Tithes and Offering

"Verily I say, give your money unto the stock broker and he will multiply it ten fold." 

Bullshit!  How many have fallen into this brokerage trap?  Tithing and Offering is like giving your hard earned cash to a stock broker.  If he were any good at choosing stocks to invest in he'd be on a beach drinking foo-foo drinks with little umbrellas, not losing your money too.  As it is with stock brokers, I believe it is with most churches. 

Who ever said you have to give to the church?  Now listen to the question.  To the church?  Give unto God, yes.  This is another aspect of writing and re-writing the Bible where the hidden agenda is control of the population, free thought, and separating you from your hard earned cash so the church can live in the lap of luxury.  Vatican City...hmmmm.

Check it out yourself.  I read through the 168 Bible verses on www.openbible.info in their post, 168 Bible Verses about Tithes And Offering.  Interpreting these to say God wants you to fill the coffers of the church to prove your love is a stretch.  It says to give, yes.  Give to the poor, the needy, the hungry.  Help your neighbor.  Can you do that by giving to the church?  Yes, if you are lazy.  The problem with lazy is that God will know you are.  Shouldn't love of God and your fellow man be an active endeavor by the faithful, not by their proxy?  And how much of what you give gets to the target and not to "administrative expenses?"

    

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Matthew 6:1-4    

Consider what most of the TV charities involving feeding children in the world tout.  Your thirty cents a day can provide three meals to c child in need.  Really?  So all of the religious tithing for time before time has not ended hunger?  Think about that.  Someone is feeding the faithful a load of horse manure, and the faithful are proving they are gullible enough believe it.

I'm not say don't give.  I am saying give intelligently so you feel that the money is spent appropriately, otherwise, if you want to throw your money away, you might as well give that dollar to the guy with the sign on the corner so he can buy his next bottle, or pack of smokes.

The church would tell you that without funds the place of worship could not be built.  I offer that, to praise God, you don't need it anyway.  Where two or more of you gather...the money could be put to better use.

Next Sunday at worship try passing the offering basket to the next sucker.  Go to the market and purchase $10 in groceries and dropping it at the food bank.  Find a deal on blankets and pass them out to the homeless on sleeping in doorways or on benches.  Adopt a poor family and make sure that child has book and school supplies to better their lot for the future.  YOU invest your money in humanity!  I guarantee it will make you feel something special that you won't get from dropping cash in that wicker basket.

OK, now that I have damned myself, once again, in the eye of organized religion...

God bless us, one and all!