God, Grace and Tithing

However they seem to be willing to compromise their standards when it comes to "tithing". No "good works" are required, and they can site Bible passages to prove it, until it comes to money. When tithing is the subject they will then come up with Bible passages that prove that you must tithe. I think this is because someone has to pay the salary of the preacher. If the preacher can not convince his congregation to tithe he is going to have to get what the rest of us would call a "real job". Ahem, shouldn't "tithing" be included in the list of things that would be described as "good works"?

I would not be so condemnatory of "tithing" except that I heard it described in such terms that I must absolutely SHOUT out against. I heard one preacher state that when he was asked if an impoverished widow should tithe off her Social Security stipend the answer was yes. His reasoning was that God pours out his blessings to those who tithe. The poor widow should not be denied these blessings by not tithing.

Meanwhile, the preacher who's salary is paid by the tithing puts steak on his table while the poor widow buys a smaller can of cat food for dinner, or chooses to forgo medicine she needs so that she can afford to tithe. Why? Because the preacher says that is her ticket to heaven.

Since these preachers love quoting from the Bible, I am going to quote a little bit of it at them. Exodus 16:18 "And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed."

This pretty much conforms to my impression of what some of those evangelical interpretations of Christianity are all about. Contrary to the classical Christian doctrine establishing the primacy of God and one's duty to Him these preachers tend to view themselves as leaders to whom their constituency owes their primary loyalty.

It is worth remembering that fundamentalism with all of its trappings of aggression and intolerance is alive and well in America and lest the secular controls in place go by the wayside the "American Taliban" could prove to be a match to their Afghan counterparts.

tags: bible  religion  christianity  indoctrination  fundamentalism