Posted on 03/30/2002 11:13:32 AM PST by kritikos
Edited on 04/12/2004 5:34:02 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
What happens, is the religious want-to-be failure gets a job.
I oppose the taxation practices of our government as much as anyone, and I do not wish for the government to take his money, or to make or cancel any law whatsoever about this issue, but my disdain for this man is on a theological level, one who earned that much money in Christ's name and spent it on his own pleasure.
Base it on Scripture too, please. This kind of determination ...that of setting limits on the income another man can make, especially when it is already established and governed by those whom this man serves...needs some kind of authority other than, "in my opinion."
Also, is this amount to be relative to culture and time? Or is it to be based on absolutes...like the rate of pay that existed in the time the Scripture was written?
And if it is relative; if it is to be culturally based, whose culture is it to be based upon? Mid-east (biblical lands) culture? Western culture? East coast western culture? Midwestern western culture?
For instance...should it be based on the culture in which the person ministers? Comparable pay to who are members of the congregation?
If a tax deduction is unconstitutional because of the "establishment clause" of the First Amendment, then any tax at all assessed against a religion is unconstitutional because it violates the "free exercise thereof" clause of the First Amendment.
Thus, the small congregations you refer to that can barely afford to pay a livable wage, would not have tax issues to deal with and could devote more of their tithe to paying a livable wage.
We have been living in a culture that has characterized any minister who has money as an Elmer Gantry huckster. The fact that there have been many men who lived up to that caricature (Swaggart, Baker, et al) does not mean that everyone who is gifted with a good income (by the people who they serve) is the moral and spiritual equal of the huckster.
Being rich is not the equivalent of being evil, unspiritual and ungodly.
The Bible does not condemn wealth. It condemns the luxurious self-indulgence of the wealthy, with their non-payment of wages and their oppression of the poor, "Come now you rich, weep and howl for your miseries...behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your field, and which has been withhelod by you, cries out against you..." James 5:1-6
Making a profit is very biblical "All hard work brings a profit, but mere idle talk leads only to poverty." Proverbs 14:23; and, "The laborer is worthy of his wages" 1 Timothy 5:18.
Money is not evil, it is the love of money that is evil, "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap...for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" 1 Timothy 6:9-10.
The clearest word is that money should not be idolized, but should be enjoyed: "COMMAND those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly PROVIDES US WITH EVERYTHING FOR OUR ENJOYMENT" 1 Timothy 6:17 (Everything even means the money we have to enjoy).
Have you ever considered the fact that poverty too can be idolized. /soapbox
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.