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Do you all pay tithing? If so, how does it work in your churches?
In my opinion, the bible was written by man, therefore it's fallible. This can further be proved by the fact that "comities of men" got together to determine what would go in, and go out of the bible.
There are also many different versions of the bible, so who is to say which one is most accurate, or even if it should be taken literally or in a more metaphoric sense? That would depend on personal beliefs. My views on god can't be shaken, just as much as yours can't be.
I don't attend a church, because none of them that I have found (protestant is the closest, but still not near enough to my own beliefs) match up with what I believe in. This isn't a crime. I believe in God, because God his/her/it's self is infallible. Anything that man has touched has the possibility to be corrupted. And God gave us free will, therefore, even if someone changed the bible and added their own parts to it, or changed it, God wouldn't change it back. It was done by a man's free will, and God doesn't tamper with that.(at least in my beliefs).
Since I don't attend a church(despite me not being able to afford 10% of what I am, at this moment, taking in) I wouldn't have a church to donate to anyways.
When I do have a steady income, and have money to spare, I do give to charities. Not necessarily 10% of what I make, some times 20% some times 4.
Who came up with "10%" anyways. I'll tell you, Man. 10m and numbers that end in 5 or 0 are more authoritative than other numbers. God could have orginally said "Give 11 percent", or "Give 9 percent" but Man would have made it 10, as it's a more satisfying, easier to believe in number. That can also be said of the 10 commandments. You could take all the commandments, keep the entire meaning, and have it condensed into 2 or 3 commandments(George Carlin did just that in one of his skits). So why are there 10 of them when you can get the EXACT same meaning with 2 or 3.
You could knock off murder,thievery, adultery, and covitting just by saying "Thou shall always act honestly and honorable" since in all of history thieving, murder,coviting, and adultery have been considered dishonest and dishonorable.
I'm not here to get in a religious debate though, all I was stating were my beliefs, and was then accused of "lowering the bible" to meet my "poor,weak personal views" and told I have a "closed mind" (Orion didn't name me by name, but I'm not so stupid as to not get at what he was insinuating). I definitely do not have a closed mind. My beliefs have changed over time BECAUSE I keep an open mind of things.
And who the HELL are you to say that just because I don't believe exactly what you do, that I am wrong and sinful. This is exactly what my beliefs are against. NO RELIGION IS COMPLETELY RIGHT OR COMPLETELY WRONG! All that is important is to have faith and love in god and to have a good heart. We all make mistakes, and that is why god forgives if you ask it and mean it. (which means you have a good heart)
One reason I don't believe in organized religion, and therefore don't believe in giving money to a church, is because of the level of corruption that can be found in ANY religion. To say there is no corruption would be ignorant, the classic example being the fall of some priests by molesting children, and THE CHURCH that covered it up. That is corruption in what is supposed to be the house of God.
Is it not said "turn over a rock, and I am there" in one of the scriptures? So why do I have to attend a church to pray and be close to god? I don't, because he/she/it is everywhere.
You have no right, whatsoever to force your beliefs or Religion on someone else. Nor do you have the right to determine which religion is "the real" religion and cast out all other people who have different beliefs, that's a very unchristian thing to do.
You have the right, as does everyone else, to determine what you believe in, and follow it with as much will as you want. Not to say "My religion is right, and if you don't do this you're going to hell, so do what my religion says or else"
I'm going to pray for your mind, I believe you mean well, but your mind is clouded,jaded,biased, and ignorant.
In the begining God gave man one commandment...
He provided him with everything necessary to bring him pleasure and contentment, and only asked one thing of him.
God had a reason for doing what he did.
We may or may not understand the reasons behind his actions.
He may or may not choose to reveal the "why" behind his decisions.
Does he have to answer to man???
Or does man have to answer to him???
Is he God...
Is man under his control?
Or is God under mans control?
He helped man to understand his will and his ways, thru the bible.
Millions have followed it, and millions still do.
Multitudes of rules have been given down thru the ages, but, now God has brought us full circle... back to the basics of two.
Love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law, in order that we could follow God thru the leading of his spirit. We have the spirit within, and the Word without.
What is so difficult about that???
A willingness to learn and to obey must characterize all of those who expect to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. To such, the beautiful promise of the beatitude will be fulfilled. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6.
God's Word has a lot to say to those who are willing to be corrected. The people to be most pitied are those who have closed minds. They will resist any information which varies from their personal views. Their minds are made up, and they don't want to be bothered by the facts.
Many people are guilty of pulling the Bible down to match their poor, weak, experience, instead of bringing their experience up to meet the requirements of the Word. There is only one great acid test of truth and that is the Bible.
God tells us to tithe one tenth...if He asks us to do so who are we to say no. Even the poor widow gave all she had and did so with joy in her heart. God will accept gifts from a joyful heart anytime and bless you.
The debate of tithing rages on. We are told in the bible that tithing can be of "your increase". That means in food or money, at least back then. The reason that a tenth was given was because the preists of the Temple didn't have jobs and they needed to eat and care for the needs of the poor and take care of the Temple. In today's terms tithing for a Christian is 10% of their income. It helps to pay for the day to day running of the church building. Don't be mislead though people, God knows you're personal situation and realizes that if it's a case of, " Do I eat today?" that He won't punish you for not giving. Many times I've been there and I haven't been able to tithe and so I do it in other ways. By playing in the worship team, and being on the church board are ways I can use my talents and giftings. There are those that can and often do give more than 10%. We should however try our best to tithe our 10% as money other than hell is one of the most taught principles in Scripture.
If I gave 10% of what I currently make to charity, it would in effect be giving the money back to myself. I'm currently on unemployment(just got out of the army) and right now 10% of what I bring in a month would leave me with unpaid bills and 2 or 3 days of food. Money is literally that tight for me right now.
I did give to charity while I was in the army and had a constant job. As far as tithing for religion is concerned, I can't believe that god would bless someone who gives more money than someone who just can't afford to do so. That's not my god. My god loves all equally, despite people being greedy.
My actual beliefs are that as long as you mean well, and live a decent life, not doing wrong things just for the sake of doing wrong things, that god will love you and accept you for you.
Most Christians pay 10 percent of their income, or whatever thay can afford. It is generally not mandatory, depending upon your church. Mine has never required it from me or guilted it our of me, and my pastor makes a point of telling new people to just let the plate pass for a bit.
Generally the ten percent tythe goes to fund things like electricity, oil, water, possible rental space, many churches are able to fully support their pastor and sometimes their youth pastor. There are also programs that are funded, like events for the youth, and outreach programs, food cupboards etc.
If you would like to more, just funmail me.
hbvb why would I give a tithe to a church that I don't believe in though? That doesn't make much sense. If I was going to do that, I'd give money to those Scientology nuts,lol.
I guess, while thinking about it, since I don't believe that giving "money" to a church(since I don't attend any church) is necessary, the answer is probably that there is no equivalent.
I myself don't believe in organized religion (yes I believe in god, I just have my own beliefs that are different from any church I have attended), so I'm not sure on the whole tithing thing.
The bible says something about giving money to the church, but if you don't attend the church, what would the alternative be?
yes I pay thiting even though im only 14. in my church two plates come around: one for just offering( most people just put and a $1 or so) and the second one is for thithes. so if you made $1500 one week than you pay $150! it may sound like a lot but it is tottaly worth it to me
Even the widow gave all she had for tithe. She is our example as how to tithe. God will bless the cheerful giver so, even if you are below poverty you should still give 10% or more. God is very faithful to bless those who go out on faith and give to the Lord.
tizubythefizo,
I don't know what you belief and I hate to assume but, if your beliefs are humanitarian in nature, why not donate that money to a charity or other worthy cause of your choice? That is, if you feel the need to "tithe" at all.
You give what you feel you can afford and what you feel in your heart you should give. So it is kept person between you and god we hve JOY boxes at the front of our church adn you can slip it in whenever you have the time.
oh the answer to your question tizubythefizo is that if you dont go to church than you shud prob just drop the money off after hours!
What is that?
