This week at Cerulean Sanctum, I’ll be gathering polling info for a look at how American Christians view money issues, both personal and in the Church. Most polls will run for about six days. So please vote. After the polls close, I’ll offer the results and my commentary on the issues and answers related to the poll questions and results.
Thanks for participating!
(Note to those reading by RSS: to participate in this week’s polls, you’ll need to come to the site to vote. Thanks!)
No topic causes more problems for the average person in the pews in the American Church than tithing. For that reason, any look at how the Church deals with money must address the issue. Below are nine basic tithing questions. To vote, simply log your responses. The poll runs through 6:00 PM, Sunday, March 2, 2008. A day or so after, I’ll tally the votes and post them with my commentary.
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Thank you for your answers!
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5 Comments
Dan – do you want non-Americans filling out this survey? I don’t think my results would skew all the differently (coming from somewhere like Australia) – but I’ll sit it out until you give me the go-ahead.
Are you catering for selection bias here? I’d like to think that the average reader of your site is perhaps more engaged than Mr Joe Average church goer (I’m trying to avoid elitism here and failing badly! – but trying to make the point that if you are seeking out spiritual information/teaching/discussion (aka – reading Dan’s blog) and it’s not Sunday – then you’re perhaps at least ahead of some.
Rob,
Feel free to respond. The vast majority of people reading this blog are going to be Westerners, and Western churches are similar enough to keep the responses workable.
A note to those responding on the first question “My church’s position on giving and tithing is…” –
If you responded that your church’s position is different than any of the answers offered, could you e-mail me privately and let me know what your church’s position is?
Thank you!
Hmmm, this is an interesting poll. As an ex-Christian and atheist one of the biggest criticisms of Christians is that they raise large amounts of cash (Benny Hinn made AU$800,000 in one meeting in Australia recently) but do *nothing* of benefit to the wider community. In Hinn’s case his Lear Jet was flying off as soon as the cash was counted – and without rendering unto Caesar that which was Caesar’s (the donations being taxable under Aussie law). So, a survey investigating financial issues is actually quite interesting and I’ll be interested in the results.
My question concerns tithing. Its clearly a Jewish practice that was abandoned by the Early Church who adopted another principle – and one important enough to warrant its own story in the Christian Bible. That is, the believers sold all they had and held all things in common. Hence the story of Ananaias and Sapphira in Acts (2? – my memory is not that good). The practice of tithing seems more suited to maintaining a priesthood (its original purpose) than a priesthood of all believers – which is, no doubt, why the modern priests prefer it.
Steve
Steve,
I would encourage you to check back in the next few days as I will be addressing your questions thoroughly.
Thanks for writing!
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