Tithing

[AndrewWilliams]

Why would you look a definition of a cult from Christianity view point?

Christianity wasn't even a religion some 2000 years ago, it was banned and it was considered something that isn't going to do any good to Roman belief system. Also considering that a cult is a belief in a deity, then Christianity is a cult, same as any other religion in the world. Gautama Buddha, a person that paved the path to Buddhism rejected the existance of creator  deity, and as far as I remember from school and talks, there is no concept of God like in Islam, Christianity and so on.

Also, every religion has their rules. One thing you didnt mentioned when you talked about Bible. Bible is written by man ( of many of them ), Kur'an was written by the man but the instruction ( or what to write ) was dictated by the God.
The, Christianity, same as any other religion is based on a reward system, that if you follow you get a reward and if you don;t, well you are punished. So that is the same as in any cult.

You ignored what I wrote.

Christianity is based on Judaism and the Old Testament. Hence the Old Testament (Judaism and Christianity) and the New Testament (Christianity).

Yes, the Romans murdered Jesus on the cross for preaching the gospel.

Not sure why you think the Quran is dictated by God and the Bible is not... are you Muslim?

The main difference is Islam punishes apostates (converts to another religion) and preaching another religion to a Muslim is viewed as grounds to imprison and execute them.
If you are Muslim and become agnostic, they will try and kill you if you live in a Muslim country. It is actually written into the laws and enforced.
In Iran they will hang you if you are gay. Happens quite often actually.


IMO the Quran is a hack job which copies the Old and New Testaments. If you want to see a REAL cult in action, study Islam.
I know many former Muslims who agree with this assessment.

[yogi]

Not sure why you think the Quran is dictated by God and the Bible is not... are you Muslim?

Apparently the verses of the Quran were dictated to Muhammed by the Archangel Gabriel himself.

[TheBorg]

Why would you look a definition of a cult from Christianity view point?

Christianity wasn't even a religion some 2000 years ago, it was banned and it was considered something that isn't going to do any good to Roman belief system. Also considering that a cult is a belief in a deity, then Christianity is a cult, same as any other religion in the world. Gautama Buddha, a person that paved the path to Buddhism rejected the existance of creator  deity, and as far as I remember from school and talks, there is no concept of God like in Islam, Christianity and so on.

Also, every religion has their rules. One thing you didnt mentioned when you talked about Bible. Bible is written by man ( of many of them ), Kur'an was written by the man but the instruction ( or what to write ) was dictated by the God.
The, Christianity, same as any other religion is based on a reward system, that if you follow you get a reward and if you don;t, well you are punished. So that is the same as in any cult.

You ignored what I wrote.

Christianity is based on Judaism and the Old Testament. Hence the Old Testament (Judaism and Christianity) and the New Testament (Christianity).

Yes, the Romans murdered Jesus on the cross for preaching the gospel.

Not sure why you think the Quran is dictated by God and the Bible is not... are you Muslim?

The main difference is Islam punishes apostates (converts to another religion) and preaching another religion to a Muslim is viewed as grounds to imprison and execute them.
If you are Muslim and become agnostic, they will try and kill you if you live in a Muslim country. It is actually written into the laws and enforced.
In Iran they will hang you if you are gay. Happens quite often actually.


IMO the Quran is a hack job which copies the Old and New Testaments. If you want to see a REAL cult in action, study Islam.
I know many former Muslims who agree with this assessment.

I didn't ignored anything.

Christianity isnt the oldest religion, there are older ones. Also only Ten Commandments were dictated by the God ( or a talking burning bush ). Everything else was written by the man, that is even stated in the Bible.

Because Muslims say so?!? And because Christians says so?!? If you read few posts above you would see that I am not religious...

Christianity became recognized religion when Roman Emperor on his death bed became Christian... Also didn't Christians killed millions because of the religion?!?

I know many Muslims and none of them would be killed if they decide to become Christian or denounce religion... So thats not true at all. There are countries that are strictly following teaching in Kuran, but that's not important.
And if you are gay according Bible should face the same fate...

Leviticus 18:22 - Homosexual acts are an abomination to God.
Leviticus 20:13 - If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.
Chronicles 15:12-13 - They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of                                             Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.....

You do realize that there are so many orders to kill nonbelievers, false prophets, witches...
That everything alive was killed by God ( flood ), the cities destroyed, then killing of 1st born sons and so on....

[EzCheese]

Do any of you religious folk practice tithing every month and if so why or why not? 

In the past few days I found out that a friend of mine gives 10% a month to his very wealthy church.  Yet, the dumb ass is massively in debt, spends 100% of his check (tithing included) and refuses to stop giving his hard earned money to his church.  ($500+ a month)

I sit here shaking my head but it's his money and it's his choice, but I do call him a fool.  While preaching against gluttony, the church sure does accept your money with open hands.  In my opinion they should be teaching simple economics, savings, paying off bills or putting money away for your children's college. 

No answer to the first question.

Your friend is not a fool. In fact, many sins will be forgiven those who give.

In fact, if people did not give, then people will suffer and die, or perhaps they will not hear the gospel of jesus christ,
and supporting the gospel of jesus christ is a good thing to do with money.

On the other hand, I have heard it said, that the tithing was a levitical protocol, but after Jesus Christ came and was crucified, then the levitical protocol of tithing came to an end at that time.

Nonetheless, if that is true, the priests or preachers are appointed ministers to preach the gospel of jesus christ, and they are seeking after a good work. and supporting them is a good idea, but whether or not it is yet legally binding or not in the bible? How do you interpret it?

My friend can give plenty: His time, effort, skills or anything else that isn't money to have his sins forgiven, right? 

Another person I knew who is a deep rooted Christian told me, "I do not need to be in a church to walk with God."  When he said that, he smiled as thought he knew he was off the hook for giving away his money to a church. 

[ajax3592]

Tithing - didn't know its meaning just googled. It means giving one tenth of your income to already established international businesses instead of helping someone needy.

[AndrewWilliams]

I didn't ignored anything.

Christianity isnt the oldest religion, there are older ones. Also only Ten Commandments were dictated by the God ( or a talking burning bush ). Everything else was written by the man, that is even stated in the Bible.

Because Muslims say so?!? And because Christians says so?!? If you read few posts above you would see that I am not religious...

Christianity became recognized religion when Roman Emperor on his death bed became Christian... Also didn't Christians killed millions because of the religion?!?

I know many Muslims and none of them would be killed if they decide to become Christian or denounce religion... So thats not true at all. There are countries that are strictly following teaching in Kuran, but that's not important.
And if you are gay according Bible should face the same fate...

Leviticus 18:22 - Homosexual acts are an abomination to God.
Leviticus 20:13 - If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.
Chronicles 15:12-13 - They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of                                             Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.....

You do realize that there are so many orders to kill nonbelievers, false prophets, witches...
That everything alive was killed by God ( flood ), the cities destroyed, then killing of 1st born sons and so on....

The big difference is, Muslims are carrying out these murders to this very day.

You should read http://www.atlasshrugs.com

Thousands are dying in the name of Islam every month for apostasy, being gay, and other "crimes."

Muslims are persecuting Christians in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, burning their churches and killing them. I do not see Christianity doing the same. Get your head out of the sand!

[TheBorg]

I didn't ignored anything.

Christianity isnt the oldest religion, there are older ones. Also only Ten Commandments were dictated by the God ( or a talking burning bush ). Everything else was written by the man, that is even stated in the Bible.

Because Muslims say so?!? And because Christians says so?!? If you read few posts above you would see that I am not religious...

Christianity became recognized religion when Roman Emperor on his death bed became Christian... Also didn't Christians killed millions because of the religion?!?

I know many Muslims and none of them would be killed if they decide to become Christian or denounce religion... So thats not true at all. There are countries that are strictly following teaching in Kuran, but that's not important.
And if you are gay according Bible should face the same fate...

Leviticus 18:22 - Homosexual acts are an abomination to God.
Leviticus 20:13 - If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.
Chronicles 15:12-13 - They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of                                             Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.....

You do realize that there are so many orders to kill nonbelievers, false prophets, witches...
That everything alive was killed by God ( flood ), the cities destroyed, then killing of 1st born sons and so on....

The big difference is, Muslims are carrying out these murders to this very day.

You should read http://www.atlasshrugs.com

Thousands are dying in the name of Islam every month for apostasy, being gay, and other "crimes."

Muslims are persecuting Christians in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, burning their churches and killing them. I do not see Christianity doing the same. Get your head out of the sand!

Where did you seen that Muslims are doing that ( burning Churches for example )?
Christians have done that in the name of god for centuries, didn't they?
I for one do agree that rapists, child molesters, should be treated like parasites, but thats just me. So their death doesn't have an impact....

Please, link how many churches have been burnt in the last year by Muslims, how many Christians have been killed by Muslims ( not war in the Middle East where you have planes from Christians countries bombing schools, hospitals and so on )...

Please find me the exact number of Christians killed and their churches burnt down in the last decade, and some link thats not related to CNN, BBC and so on....

You have Hagia Sophia, one of the largest churches in the world, it was built in 6th century and was an Orthodox basilica for close to 1000 years!!!

[AndrewWilliams]

Muslims Around The World Are Burning Churches and Killing Christians – Where is The Outrage?
http://zionstrumpet.com/2011/08/04/muslims-around-the-world-are-burning-churches-and-killing-christians-where-is-the-outrage/

"Where is the outrage from the worldwide Christian community? I could fill hundreds of pages with stories of muslims burning down churches and killing Christians. Here is a very small sample of recent incidents of Christian persecution taking place on a regular basis in countries with majority muslim populations."
..

“We don’t want churches on our street. Today we are going to burn the church, and if you continue we are going to burn your house also,” Note posted to the donor of a plot for a church building in Zanzibar. As if a 97% Muslim majority was not enough, the local population and government (taking a cue from how they do it in other Muslim countries) is, through this latest Zanzibar church burning incident, seeing to it that Islam is the only way on Tanzania’s Pemba and Unguja Islands.

..
The Muslims had burned down the homes of 30 Christian leaders, they had killed one Christian, wounded several others, and burned down 69 churches, a Bible school, and a Christian orphanage.

Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Burning Coptic Christian
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2013/08/15/peaceful-brotherhood-protesters-torching-coptic-christian-churches-n1665492

Muslim Brotherhood Memo Encourages Burning Churches in Egypt
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/08/20/muslim-brotherhood-memo-encourages-burning-churches-in-egypt/

"Muslims Burn Down Catholic Church in Sudan"- Christian Post
http://www.christianpost.com/news/muslims-burn-down-catholic-church-in-sudan-73668/

I for one do agree that rapists, child molesters, should be treated like parasites, but thats just me. So their death doesn't have an impact....

The problem with Islam is that they will accuse anyone of the above, just so they can kill them to get their property and land.

Yeah, the Hagia Sophia, a church the Muslims took over and made a mosque!

You are either in denial, or defending these murderers!

[yogi]

WIKI: Christian Terrorism

[Vod]

You are either in denial, or defending these murderers!

Funny, that's what I say about christians who deny their religion has killed more people than any other in history. 

[AndrewWilliams]

You are either in denial, or defending these murderers!

Funny, that's what I say about christians who deny their religion has killed more people than any other in history. 

It seems you forget we are talking about modern times.

As in today. Wake up.

[ajax3592]

You are either in denial, or defending these murderers!

Funny, that's what I say about christians who deny their religion has killed more people than any other in history. 

It seems you forget we are talking about modern times.

As in today. Wake up.

Religion makes you blind. It stops the evolution of ourself and the humanity in together. It limits our imagination.
Ours is just one of the 500000000000 galaxies in the universe. There is no way life exists only on this planet.
We need to broaden our approach towards life, to not believe whatever is said/taught to us from childhood. Just try it once and explore the other infinite possibilites. Probably Gods were aliens that visited Earth thousand years ago when Mankind didn't evolved much. They might have taught us farming, the early man who saw the bright light coming from the sky (spaceships) could not interpret it. Got shocked and thought of it as a higher being, passed on stories down generation of that sighting and there you go, rest is history AND SHOULD BE HISTORY NOT PRESENT.

[Akka]

Are you Guys kidding me? Are you seriously discussing which religion is the lesser evil as a pro argument for that religion? 

[EzCheese]

Are you Guys kidding me? Are you seriously discussing which religion is the lesser evil as a pro argument for that religion? 

Long way from tithing huh?

[just_me]

Tithing was ordinances for the levitical priesthood in the old testament, applicable to the tribe of Levi.

Jesus Christ was from the tribe of Judah, so those ordinances do not apply to Jesus.

I found this website that is all about tithing

http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/id8.html

[Kiki112]

10% 
man, when I'm in church I only give around 20 cents, there is a fee, so called "lukno" which the whole family (5 of us) pay once a year and it's around 15$.
this is the custom in my country, the church doesn't have much profit as their main income is the "lukno" but they gather some money during the mass altough everyone gives small amounts usually less then a dollar.

We're catholic btw

[WEB slicer]

i think he is brave and stupid for giving so much when he is tight on cash but i also respect him for it. you cant knock somebody who is doing a good thing and looking out for others. i dont practice tithing and i definitely wont give to the church but i do give to homeless people i come across and to the world food program. i like the idea of feeding people who cant feed themselves. its such a basic need. with all the wealth going around nobody deserves to starve to death.

[dank]

You are either in denial, or defending these murderers!

Funny, that's what I say about christians who deny their religion has killed more people than any other in history. 

It seems you forget we are talking about modern times.

As in today. Wake up.

Religion makes you blind. It stops the evolution of ourself and the humanity in together. It limits our imagination.
Ours is just one of the 500000000000 galaxies in the universe. There is no way life exists only on this planet.
We need to broaden our approach towards life, to not believe whatever is said/taught to us from childhood. Just try it once and explore the other infinite possibilites. Probably Gods were aliens that visited Earth thousand years ago when Mankind didn't evolved much. They might have taught us farming, the early man who saw the bright light coming from the sky (spaceships) could not interpret it. Got shocked and thought of it as a higher being, passed on stories down generation of that sighting and there you go, rest is history AND SHOULD BE HISTORY NOT PRESENT.

Why do you think there is a difference between an alien and a higher being?

[ajax3592]

You are either in denial, or defending these murderers!

Funny, that's what I say about christians who deny their religion has killed more people than any other in history. 

It seems you forget we are talking about modern times.

As in today. Wake up.

Religion makes you blind. It stops the evolution of ourself and the humanity in together. It limits our imagination.
Ours is just one of the 500000000000 galaxies in the universe. There is no way life exists only on this planet.
We need to broaden our approach towards life, to not believe whatever is said/taught to us from childhood. Just try it once and explore the other infinite possibilites. Probably Gods were aliens that visited Earth thousand years ago when Mankind didn't evolved much. They might have taught us farming, the early man who saw the bright light coming from the sky (spaceships) could not interpret it. Got shocked and thought of it as a higher being, passed on stories down generation of that sighting and there you go, rest is history AND SHOULD BE HISTORY NOT PRESENT.

Why do you think there is a difference between an alien and a higher being?

By saying higher being I meant to say that, early man thought of aliens as God. Actually, God are aliens. Aliens are much more advanced species than us, telepathy, teleportation, to name some of their normal senses. But then they too have many different species.

[dank]

Do you think humans can evolve to the same level of consciousness as aliens?