What does everybody think about church membership covenants? What does everybody think about church membership covenants in which you have to pledge to tithe 10% of your income and "to obey and submit to church leaders" among other things?
This is my firm belief...
Church leaders are gifts to the church according to bibical scriptures. They are sent to edify, unify, and perfect the saints. Now if they are sincerely sent by God, then they deserve reverance as such. What I find most hypocritical is the man will obey their boss because they get paid to do a job, but will not obey church leaders who cares for their souls.
As far as their tithes, they are not obeying church leaders, they are obeying God which issues the covenants of blessings for doing such.
IF churches were even close to being like the original churches of the disciples, with leaders who really were God-fearing, humble men, then I can see submitting to their teachings and requests/rules.
But until and unless that happens, I believe a Christian should give to the church only as he is able and as he sees fit. The desire for money has gotten worse as time went on, from the leadership of many churches....
church leaders are not rulers, they are guides, you do not obey them, you ask for advice,
Submit to humans and we have slavery.
Submit to gods and we have wars.
Submit only to yourself and we shall see world peace.
we are praying for you, maybe some day you will recieve a little sense
How arrogant and assumptive is this?
That's the business of godbothering!
I after E .... except before C ........... a little poem to help you spell "receive"
sorry.. i only submit to God..
(and to my wife... who gets WAY more than 10% of my income)
My church membership record is held in the Lambs book of Life, that's the only membership role I need be listed on.
If your church is a social club in reality, then you should pay membership fees to keep it open, but God does NOT require us to pay subscriptions, and anybody who believes that 'tithing' religiously will bring prosperity has followed the wrong gods and the wrong leaders.
In the New Testament tithing is not required or proscribed, the last mention is in Malachi 3, it is not reiterated in the NT.
Abraham paid a tithe first, to Melchesidech, a 'form' of Christ in the OT, but he ONLY paid it once (by the record) and he ONLY paid it on the 'spoils' he had taken in battle.
Tithes have always been payable on the 'increase' i.e. if you started the year with 1000 sheep, and ended the year with 1200, you 'tithed' 20 sheep (and the best ones) to the Levites for temple sacrifice.
We no longer have a Levite priesthood, nor a temple to send our sheep to.
Besides which, God requires a LIVING sacrifice from us, our obedience to His word.
Having said that, God does require that we see the truth that ALL of what He provides is from Him, to use in His service, and not ours to use as we like.
God has no problem with our living well, as long as we honour Him with our lives, and listen to Him when He tells us to assist in His kingdom plans, in other words, we must use (or be prepared to use) ALL of His resources for others, IF He calls us to do so, which He does do on occasion to see whether we or He owns the cash we are custodians of on His behalf.
Speaking from experience I can tell you that God gives and God takes away, that you cannot out give God, that God can bless you pressed down and overflowing, or reduce you to eating grass like the animals of the field, for a season, and HOW you get treated is dependent upon HOW you handle what God gives you to manage on His behalf.
I also know that what we achieve here on earth has no bearing on what our worth may be in eternity, you cannot buy eternal life, nor earn it, nor donate enough to secure it.
Thanks Brenda, should have made it a hub!.... maybe I will
John
That would be great!
This subject stalls lots of Christians, time after time. I've seen it happen in churches myself, and heard friends tell me how they stopped going to a specific church because the leadership wanted personal knowledge of the members' paychecks, etc.!
I actually have tons of info concerning this point, so when I have time, I'll get at it, meanwhile here's a useful site to read about it:
http://www.apostasynow.com/tgd/tithing.html
Check out the whole site!
I will check this site out when I get a chance.
John - the link doesn't work. I tried it earlier - thought maybe it was me. So I just tried it again and it didn't work.
The church I left preached money, had an assistant Pastor stand up at a certin time and do that at every service. They would stand in the back and watch who put money in the plate. They would note it.
aquasilver, You have wriiten another true outstanding explanation.
There are leaders who say if we don't give our tithes, we are robbing God. I read in Malachi Ch. 3 about giving God 10% of the tithes, but this is the old testament. That does not apply to us today. We are now living in the new testament. Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law Galatians 3:13. The Old testament law were fulfilled on our behalf by Jesus when he died for us on the cross. We are required to be obedient to God as a living sacrifice to him to gain prosperity.Have anyone ever read the book Tithing And Still Broke? It's a really good book!
by Binoy 11 years ago
What is the Motivation behind tithing?"Most people who tithe, and many people who preach tithing, are motivated not by generosity but by greed" Do you agree with this statement?
by Chaplain Bernell Wesley 10 years ago
When was the first church membership recorded and where?Is church membership even Biblical?
by Disappearinghead 9 years ago
If a doctrine or belief that is taught by the Church today was unknown to the 1st century Apostolic Church, is it a valid doctrine? Is it inspired by God, or is it a false manmade doctrine?
by ngureco 12 years ago
Should Tithe and Offerings Be Based On 10% of Net Earnings or Gross Earnings?
by mdawson17 15 years ago
So often in order to feel comfortable in church (without being harassed) many members feel they are obligated to give money to the church! Many times clergy preach a forceful sermon concerning tithing when the bills are due at the church or the clergy want to do something with the church money!The...
by Baileybear 13 years ago
All types of churches, not just catholic. There are heaps of ministers/pastors/evangelists/elders etc that have had scandals such as:sexual abusehomosexuality (despite stance against)affairsvisiting prostitutesSometimes the leader is stood down; often everything is swept under the carpet.Do...
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