A Tenth Goes a Long Way
I'm missing a good rerun of CSI just to blog for you people. Hope you appreciate my efforts.
Last night on Runway we got to find out who would go to Fashion Week- and I was right. Daniel edged out Nick and Kara got sent home, finally. So it'll be Santino, Daniel and Chloe. Woo-hoo! I guess I'm rooting for Chloe. Daniel's cool but sort of boring. Plus, I'm ready for a woman to win.
I was thinking about tithing on the way home for some reason- probably because the way they pay us at the new job sucks. They pay three days after each 15th and 30th/31st. So I won't see a paycheck till next week! So I was thinking about tithing because some people see that as a waste of money or as a church ripping people off. Well, I know back in the days of the Old Testament, they tithed in goods. And the priests got to live off that, off some of the offerings. In the same way, clergy today make their salary from the tithes, which there is no guarantee will come in. But the collective money goes toward the big picture. Some of the money is used to rent or pay a mortgage on property used to hold worship services. Sometimes this includes not just the church building (or wherever- sometimes churches meet at schools or other auditoriums) but also for special occasion services like the Shrine Auditorium or hotel conference rooms. There is also a treasury reserve for special needs. Sometimes members of the congregation need help from the church because they've hit a rough spot. The clergy gives a tithe also and this goes toward that sort of thing as well. There are also needs like printing- invitations to worship services and special events as well as newsletters and prayer lists. The even bigger picture involves giving money to other churches who need help. This would include third world churches. For example, we sent money from our church to our brothers and sisters in Guatemala who we found out (some specific people, I mean) didn't have a roof over their house. Other moneys go toward special missions teams who go out to preach the word of God. One such team went out to Russia about fifteen years ago and the church there grew very quickly. There are a lot of atheists there but also a lot of spiritually hungry people. One such brother prayed especially hard to have his mom become a Christian and he soon ended up with cancer. This lead to him being bedridden and having members of the church come to pray with him and tend to him. One night his mom stayed at his bedside reading letters from the members and when he woke up she had tears streaming down her face and announced, "I believe in God now." He lived long enough to baptize his own mother.
Some of the money we give goes to programs that are actually non-religious in that even though they are brought to life by the help of church members, they cannot have any religious components. These charity programs are here in the US and around the world. They have built hospitals in places that needed them badly and have won the commendation of governments and also orphanages and special inner city programs for children/youth. Speaking of Russia, the orphans there had no idea that the volunteers they saw day in and day out were Christians because as I said, this cannot be mentioned. One day one ran into a brother on the street and he had already left the orphanage as he was an adult. It wasn't until then that he ended up studying the Bible to become a Christian. A lot of the Russian girls left their life of prostitution as a result.
There are programs to tenderly care for people with AIDS. So, no, not all Christians believe that people with AIDS got what they deserved and should be left to suffer the consequense of the immorality and such. Instead, Christians are helping people with AIDS live more comfortably and to have dignity.
Here at home some of the ministers I mentioned who do live off the tithes are available to us night and day for spiritual help. I have gone to their house and because I was expected, the doors were left unlocked. No one was home but I was trusted with all their things and was told to eat whatever I wanted. So, no, they were not "living the good life" using my money. Theirs was a life I saw as an example of Christian giving and love. Some of them hardly slept and did not slow down until disease forced them to. I will always be grateful.
I guess I must have been thinking about tithing because I was thinking how blessed I am to have and that I have a good place to invest my money rather than waste on frivolous things or on vice like drinking or smoking or gambling and such. I'm glad that I can be a part of something bigger and better than myself.
Last night on Runway we got to find out who would go to Fashion Week- and I was right. Daniel edged out Nick and Kara got sent home, finally. So it'll be Santino, Daniel and Chloe. Woo-hoo! I guess I'm rooting for Chloe. Daniel's cool but sort of boring. Plus, I'm ready for a woman to win.
I was thinking about tithing on the way home for some reason- probably because the way they pay us at the new job sucks. They pay three days after each 15th and 30th/31st. So I won't see a paycheck till next week! So I was thinking about tithing because some people see that as a waste of money or as a church ripping people off. Well, I know back in the days of the Old Testament, they tithed in goods. And the priests got to live off that, off some of the offerings. In the same way, clergy today make their salary from the tithes, which there is no guarantee will come in. But the collective money goes toward the big picture. Some of the money is used to rent or pay a mortgage on property used to hold worship services. Sometimes this includes not just the church building (or wherever- sometimes churches meet at schools or other auditoriums) but also for special occasion services like the Shrine Auditorium or hotel conference rooms. There is also a treasury reserve for special needs. Sometimes members of the congregation need help from the church because they've hit a rough spot. The clergy gives a tithe also and this goes toward that sort of thing as well. There are also needs like printing- invitations to worship services and special events as well as newsletters and prayer lists. The even bigger picture involves giving money to other churches who need help. This would include third world churches. For example, we sent money from our church to our brothers and sisters in Guatemala who we found out (some specific people, I mean) didn't have a roof over their house. Other moneys go toward special missions teams who go out to preach the word of God. One such team went out to Russia about fifteen years ago and the church there grew very quickly. There are a lot of atheists there but also a lot of spiritually hungry people. One such brother prayed especially hard to have his mom become a Christian and he soon ended up with cancer. This lead to him being bedridden and having members of the church come to pray with him and tend to him. One night his mom stayed at his bedside reading letters from the members and when he woke up she had tears streaming down her face and announced, "I believe in God now." He lived long enough to baptize his own mother.
Some of the money we give goes to programs that are actually non-religious in that even though they are brought to life by the help of church members, they cannot have any religious components. These charity programs are here in the US and around the world. They have built hospitals in places that needed them badly and have won the commendation of governments and also orphanages and special inner city programs for children/youth. Speaking of Russia, the orphans there had no idea that the volunteers they saw day in and day out were Christians because as I said, this cannot be mentioned. One day one ran into a brother on the street and he had already left the orphanage as he was an adult. It wasn't until then that he ended up studying the Bible to become a Christian. A lot of the Russian girls left their life of prostitution as a result.
There are programs to tenderly care for people with AIDS. So, no, not all Christians believe that people with AIDS got what they deserved and should be left to suffer the consequense of the immorality and such. Instead, Christians are helping people with AIDS live more comfortably and to have dignity.
Here at home some of the ministers I mentioned who do live off the tithes are available to us night and day for spiritual help. I have gone to their house and because I was expected, the doors were left unlocked. No one was home but I was trusted with all their things and was told to eat whatever I wanted. So, no, they were not "living the good life" using my money. Theirs was a life I saw as an example of Christian giving and love. Some of them hardly slept and did not slow down until disease forced them to. I will always be grateful.
I guess I must have been thinking about tithing because I was thinking how blessed I am to have and that I have a good place to invest my money rather than waste on frivolous things or on vice like drinking or smoking or gambling and such. I'm glad that I can be a part of something bigger and better than myself.
posted by Spleengrrl @ 5:28 PM
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