Tithes and Offerings ?

I suppose it depends on the church. When my parents died (within 6 weeks of each other), my brother's pastor performed one service, and my pastor performed the other at no charge, because we both tithed.

My pastor performs funerals for all church members, regardless of their giving.

I am Woman,

I do not know you (but you sound like a sincere, godly person), and I do not know your church and it's pastor. But this sounds like an absolute shame to me! NO! If you are a faithful member, and tither, then I believe you should not be required to pay to use the church building. Especially for a funeral.

The only exceptions I can even think of is if the building being used is being rented or leased (as this would be an extra time, but even then I would not ask for more money), or if the person was not a member (even in this case I still would not ask for money).

I do understand pastors asking to help offset the costs of building maintenance/janitorial services for weddings, and other special events. But I do not understand him requiring a rental fee (especially from his members).

I suggest you speak to him about it. Perhaps there is an exstenuationg circumstance that I cannot think of that would require him to do such a thing.

Hope this helps.

Elder Greg

http://www.forministry.com/USOKPENTEMMM1/

God be with you in your hour of grief. May He put peace and love in your heart and comfort you while you mourn the loss of someone precious to you. And may He hold you in His heart and watch over you throughout your life.

It would be nice - and fair - for the pastor to provide these services free in your time of greatest need. He must remember that this is a time when you have such a difficult time arranging things and trying to figure out what to do and he should try to ease that process by providing this one service for free. Of course the church and the pastor have their expenses, but when you need people around you to be most understanding, it feels like rejection to have the subject of money brought up from your own church. God Bless.

A letter for the truly righteous and the lies of Christianity,

How about just one simple lie of Christianity to support their own pay checks ! (Tithes !) The ministry will come up with every conceivable lie they can to keep the tithes rolling in while you believe what they say ! How ?!-> They will tell you it’s for the church, repairs, additions, outings, bussing and you can add the rest! ALL of it is a lie ! Jesus Christ took the place of all tithes everywhere ! But they are very careful never to bring that out into Christian reality.And it has happened ! But it’s not always the fault of the ministry as the people support them with their own ideas of what is right or wrong with tithes and fail to know they are false !

The games get played and a pat on the back is given to all the people That will support the ministry with tithes while them selves being played like a violin ! Because the context of what they should know gets messed with and true reality becomes the lie ! Satan knows how to twist the text ! Example ! ~ read how Jesus Christ laid own His life for you.. Being the final tithe for us once and for all ! The new covenant contains all of what we need to come to true reality , not the lies of men ! Titheing was in fact dissanulled in Heb7: and a change was made of that law laid down in Numbers 18:8 “Remember this” as most are talked out of it by the sharks ! Each time we read in chapter 7 this quote ”the law” seven times in the chapter, know this absolutely ! THE LAW IS AND WAS THE lAW OF TITHING ! Dissanulled and changed ! Christ removed the old Mosaic laws, rites as He did all Mosaic ordinances=laws ! Remember this also.. If you tithe in any way at all, either on your own, or convinced by others, you in fact refuse the body of Christ ! The deception there is you cannot be His ! Read this slow near the end of Heb 7:22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a “better testament”.(new covenant) 23: And they (Levites )truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: (they died off ) 24: But this man,(Jesus Christ !) because “he continueth ever”, hath an unchangeable priesthood.! 25: Wherefore he is able also to save them )His in the resurrection!) to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. 26: For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, “undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;” 27: Who needeth not daily, (Old sacrifices !) as those high priests, just as they did back there! ( levites ) to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: “for this he ( Jesus Christ ) “did once”, when he offered up himself. 28: For that old law maketh men (levites) high priests which have infirmity; (Died off! ) but the word of the oath, (Christ being the intersessor) which was since the old tithing law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore. He paid that final price for all of us ! The final tithe ! If we cannot understand that we fail in keeping His body! If you allow anyone to talk you into tithing, you fail Christ !

You are being made to pay twice for the same thing. Also, there is a problem regarding tithing, which I will cut and paste.

You need to start looking for another church.

The biblical tithe was an old covenant requirement. The old covenant was a “contract” between the two parties, God and Israel. Christians were never a party to that covenant, and that covenant ended upon the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, seeing as Jesus is identified as the God of the old covenant/testament.

A tithe was the tenth of the increase of produce and livestock. No one was ever commanded to tithe on their wages. Only land owners who had livestock and crops tithed.

Old covenant points of law were not to come forward into the new covenant. To do so was described as being a subversion of the Christian’s soul as brought out in Acts 15.

A Christian’s giving to a ministry or church was never to be compulsory. Only through free will offerings were ministers supported. Paul, in I Corinthians 9, makes his case that those who preach the gospel were to live of the gospel, did not use tithing as a means of justifying support. Rather, Paul used the example of not muzzling the ox that treads out the grain as justification.

Why then would a ministry teach compulsory tithing of wages?

Jesus warned his followers that there would come religious leaders who would declare rightly He was the Christ, then proceed to deceive people. These deceivers are also described as being deceived themselves, as well as being wolves in sheep’s clothing who do not spare the flock. Tithing serves this perfectly. Most people do not understand what a tithe really is, and most people do not understand the covenants and the difference between the old and the new. The deceivers take advantage of people’s ignorance regarding the law and a Christian’s relationship with God. The one that teaches tithing paints a picture of a God that demands they tithe. To neglect to tithe is seen as being disobedient to God; robbing God. To tithe is seen as being pleasing to God, and that God will bless those who do so. Tithing is therefore put forth as being a matter of faith when in actuality tithing has nothing to do with faith. You don’t see these ministers who propound tithing living by faith that God will support them.

So what happens when one tithes, but they are not blessed financially? What is concluded if they experience further financial difficulties? It is their fault. They are lacking in faith. It is a no win situation for the poor person who was convinced by the wolf that he or she should tithe in order to be blessed by God.

Wolves in sheep’s clothing look like sheep. They look and act like good Christians. But inwardly, they are ravening wolves, devouring sheep in order to feed their own bellies.

So ingrained is tithing now in the Christian psyche that there are few who are willing to truly step out in faith and abandon old covenant points of law that bring people back under the bondage of that law. A Christian lives by the law of faith, also known as the law of liberty. It is a law where one is freed from the obligations of the old covenant letter of the law.