Jesusland Part 2

I never said that we shouldn't tithe, or that tithing is bad. I never said that. On the contrary, tithing is a vital part of a Christian's life, but is not the most important as many churches want to make it look like. Churches stress so much about tithe not because tithe is the most important thing for a Christian, but because they have bills to pay. Now let's think about some of those bills: recently the Community Bible Church in San Antonio, TX unveiled its new building. Price tag: $25 million dollars. How in the name of Jesus you spend 25 million dollars in a building? There's no reason for that. It’s like a 5 starts church. People dying around the world and we in America spend 25 million dollars in a building. Missionaries get paid nothing while we are building awesome buildings. Where's that in the Bible? Our churches are run like a business. We run everything out of a budget. What’s the problem with a budget? That's putting God inside a box. I was talking to a pastor of a small church these days and he told me something pretty cool. "If someone asks me 1% of my monthly expenses to a mission project, I’ll probably be able to give, even though it will be little. That's because we don't tie everything in a budget. Now if you go to a mega church and ask them for some help they will deny it right away, because their finances are tied in a budget. They leave no room to God."
I myself as an ex-seminary student went through that: I needed $1500 to finish paying one semester without having to get a loan. I decided to send letters to the 10 biggest churches in the city and all of them said the same: "I'm sorry, but I can't help you." Why that? Their budgets are gigantic and they still can't help people, because they are bound to budgets, mega buildings maintenance and air conditioning, etc… Look back to the bible and where is stated that we can't help the poor because of building and budgets?

In the bible people comes first.

We are no different that the secular world with our fancy cars and houses, I-Pods, 50 inches televisions and etc.

I'm not saying that a Christian should be poor, that's not the point. If you have the money to buy it, go ahead. But we, just like non-Christians put material goods in our credit cards. We strive to buys good things.

Have you ever seen someone putting the tithe in the credit card?
Have you ever seen someone sending a donation in the credit card?

Talking about donation: why do people donate to church? Lot of people donates with a pure heart, but most of the big donations are tax breaks to non-profit organizations.

It is time for us to rethink our Christianity. Only 2% of Christians share their faith in this country. We are an army that doesn't follow the advices of the commander. We are new creatures that are totally free from the bound of sin and death; dead to the old nature, but we can't let go. The post mother society is influencing our Christian worldview and this not good.

Be renewed.