MrsRobinson Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Hi all, did anyone tithe regularly and see any benefit because I didnt. In fact last August I made $5000 and I gave my $500 to the church and so I tested God, I didnt have enough for rent and bills so we lost our house and moved in with my parents in September. I think the whole tithing thing is crap and now I see the people who would throw nickels in the plate had the right idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super FZL Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Churches need money to run. They get money by telling them their big, scary father is going to beat you senseless if you don't give them 10% of your income. So yes, I agree it is crap. That kind of thing in real life would be considered extortion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agnosticator Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 I want my money back with interest!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agnosticator Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Hi all, did anyone tithe regularly and see any benefit because I didnt. In fact last August I made $5000 and I gave my $500 to the church and so I tested God, I didnt have enough for rent and bills so we lost our house and moved in with my parents in September. I think the whole tithing thing is crap and now I see the people who would throw nickels in the plate had the right idea. Sorry you had to learn a hard lesson. I lost a fair amount of money myself, but you lost much more. The biblegod failed the test. I say, tax the churches and let uncle Sam waste the money instead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowJacket Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 I never did it even when I was a firm believer. Something in my gut instinct prevented me from handing over anything more than the occasional buck or 2. As a believer, I would think, "maybe, someday, when I'm rich". Of course, rich is relative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 Don't get me started!!! I literally gave tens of thousands of dollars, especially over the last ten years since I have been self-employed; I was convinced that god would bless my business. In fact, my business grew by what seemed to be proportionately to what I gave. Until the recession came. OOPS, seems as though it was the strong economy and my work ethic after all!! This is the first year I have not been tithing and it is so obvious now that any correlation between tithing and receiving(or losing) is 100% coincidence!! But when you are immersed in the BS, you are afraid to quit for fear of the consequences! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VacuumFlux Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 I never tithed much because I found it creepy, because my parents are pushy, and because I'd lost most of my faith before I made much money. My first job I thought about tithing, but my parents left me alone about it because they didn't consider it a "real" job. I enjoyed my job and had flexible hours; "real" jobs make people miserable. I found that attitude insulting, but at least I didn't waste any money on the church. When I got a "real" job, one of the first things my dad said to me was "now remember you owe the church 10% of your GROSS income, not your NET" and I was so pissed off that he'd have the gall to tell me what to do with my own money that I didn't start tithing right away. I debating giving it to charities instead. When we switched churches, the new one had online tithing so I just tell them I'm doing it that way, because we're a "family" and we all have to sit next to each other in church and they watch what I do or don't put in the plate. If tithing was anonymous I might have done it, but there was no way I was going to give money in front of anyone. It's between me and god (if he existed), and they have no right to know. I'm not sure why I feel so strongly about the whole being anonymous thing, but I do. Even as a Christian, I was creeped out by the idea that the church kept records of who gave how much for tax purposes. No matter how much they try to keep your privacy, someone high up in the church hierarchy knows how much you give. And if you really are giving 10%, they also know your income. My finances are mine, and they are private. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chosendarkness Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 I want my money back with interest!!! Make some worthless product and label it 'Christian'. They'll buy anything no matter how cheesy it is if it's Christian. Steal from the rich and give to the poor! (l'm poor) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dB-Paradox Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 Make some worthless product and label it 'Christian'. They'll buy anything no matter how cheesy it is if it's Christian. Steal from the rich and give to the poor! (l'm poor) That's it! I'm marketing my unique brand of "Jesus' water from the well" which never runs out, and it's instant! It's basically just an empty water bottle which is labeled "INSTANT WATER" and the directions say, "Pray, and then just add water! Instantly, you'll have a bottle full of water!" 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirPhoenix Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Online tithing! I love it. There were only two churches that I attended that even came close to collecting money in a manner that didn't make me want to puke. Both of them had collection boxes that were fixed. If you wanted to donate, you just went up to when sometime during the service and did so. Both of them made mention of of the boxes every service, but it was more of an "oh, by the way" type of mention. One church went so far as to say that if you ever regretted donating, that all you had to do was say the word and they would refund your tithes to you. I think that one was the CC in Alb. NM. Not sure that anyone ever tried. Don't get me wrong, it's still all bullshit. The soft sell is amazingly effective BTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pratt Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 haha,,, in singapore, we have churches which made tithing bank transfer. There have encourage members to transfer money to their bank accounts by standing orders of the bank to show commitment, that is bank will automatically transfer a pre-fixed amount (hopefully more than 10%) from your account on every certain day of the month to the church account. (standing orders that can be revoked). Of course, there are still collections in the church for the members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted January 8, 2011 Moderator Share Posted January 8, 2011 I remember one Church that I went to - told me the reason I wasn't doing so well financially, is because they 'noticed' that I wasn't tithing. One Sun - I felt so guilty that I took my 'Sears payment' out of the already licked envelope and put it in the collection plate. I prayed to God to bless me '10 fold' (like they always promised) because at that time, I was really struggling financially. Results? I got a 'bad mark' with sears for not making that payment. no 10 fold --- nothing! You remember those letters that we used to get from 'the big guys'? They always told a nice story about Jesus and his love? Then asked for money and said that you would be blessed by god 10 fold? I mailed one back and told them that I was really broke, and that if they gave me a thousand dollars - they would receive 10 fold back for their company! Wouldn't you get excited at that? That would be 10,000.00 back from god. We would have both benefited from it! Never heard from them again....................................................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franciscan Monkey Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 When I was a Christian, I always tithed at least 10% of my gross income, which means I gave away $30,000 or more over the years. No, I did not reap any benefit from that. I have thought about asking the last church I went to, a large Calvary Chapel, if they could return the money to me. Respectfully, Franciscan Monkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsRobinson Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 Make some worthless product and label it 'Christian'. They'll buy anything no matter how cheesy it is if it's Christian. Steal from the rich and give to the poor! (l'm poor) That's it! I'm marketing my unique brand of "Jesus' water from the well" which never runs out, and it's instant! It's basically just an empty water bottle which is labeled "INSTANT WATER" and the directions say, "Pray, and then just add water! Instantly, you'll have a bottle full of water!" HAHA I was actually naive enough to order miracle water. At times Id call prayer lines and then get bombarded with letters from them asking for a seed. Right now theres a ministry emailing me that if I dont send them 167$ Ill never know the plans god has for me. On Monday Ill go to the post office and just mail them the 167$ because theyve been asking forever and I want them to leave me alone. In Monopoly money of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knetti Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 My dad always tithed but when it came to getting a second job and helping mom with bills he pretty much just took care of his own, just worked one job (real estate, if that counts right now), and is notorious for maxing out credit cards. Right before they divorced he got another job but only because my mom filled out apps for him and now his place is being foreclosed on. But he always gave to the church. I don't know for sure how much, but I think my mom confirmed it was 10%. Total crap. Family then church. It's not that hard. Some people need to get their priorities straight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddbird1963 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 I tithed when I was a believer. There were times when we were too broke to tithe - despite the often touted "spiritual" advice to tithe and expect god to cover your bills. Tithing is a strange subject. It is only really commanded in the old testament. Yet Jesus' death on the cross supposedly did away with the need to fulfill the law. Except when it comes to tithing, then the voices are almost unanimous that true believers should tithe - and give offerings above that. A few honest students of the bible have noted that issue - and been ignored or run out on a rail. The most you can conclude from the New Testament is that believers shared of their own free will or pooled their funds to send out with missionaries like Paul. But the tithe of the old testament went to support the institution prescribed in the old testament. In other words, when we were Christians, if we didn't feel "lead by the Spirit" to give, we were under no obligation to give. Yet christian preachers would preach it like it was law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pratt Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 i would prefer they exercise the jubilee year,,,,,, write off all debts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dagan Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Make some worthless product and label it 'Christian'. They'll buy anything no matter how cheesy it is if it's Christian. Steal from the rich and give to the poor! (l'm poor) That's it! I'm marketing my unique brand of "Jesus' water from the well" which never runs out, and it's instant! It's basically just an empty water bottle which is labeled "INSTANT WATER" and the directions say, "Pray, and then just add water! Instantly, you'll have a bottle full of water!" Sounds like religious homeopathy XD I was big into tithing... you might say "religiously" (insert Dr Evil pic) Got into this "Open Heaven" video series. And I actually thought I saw a correlation between tithing and us making ends meet at home. Turns out we were just managing our money better because we had less because we were tithing... imagine that. I stopped tithing as a Christian and since then I have noticed no difference whatsover. Except that we have more disposable income now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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