No More Churches! The 10% Solution!

What makes happiness, giving ourselves completely to the task.

 

One of the things I most dislike about churches is they expect you to pay for them. I am happy to help out with money if I can, but not when people try and force me to.

Hell, I get angry when service had been included in the bill at a restaurant.

 

I take all of the money made in one pay period and throw it up in the air.What God wants,he grabs and what hits the floor belongs to me.

 

This anyone guesses things like paying for electricity, heat, water & sewer, maintenance & repair of the building, printing, office supplies, flowers, incense, candles, choir robes, sheet music, insurance...&c. All this overhead applies not just to Christian churches, but also to Synagogues, Buddhist temples, Mosques, and interfaith sanctuaries.

Yes, we all should donate more time & money to charity.

 

So you don't believe in income tax then either? We should decide on the use of our hard-earned dollars? You'll hear no argument from me. I don't think any normal person pays 10% of their income to the Church though. The government, yes.

 

I have known plenty of people who gave 10%. Normal? That's a matter of opinion. What is normal?

 

I wouldn't give serious money to any charity that doesn't disclose its annual budget, certified by an auditor. There is no reason for them to keep any financial secrets unless they are doing something wrong.

 

One of the biggest problems I have with any organized religion is the 10% tithing. Alot of people simply can not afford to do this, senior citizens who are just scraping by feel obligated to give 10% of whatever meager income to their church then sit home eating cat food because thats all they can afford. Meanwhile you see these priests are driving around in new Caddys or Lincolns and enjoying a high quality of life on the flocks dime. It just pisses me off, I have a hard time beliveing that being a priest is such a hard occupation that its a full time job. They should all get off their asses and get a regular job and quit relying on their parish to support them but I'm not religious and carefully pick the charities I give to.

 

I worked on a paint crew with a Baptist preacher for a while. He had to take a second job to make ends meet. One morning he came into work looking pretty rough. Now, the boss knew he hadn't been out all doing anything stupid like getting drunk, as the rest of us had that pretty well tied down. Boss wanted to know what his excuse was. Seems like he got a phone call from a woman in his congregation in the middle of the night that she and her husband were fighting and she wanted him to come over & pray with them. He talked to her & the husband for a minute, then went to their house. As he was pulling into the driveway, he heard the shotgun go off. Easy job, you say? Maybe you need to do some digging to find out what a pastor does besides preach a sermon once a week.

This is freakin' weird. I'm the last one I'd expect to defend organized religion. Is Mercury in retrograde or something? It pissed me off, though, whenever I see an entire class of people (Like hippies!) attacked for the actions of their 1%ers.

 

Wow, there is a lot of wisdom in this thread already.

I am very glad my church has no tithing requirement. I don't think I'd even be able to meet a 1% requirement. Nevermind the fact that even 10% of my income wouldn't go very far toward even the heating bill at my church. I try to contribute in other ways. (Both to the church and to things outside the church.)

 

To give for a cause is simply to limit giving.

 

I really like the way you think man...

 

Oh shit. You mean you're supposed to PUT money in that plate? I considered it beer money for years.

 

Your postulate about financial restitution beginning to free peoples minds from slavery is not very attractive. Suffering is the problem, how do you put out what is basically a sacrificial metabolic fire.

The material profile of the church reflects the materially inclined profile of it's administrators and it's supporters.

To answer your question, it would not change a thing. We already care more or less for things. We already tax for the common good. If you share a meal, you feed a person. If you give someone money, they buy whatever with it. How do we determine need? Storms are caused by uneven heating.

On the one hand we have a life of property that is dear to us, on the other we see those without property and we think this is their need. We give them a portion to tide them along but where does the next portion come from. In addition perhaps a leg up becomes self sustaining, yet still there is another in need. Need is a full time occupation, the poor we have with us always. What is required in this situation of perpetual and unabated need is unabated mercy, not 10% of what you earn. The solution is simple, the question are we willing to care that much to have it or do we care more or less.

 

Now thats something I will say amen to!

 

well of course its good to build places where people can get together. but that's not where spiritual experience happens. that's something that happens when we're alone, or in our dreams.

the religious mainstream of the future will have no priesthood. what percentage of people will see even that as the source of spirit experience i cannot begin to guess.

as for helping each other out, well that's really the only reason to HAVE 'human society' AT ALL.

as for there being a god or god-like somethings in it somewhere, sure. its just that words and books and organization, and especially priesthoods and the names of religions, none of that really has very much to do with either god/gods or the growth and life of the spirit.

the real god/gods hasn't appeared to me to be in the habit of micromanaging, nor of being obliged to resemble what people try to force each other to pretend to know about it. not that i'm claiming to be anyone to know, only that this is what as an ordinary person, like any other ordinary person ought to be able to, observe.