From Indulgences To Tithes
Thanks to Sir Harry Boy I have come across a very interesting article by a Catholic that recognises the error of selling Indulgences by the Catholic Church and clearly aligns it with the “selling of blessings” by Evangelicals through tithes .
“Surprisingly, some of the loudest Evangelical critics of the 500 year old indulgences scandal are approaching their congregations with very similar language to the corrupt priests of the 1500’s who Martin Luther criticized.
When speaking about their ministries, many Evangelical pastors will say something like: “Now dig deep into those pockets for this most worthwhile ministry, it will be a blessing to you and your family!”
It is wrong to sell spiritual things. It was wrong for corrupt priests to do it in the 1500’s and it is wrong for Evangelical preachers to do now. There is a thin line between legitimate and blasphemous teaching in the area of money. On one hand, it is perfectly legitimate to say God looks with favour on a generous heart. (Mark 12:42)
On the other hand there is a very human tendency of greed and manipulation, and sometimes motives are mixed and not entirely without merit. (i.e., building a beautiful medieval Catholic Church or Evangelicals wanting to build a huge “Dream Center” Church)”.
January 11th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
It is a damn messy article to read, mostly due to that 1994 I just learned HTML layout.
It is also a bit messy in some of the parallels because as far as I know, no one is being told that tithing is a freebie trip to glory (and for the wife and kids too).
Still, it is always good to consider Church history (there is , after all, nothing new under the Sun).
January 11th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
ADHD Libro
You don’t have to look too far to see the link between Obedient Tithing To The Church in exchange for Blessings…
1) Teaching Site: http://www.teachingpages.co.uk/minilesson/pointerstithe.html
2) Church Partnership Hand Book:
January 12th, 2007 at 9:11 am
with respect there is no comparison.
Indulges were sold as a quick way to Heaven for those directly and friends.
only God can give blessings.
I would imagine the church is reasonably transparent in this so it should be easy to know whether to give or not.
Is it attempting to build god’s kingdom or not?
January 12th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
With respect Homer, both practoces use dodgy theology and manipulation to sell God’s favour like a commodity.
January 13th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Yes but with one you have a bible in your language with which you can either see if the subject for the money is correct or not.
With indulgences the people had no way of knowing it was garbage. after-all all church services were in latin which no-one understood.
January 13th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Homer,
Many people that listen to Houston, Olsteen, EW kenyon, kenneth hagin, Joyce meyer, Mesiti, Pringle, TD Jakes, Paul de Jong speak on issues that include Tithing - and still don’t recognise that what they are being taught is subtle deception.
This is possibly what makes it even more subtle and deceptive - because they appear to be teaching whats in the Bible that they gave infront of them.
January 13th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Sorry “gave” = “have”…
A little too much champagne on a hot sunny Perth day!
January 13th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
It doesn’t matter how much they give if they have no sense ( if they give too much then they would have no cents!) they will not get anywhere near heaven because of the giving whilst people who paid for indulgences thought they were!
January 14th, 2007 at 2:50 am
Yes Homer obviously they are not exactly the same thing but more to the point here is that they are very similar or equivalent.