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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2017 15:43:25 GMT
"When Randy Fields' construction company faced potential ruin because of the cratering economy, he pleaded with his pastor at Word of Faith Fellowship church to reduce the amount of money he was required to tithe every week. To his shock, Fields said church founder Jane Whaley proposed a divine plan that would allow him to continue tithing at least 10 percent of his income to the secretive evangelical church while helping his company survive: He would file fraudulent unemployment claims on behalf of his employees. She called it, he said, "God's plan."" www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/25/church-stoked-tithing-with-unemployment-scam-ex-members-say.htmlAbsolutely disgusting, but I'm sure the church leaders really do see it as "God's plan", showing, once again, that almost any position can be justified based on "faith" - which is what makes it so unreliable in determining a path to truth. |
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Post by Zee on Sept 25, 2017 15:54:02 GMT
LOL
😆
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tracylynn
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by tracylynn on Sept 25, 2017 15:59:20 GMT
"When Randy Fields' construction company faced potential ruin because of the cratering economy, he pleaded with his pastor at Word of Faith Fellowship church to reduce the amount of money he was required to tithe every week.I'm not sure I understand why people let a church dictate how much they GIVE to a church. Why in the world would you beg? If you don't have 10%, then don't give 10%. I clearly don't understand religion as it exists today. |
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Post by bc2ca on Sept 25, 2017 16:29:37 GMT
"When Randy Fields' construction company faced potential ruin because of the cratering economy, he pleaded with his pastor at Word of Faith Fellowship church to reduce the amount of money he was required to tithe every week.I'm not sure I understand why people let a church dictate how much they GIVE to a church. Why in the world would you beg? If you don't have 10%, then don't give 10%. I clearly don't understand religion as it exists today. I'm not defending this church at all, but it is a small, cult church run with a fierce hand by one woman. Beatings and intimidation are standard techniques to keep parishoners in line. Story on treatment of a gay memberAbuse used to purify sinners in church |
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tracylynn
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Post by tracylynn on Sept 25, 2017 16:46:25 GMT
I'm not sure I understand why people let a church dictate how much they GIVE to a church. Why in the world would you beg? If you don't have 10%, then don't give 10%. I clearly don't understand religion as it exists today. I'm not defending this church at all, but it is a small, cult church run with a fierce hand by one woman. Beatings and intimidation are standard techniques to keep parishoners in line. Story on treatment of a gay memberAbuse used to purify sinners in churchI understand, I went and read a little about this church after I posted. But this isn't the only church that requires a specific %. I know with mormons if they don't give their 10% they aren't temple worthy. I have several LDS friends and it absolutely boggles my mind. One friend in particular struggles (for lack of a better word) with money, yet the church gets their money every month even if it could be used to help their home situation more. |
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Post by monklady123 on Sept 25, 2017 18:01:34 GMT
"When Randy Fields' construction company faced potential ruin because of the cratering economy, he pleaded with his pastor at Word of Faith Fellowship church to reduce the amount of money he was required to tithe every week.I'm not sure I understand why people let a church dictate how much they GIVE to a church. Why in the world would you beg? If you don't have 10%, then don't give 10%. I clearly don't understand religion as it exists today. It's in the Hebrew Bible that the Israelites were to tithe 10%. It's mentioned several times -- I'd have to go look up the specific verses. It's not mentioned in the New Testament at all. Well giving is, but not a 10% specifically. The New Testament says people are to give according to their means. Some churches -- usually the more fundamental ones -- have taken the Hebrew Bible requirements as gospel. Most mainline Protestant churches have a broader definition of stewardship -- "time, talents, and treasure". We have people at my church trying to live on disability benefits. One woman puts a few coins into the collection plate -- her "treasure". But she also sings in the choir (a "talent") and helps pack bagged lunches for the homeless shelter, weeds the garden where we grow food for the food bank, and does dishes after a community meal (her "time"). Even then no one is *required* to do these things, it's merely a suggested part of membership. If you can't do any of those things we don't kick you out. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2017 18:08:02 GMT
I know a couple of lds families who have lost their homes because they had to keep that tithing up. And our elderly neighbor lady would have visiting teachers come once a month, basically just to get her check. They stop coming when her sons took over her finances and refused to give them the check. I really feel bad about that because she had do few visitors.
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Post by refugeepea on Sept 25, 2017 18:14:01 GMT
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Post by littlemama on Sept 25, 2017 18:38:48 GMT
I clearly don't understand religion as it exists today. This "church" certainly isn't representative of all or even most religions, so the commission of illegal acts (which also happen to be violations of the 10 commandments) have nothing to do with religion as it exists today. It has to do with 2 people - the "pastor" of this "church" and the member of the church. Which then leads me to wonder why the actions of 2 people are thread-worthy. |
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casii
Drama Llama
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Post by casii on Sept 25, 2017 18:42:19 GMT
How very Christian of them. (that's sarcasm coming from a Christian whose pastor has zero clue what percentage I may or may not be putting in the offering plate because that wasn't what Jesus was about)
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tracylynn
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by tracylynn on Sept 25, 2017 18:44:47 GMT
I clearly don't understand religion as it exists today. This "church" certainly isn't representative of all or even most religions, so the commission of illegal acts (which also happen to be violations of the 10 commandments) have nothing to do with religion as it exists today. It has to do with 2 people - the "pastor" of this "church" and the member of the church. Which then leads me to wonder why the actions of 2 people are thread-worthy. Lots of things are thread worthy here in the pod. As for this 'church', I don't think it's just this scam. I think a lot of churches pressure their people to give as much as they can (re: the story I told about my LDS friends). This might be a "scam", but it does happen in other religions. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2017 19:00:16 GMT
Pointing out gullibility in an effort to get people to think critically and be less gullible is always "thread-worthy", imo. There are a lot of topics that I don't think are thread-worthy. I just scroll right on by. I don't tell other people what to post or not post. But that's just me
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Post by littlemama on Sept 25, 2017 20:17:57 GMT
I think a lot of churches pressure their people to give as much as they can Pretty sure they all encourage people to give as much as they can, but that is a far cry from a requirement, or stealing to do so. |
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tracylynn
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Post by tracylynn on Sept 25, 2017 21:27:37 GMT
I think a lot of churches pressure their people to give as much as they can Pretty sure they all encourage people to give as much as they can, but that is a far cry from a requirement, or stealing to do so. Unfortunately I think a lot of parishioners confuse the words CAN and SHOULD. And give beyond their means because they feel they HAVE to. This is a slightly personal topic. After my Grandmother died last year we found out she had been giving upwards of $50K a YEAR to her little church. It all of a sudden made sense why they were all over us during the funeral planning and such. She didn't go in debt doing it, but that's a lot of money for an 80 year old woman to be giving away like that, when things around her house weren't being done. Do I think they stole that money from her? Absolutely not, but I also think they didn't stop and think one minute about the fact that maybe they should have questioned it. Is that their job? Of course not, but if you really care about your parishioners maybe a little care should be taken to make sure all is in order before accepting large amounts of money from aging seniors. (And to clarify, she was in her right mind and didn't share her finances with my mother who was an only child - I'm only half joking when I say I honestly believe she might have been trying to buy our way into heaven - "our" being my mother, father, brother and myself). littlemama I'm not sure if I've offended you in some way, but if I have, I'm sorry. However, not every church/religion is on the up and up. The story from this particular thread was a scam, sure, but they aren't all scams. There is such a thing as believing you have to give a certain amount of money in order to get into heaven (or the temple, or whatever it happens to be per specific religion). And you probably really don't want to get me started on so-called mega churches. I personally think those are the ultimate scam. |
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
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Post by scrapaddie on Sept 25, 2017 21:36:57 GMT
Don't blame that on 'faith'. .... Blame it on greed. Faith does not require lying and stealing (2 commandments, no less). I tithe because I have gotten to the point where I can. No one in my church knows that I am tithing. Our pastor has no idea how much igive and our church is set up that way. A few people do know, but it us considered confidential information.
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Post by littlemama on Sept 25, 2017 23:27:20 GMT
Pretty sure they all encourage people to give as much as they can, but that is a far cry from a requirement, or stealing to do so. Unfortunately I think a lot of parishioners confuse the words CAN and SHOULD. And give beyond their means because they feel they HAVE to. This is a slightly personal topic. After my Grandmother died last year we found out she had been giving upwards of $50K a YEAR to her little church. It all of a sudden made sense why they were all over us during the funeral planning and such. She didn't go in debt doing it, but that's a lot of money for an 80 year old woman to be giving away like that, when things around her house weren't being done. Do I think they stole that money from her? Absolutely not, but I also think they didn't stop and think one minute about the fact that maybe they should have questioned it. Is that their job? Of course not, but if you really care about your parishioners maybe a little care should be taken to make sure all is in order before accepting large amounts of money from aging seniors. (And to clarify, she was in her right mind and didn't share her finances with my mother who was an only child - I'm only half joking when I say I honestly believe she might have been trying to buy our way into heaven - "our" being my mother, father, brother and myself). littlemama I'm not sure if I've offended you in some way, but if I have, I'm sorry. However, not every church/religion is on the up and up. The story from this particular thread was a scam, sure, but they aren't all scams. There is such a thing as believing you have to give a certain amount of money in order to get into heaven (or the temple, or whatever it happens to be per specific religion). And you probably really don't want to get me started on so-called mega churches. I personally think those are the ultimate scam. No, I'm actually not offended at all. I dislike it when people take one extreme example and use it to paint all other vaguely similar situations with the same brush. Dh and I actually stopped attending a church because they talked too much about giving in a very pushy way. And I bet I am right beside you on the subject of mega churches! However, I don't think this is a religion issue, but an issue with some specific people and some specific types of churches. Unfortunately, as with many situations, the few bad ones spoil people's impressions of all the rest. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2017 1:56:50 GMT
It is not a religion issue per se. It is an issue of too many (way TOO many) automatically giving certain institutions the benefit of the doubt ("oh', they're a church, they can't be bad") or casting aspersions on other institutions (they must be bad, they're not religious).
Things/situations should be examined critically, and chucked when found wanting. No passes and no fails based on lazy stereotypes.
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Post by littlemama on Sept 26, 2017 18:25:28 GMT
It is not a religion issue per se. It is an issue of too many (way TOO many) automatically giving certain institutions the benefit of the doubt ("oh', they're a church, they can't be bad") or casting aspersions on other institutions (they must be bad, they're not religious). Things/situations should be examined critically, and chucked when found wanting. No passes and no fails based on lazy stereotypes. But really, that must be human nature because people do it all the time with disabled people, people with cancer, people going through hard times. Many people automatically think people in bad situations must be good people, but that isn't always the case. There was an episode of The Big Bang Theory where Raj was dating a deaf girl and Penny makes a comment something like, "Oh, no, she wouldn't take advantage of him. She's deaf!" |
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