Re: Tough Love!

When a person is devout in spirit and poor in coin, tithing is just another means to shame people into following the herd. This expectation has nothing to do with a person's beliefs and everything to do with paying the bills to maintain "God's House." Very little of these funds go back into the community in the form of assistance to the needy, in most cases. Since I grow and preserve my own food and meat, I happily give what I have an abundance of to those in need, anonymously. My finances are beyond tight - they are virtually non-existant, and I literally cannot afford to TITHE.

God doesn't own a House. He/she/it doesn't live in one place and not the other. Never have I entered into any structure and been greeted by, "Hi, it's good to see you. I'm God." I have found a stronger spiritual presence in the middle of the woods better than I have in any building occupied by other people. God is everywhere and in everything. To uphold tithing as a reflection or demonstration of one's spiritual trust and fervor is ludicrous.

I know of a very wealthy family in Tidewater, VA that made their fortunes as slumlords - they tithed their percentage, each week, and donated extravagantly to the church, always in THEIR name. These people paid their Church dues and still maintained terrible slum properties for the very poor who had very few options. These same upstanding people made a concerted effort to oust the parish priest when he marched for Civil Rights in Selma, Alabama. This priest was later made a Bishop for his outstanding contributions to the community and ministering to the poorest of the poor.

Church is where one (or, more) people meet for solitude and communing with their God. There's no entrance fee required.