paravanes:meditations

Jesus Christ said this about his followers and the quality of their experience and of their love for him: 1. Why do you call me "Lord, Lord" and do not do what I say? (Luke 7:4) 2. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. ( Matthew 22:37-39) 3. He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God. (John 8:47) 4. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. (Mark 7:6-8) Do you believe you will be cursed, that bad things will happen to you, if you do not give ten percent of your income to a church organization? Is this belief consistent with the truth that Christians are kept by, for, and in Jes...

I started re-thinking this topic after spending years of Sundays listening to ministers quote Malachi 3:8,9,10: 8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." --- New International Version At the same time, I listened to those sitting with me in the pew (who were giving tithes, by the way) lament their ability to pay their home heating bills, purchase all of their prescription medications, or keep their property tax bills or water/sewer bills up to date. I am living in Michigan, a state with tragically high unemployment and home foreclosure rates. For the...