Is it possible to be rich, good and religious?

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ChooseLove said:
in regards to the tithing issue

Deuteronomy 26:12, “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase…”
Genesis 28:22, “This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”

A tithe is a tenth of your increase. An offering is above the tithe and are freely given from surplus.

“You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist” Golda Mier

We are designed in God’s image, and we are happiest and most fulfilled when we serve and give.

When we give we are reminded of ownership. Is the money ours, or is it God’s? Everything belongs to God. When we freely give it back to our Creator, we are praising and worshiping God. And lastly, it is spirtual warfare.

We should all be giving a 10% of our increase (gross earning) back to our God, our Creator, our Redemeer!

We started doing this (well only 7%) last year. It was VERY hard to do. DH job hours got cut back. Groceries for 9 people. Bills to be paid. Yet we still made sure that money was there for God. Well when tax time came around… wooo hooo the blessings we recieved! Unbelievable! But the trust for God to take care of us during that time was hard to do! We did it, and He showed us in more ways than just tax time how much He’d take care of us. 👍
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I’m way behind the eight ball then. I think I give around 3 - 5% to my parish.
 
ChooseLove said:
money is not evil, just as a brick is not evil. it is the LOVE of money that is evil. if you throw a brick at something, than the brick did not do evil, the person throwing it did evil. just as money made by theft, slander, deceit is evil by the person doing it. if you have LOTS of money, you can give LOTS AWAY.

a quote by John Wesley, “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”

Proverbs 13:22, “A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children.”
Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your works to the Lord, and your throughts will be established.”
Proverbs 14:29, “For where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.”
Proverbs 23:4-5, “Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”
2 Corinthians 9:7, “God loves a cheerful giver.”

When you have money, extra money, you CAN be a cheerful giver and you CAN leave an inheriatnce to your children’s children.

It is all where your heart is, and that is where evil may or may not reign. The money is not evil.
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Excellent point. Money itself is not evil nor having it. It is the person that has it which can choose to do evil with it or good. I love Proverbs 23:4-5. A good friend of mine was loaded when we were children. Three homes, a 65 foot boat etc… His family lived off the old man like it would never stop. Today they are broke. I’m the only friend that has not left him. All of his fathers friends have left him to rot in a nursing home. I pray for them everyday.
 
ChooseLove said:
A tithe is a tenth of your increase. An offering is above the tithe and are freely given from surplus…We should all be giving a 10% of our increase (gross earning) back to our God, our Creator, our Redemeer!
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While the practice of tithing is commendable, Catholics are not obligated to tithe. They are only obligated to support their Church according to their means.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=218384&highlight=tithe

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=186752&highlight=tithe

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=114368&highlight=tithe

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=52664&highlight=tithe

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=31554&highlight=tithe

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=13994&highlight=tithe
 
OutinChgoburbs said:
While the practice of tithing is commendable, Catholics are not obligated to tithe. They are only obligated to support their Church according to their means.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=218384&highlight=tithe

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=186752&highlight=tithe

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=114368&highlight=tithe

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=52664&highlight=tithe

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=31554&highlight=tithe

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=13994&highlight=tithe
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I was wondering about that. If you make 12,000 a year your will have to skip many meals to give that 10%. If you make 100 million a year you skip the next boat or beach house. Doesn’t seem very fair.
 
like i said, it was VERY hard to keep up the amount we had decided to give weekly that year. but we did do it. and we were blessed beyond our wildest imaginations! and we NEVER asked for any help during this time. it just came to us, sometimes without knowing who it came from!
 
igator99 said:
I was wondering about that. If you make 12,000 a year your will have to skip many meals to give that 10%. If you make 100 million a year you skip the next boat or beach house. Doesn’t seem very fair.
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Or the next payroll for their employees, who need the food every bit as much?
 
igator99 said:
Not following you :confused:
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Not all rich people buy nothing but toys. And even those who do have countless employees who need their paychecks every bit as much as you or I.

People would jump all over me if I characterized every poor person as a Lotto-playing, drunken, thieving, Welfare-scamming
neer-do-well. And rightly so. Why not accord the rich the same sort of accord?
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
Not all rich people buy nothing but toys. And even those who do have countless employees who need their paychecks every bit as much as you or I.

People would jump all over me if I characterized every poor person as a Lotto-playing, drunken, thieving, Welfare-scamming
neer-do-well. And rightly so. Why not accord the rich the same sort of accord?
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Good point. Hey some rich folks scammed welfare and FEMA during Katrina.
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
Please provide citations.
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Don’t need to. I lived it. Rich folks using food stamps to buy steaks and the best of the best. Poor people using FEMA money to buy lap dances. Perhaps some people are just rotten withoutGod no matter income?
 
igator99 said:
Don’t need to. I lived it. Rich folks using food stamps to buy steaks and the best of the best. Poor people using FEMA money to buy lap dances. Perhaps some people are just rotten withoutGod no matter income?
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Anyone who would abuse the funds from Katrina for these items, has a distorted and dysfunctional view of money. Money shouldn’t change people…if a person is a good, God loving human being–a large or small bank account shouldn’t change that person’s character. If you know people who change over money, they are probably not comfortable with it. How a person behaves related to money shows to a certain degree, their comfort with it, and how they view themselves because of it. Warren Buffet was one of the wealthiest CEO’s of our time–and he was one of the most charitable…lived in the same modest home all of his life. He is an example of someone who is comfortable with money–it didn’t change him.
 
whatevergirl said:
Anyone who would abuse the funds from Katrina for these items, has a distorted and dysfunctional view of money. Money shouldn’t change people…if a person is a good, God loving human being–a large or small bank account shouldn’t change that person’s character. If you know people who change over money, they are probably not comfortable with it. How a person behaves related to money shows to a certain degree, their comfort with it, and how they view themselves because of it. Warren Buffet was one of the wealthiest CEO’s of our time–and he was one of the most charitable…lived in the same modest home all of his life. He is an example of someone who is comfortable with money–it didn’t change him.
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They are few and far between. I know of a couple that struck it rich when oil was discovered on their land. They lived in a very small little house and had a backyard garden. Guess what? That is still where they live even though they are worth millions.

It got pretty disgusting watching what people spent their FEMA money on. I remember waiting in line at the grocery and very well dressed people with diamond rings etc… pulling out their welfare cards buying steaks etc… I guess many felt after paying taxes their whole lives, they wanted a little payback. We put up two families. 10 people for Katrina for over a month ( We were the lucky ones that still had our house completely in tact so we put up family) and 3 people for Rita. I’m not rich and having that many extra people in my home hurt but what you going to do? One of the family members did really well between FEMA and the Road Home money. They went from a modest three bedroom home to a really nice house with a pool in an exclusive area. I actually wish we would have been flooded out. I was treated like dirt by my wives family before the storm ( I’m a lowly teacher ), they were very nice after Katrina, now I’m back to being dirt. 😦 That is the nature of people.
 
The nature of people who DON’T TRULY have Christ living in them. Actions always speak louder than words
 
ChooseLove said:
The nature of people who DON’T TRULY have Christ living in them. Actions always speak louder than words
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People without God are nothing more than brutish beasts. The closer you are to God rich or poor the better person you will be.
 
igator99 said:
Don’t need to.* I lived it.* Rich folks using food stamps to buy steaks and the best of the best. Poor people using FEMA money to buy lap dances. Perhaps some people are just rotten withoutGod no matter income?
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What we asking for is cites. We frequently ask for cites on CAF, to back up what people say. I bet if you did a google, you would find the cite you’re looking for, froma reliable source.
Well, we are all given free will, to choose or not choose God, to choose which of God/s commandments we will obey or not. Sounds like a lot of stealing.

The people I knew that our parish helped during Katrina, and the people Iknew who lived there on my own, all seemed to use that money to get by, if they got it. And if th government was so free with the food stamps that they gave them out indiscriminantly, well, while I don’t agree people should waste the food stamps, I think by not checking who really needed them, that’s a bad government issue.

What grocery offers lap dances??? Food stamps usually come on an electronic card, are not real stamps, and have to come off through an EBT card reader. It would seem the so-called rich in your scenario at least used them for the proper purpose.
 
whatevergirl said:
Warren Buffet was one of the wealthiest CEO’s of our time–and he was one of the most charitable…lived in the same modest home all of his life. He is an example of someone who is comfortable with money–it didn’t change him.
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And Warren Buffet is still alive! As is Bill Gates. As is a bunch of othr people with money who try to help and believe in good works. While Bono is not my favorite person, he is also an example of a person with money who tries to make things better.
 
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