I don’t have much time to write about this one, but here’s a news article that talks about a Church who is kicking out an 80 year old, social security paid, single woman because she only paid her tithe twice this year.
I hate that churches can keep their non-profit status after pulling stunts like this. The Church acts just like the IRS.
Scientific research says that there’s one thing that you can do with your money that will buy you happiness, and its called giving it away. Here’s an article on msnbc, that talks about money buying happiness.
“New research reveals that when individuals dole out money for gifts for friends or charitable donations, they get a boost in happiness while those who spend on themselves get no such cheery lift.”
Instead of spending money on youself to find happiness, why not try spending it on others. We probably spend money on ourselves to attain some level of satisfaction, but that doesn’t seem to be a sure fire way to gain it. It’s amazing that we are wired this way. According to evolution it seems that charity and giving is counter-productive to the survival of the fittest, or the preservation of a species. You see my dog doesn’t know how to give. It doesn’t know love. Everything it does is selfish. Those of us who have dogs may think it loves us back by licking us and being excited when we walk in the door, but i’m sorry to disappoint you, but that’s not love. Dog’s do not fight with their conscience about their selfish attitudes.
This brings me to another point that i was thinking about while watching, “The Bee Movie” by Dreamworks. I don’t know if anybody saw this movie, but it made me think why do bees make all that honey? Do they need all that honey? I started to wonder if God just gave them that task for our enjoyment. I know it was a cartoon, but i was getting some profound thoughts about God and creation. Aren’t bees such a testimony against evolution? Everything that bees do tell you is that God made them to work so that we could be blessed off of their production. There’s no need for bees to make all that honey, but God created the bees so that we could enjoy all that honey.
I don’t think bees get enjoyment from giving away their honey, cause they seem pretty pissed off at the dudes wearing those netted outfits. But what if we worked and gave just like those bees do? Yeah, yeah, i know its a stretch analogy, but if you think about it, God made those bees for us. So what did God make us for? Didn’t he make us to serve others, just like the bees serve? Are we producing enough honey to give to others in need? We should be giving liberally and generously. We also need to fight laziness.
Does our giving taste sweet to God by giving with a Godly heart? When you put that honey in your mouth, the sweetness just makes your tastebuds tingle, and it just satisfies your cravings all around. So, does your giving satisfy God’s cravings for his children just like honey satisfies your own?
It’s obvious that God has called us to serve.
News article found here.
“BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (AP) ? Dwindling donations to the Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park have prompted its high-profile pastor, Mac Hammond, to put his private business jet on the market.”
Once the pastor pays off the outstanding bills, i’m sure he’ll take the extra and buy a rolls royce. Of course, it would be used for ministry. Duh!
I wonder how many churches own private jets in America? That would be good to research, but i do not have the time for that. I don’t even know where to begin to find out that info. I know a lot of TBN preachers have jets.
I’m sure these slimy little weasels have covered their tracks with their finances. I mean they have enough money to hide anything. Here is the article on US News. US News stated that these “religious” organizations complaint is two-fold, “that the IRS, not Congress, is the proper body to investigate tax matters related to religious groups, and that the focus on members of the Prosperity movement is discriminatory and threatens their First Amendment rights.”
What makes them think that their luxurious lifestyles doesn’t send up a red flag? They are just plain foolish in their logic. Who should congress be discriminatory of? Maybe they should investigate the poor old ladies that have devoted their life savings to these organizations. These poor old ladies don’t get investigated cause they don’t flaunt their stuff! Who should congress pick on if these money raking fools can’t take the heat? I guess congress should just pick ministries out of their black hat that they should investigate. Oh yeah, i guess that goes the same way with everything. We should just pull names out of a hat when we investigate the steroid problem in baseball. Of course Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, and Mark McGuire are gonna get investigated, for the simple fact that they turned into big huge monsters and their batting numbers showed it.
So deal with the discrimination, dollar, hinn, meyers, and copeland cause the rest of the world does!
It looks like Creflo Dollar is refusing to turn in some of his financial records to the Senate Finance Committee. You can read about the CNN article here. 5 of the 6 ministries have already turned over their documents or have asked Senator Grassley for more time. It looks like Dollar is willing to be subpoenaed from the committee if they don’t accept what he’s given them. I understand the concerns that these ministries have with the government meddling in the Church. But at the same time, what do you expect? I mean, if you consider your organization a charity with a non-profit status, but you are living in a multi-million dollar mansion and are driving around in a rolls royce, what do you think they’ll do?
I just recently posted a funny blog post about these televangelists. I made up the game from Monopoly and called it Televangoly and made up a board game and game pieces with pictures of these televangelists on it. It’s definitely worth a laugh.
I just read a news article written by Ken Walker on ChurchCentral.com. The title of the article is Rebellion Against Tithing: Lashing Out at Legalism? This article comes in response to the news article on Wall Street Journal - Backlash Against Tithing.
Here’s a quote from the article on Church Central:
“While there may be criticism of tithing, I have a feeling that it stems from a desire to throw the legalistic baby out with the generous bathwater.
In other words, those who teach tithing as an ironclad law reap the fruits of rebellion against something that wasn’t meant to be a barometer of our spirituality or salvation. Generous giving is a spiritual principle, not a Pharasitical law intent on binding people’s hearts.
After all, points out financial author and pastor Brian Kluth—whose materials are distributed in more than 100 nations—the idea of tithing to God’s work is accepted historically, across denominations, and around the world.”
My response is, “you bet were throwing the legalistic baby out with the bath water.” Their baby is tithing, and i’m sorry it is not adorable and not cute. Also, if my rebellion is in response to wrong, then that means i am doing what’s right. There is no rebellion my friend. If rebellion is part of proclaiming the truth then i’ll be the first claim myself guilty.
It’s so obvious how people are blinded by tithing. For instance Walker goes on to say that “generous giving is a spiritual principle not a Pharisaical law”. I say they are blinded by tithing because they can’t see that the backlash against tithing is not a backlash against generous giving. Generous giving is not about tithing. How much more plain can i say it? Just because i don’t believe in the tithing mandate does not mean that i am throwing out the generous giving baby out with the tithing bathwater. I just want to throw the tithing bath water out. I don’t want to throw the generous giving baby out.
Is tithing the bath water or is it the baby? This is another misconception in Walker’s analogy. He thinks that tithing is the baby! Is tithing the part that you are suppose to keep, while you throw out generosity with the bath water No! you are suppose to keep the baby, which analogously is the generosity, and throw out the water, which is tithing.
Why can’t people like Walker see the this picture clearly? It’s because they think my response to the tithing mandate is in rebellion against generosity. But his vision fails when he doesn’t see that my response to the tithing mandate is actually in response to what’s wrong. I am an advocate for sacrifice and generosity.
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