buy him a $65 million private jet. Yet there is no condemnation for countless church leaders across America who have turned the Sunday morning offering into a form of spiritual abuse, Lee and other church leader says

These rituals, they say, violate New Testament teachings about how and why people should give.

.....when the cash gets tight, some go into Sunday stickup mode by deploying three tactics.

No. 1: The myth of the mandatory tithe

No. 2: Elevating the biggest givers

No. 3: Distorting two popular scriptures


*************************************************************************

Do you agree...or is he hyping it up the wrong way needlessly?

Sriram

Some people are so very gullible! :o I wonder how much the pastor put into his own pocket? ::)

Alien

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Re: Tithe
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2015, 09:35:46 AM »
Hi everyone,

The guy who wrote this article calls church titheing as 'Sunday morning stick-up'.

http://us.cnn.com/2015/06/14/us/sunday-stickup/index.html

...
Good post and good article.

FYI, at our church we don't pass a plate around and the main aggro comes from when visitors insist they want to give something, so we have a plate left at the back just in case. We do speak to our congregations about giving once in a while since a man's wallet actually is usually the last part of him to get converted. However, giving is a gift and a privilege.

Some of the other churches in our benefice do pass the plate round and I find that embarrassing.
Apparently 99.9975% atheist because I believe in one out of 4000 believed in (an atheist on Facebook). Yes, check the maths as well.

Rhiannon

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Re: Tithe
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2015, 05:06:10 PM »
i have never encountered the scenario in the OP here in the UK, but our benefice did run the 'Pastoral Link /Thanksgiving Sunday' scheme which wasn't always popular. Personally I dislike pushy envelopes left on pews with Gift Aid forms printed on the back. Never see the plate these days - even ultra trad churches here use a bag which is marginally more discreet. The Baptist chapel does a plate by the door as Alien describes and I think it important for visitors to have a way of giving if they feel so moved.