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.
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Tags: church, excommunication, news, tithe
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I would not do what has been done here. That said…
We are talking about MEMBERSHIP not ATTENDANCE.
Membership comes with privileges in most churches, i.e., voting rights. If this community has decided that tithing (or giving SOMETHING) is part of what it means to be a member, i.e., having a role in deciding how church funds are spent, selecting a pastor, etc., I don’t think that this letter is the big outrage it’s being made out to be.
The lady apparently can still attend, still partake of potlucks, still be in the quilting bee… she just doesn’t hold the full rights of MEMBERSHIP.
And if you are going to have an institutional church, as America has come to know “the church,” you are going to have a distinction between members and nonmembers.
Again, I do not care to be a member of a church that would do this, and I do not believe that Christians are held to the OT tithe. But I think there has been some media sensationalization of this story for their own purposes.
Ed,
Thanks for your comment. I would disagree. First, since when did God have minimum requirements in giving to be a part of his kingdom? Second, the poor can’t afford to tithe, so should we just kick them all out of our membership?
Sure, each church should be autonomous and independent but that isn’t a good enough cause for others to overlook how they govern part of the body of Christ.
When Jesus lays down the only requirement for membership in His family in Romans 10:9-”That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raided Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”-it is absolute self-righteous and self-deluded hypocrisy for any pastor to make membership in a local church family contingent upon “tithing”-which by the way ABSOLUTELY NO ONE ON EARTH TODAY CAN POSSIBLY DO IN TRUE, EXACT ACCORDANCE WITH GOD’S SPECIFICALLY WORDED LAW. God’s law was EXACT in term’s of: WHAT was to be tithed, WHEN the tithe was to be given, WHERE the tithe was to be taken, WHO the tithe was to be given to, and WHAT was to be done with the tithe! NO ONE can obey God’s tithing law because 1) there are NO LEVITES to give the tithe to, 2) NO LEVITICAL CITIES to take the tithe to, 3)NO TEMPLE STOREHOUSE in Jerusalem, and 4) NO SONS OF AARON to serve as priest to recieve from the Levites the tenth of the national tithe. Therefore, since God NEVER gave Man permission to re-word His Law to the SLIGHEST degree, ALL that is called “tithing” today is nothing more than MAN’S REDIFINING GOD’S SPECIFIC LAW AS HE (MAN) SEES FIT. And the whole “New Testament equivalents” line of reasoning is pure bunk! The modern-day preacher is NOT the “equivalent” of the Old Covenant Levite or priest (the Bible teaches the priesthood of ALL believers, not just preachers). The modern-day church building is NOT the “equivalent” of the storehouse in the Jerusalem temple. And MONEY is NOT the “equivalent” of the VERY SPECIFIC THINGS God demanded as tithes and offerings. I’m convinced that preachers who teach tithing are doing it SOLELY on the basis of SCRIPTURES TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT, and the TOTAL IGNORING OF CHURCH HISTORY!
I was in a church that required you to sign a statement that you would tithe your 10% before you could be a member. I didn’t stay very long. It was soon obvious that the pastor was into money and not saving souls. I don’t understand how a pastor can justify something like that. Have they not studied the bible? Aren’t they setting money up like a idol? One can worship anything, putting it before God. Sad.
hello! i have a question. i go to a very small baptist church, close by to where i live. i have been going there for a couple of years now. i dont dress up for church, and i dont get asked to be park of the churches get togethers, but the women that have kids/and kids pester not to have to dress up too. anyway, here is my question; all of the sudden lately, two people (that are on the churches pay roll), have just recently pretended to care about my salvation, (of which, i have been saved since a teen,)and are preasureing me to join the church as a member. do pastors/(or anyone on the churches pay roll) get paid more when there are more members?/ and how? my pastor has a large family to support/ and this other that asked me just got married. i have been baptised 4 times in my life/ and dont feel its something i need to do right now again,+ i the woman here dont care for me here cause of not dressing up for church, and i dont really believe all baptist. please help me to know if they would get paid more or not. thank you!