Russell Kelly responded via email to my last post on tithing. He had problems with the "math question" (which I will discuss below.) But I will reproduce his email and my response. You have a lot of verbiage but little concrete content. I am not sure what your postilion is on tithing, but it seems …
Pickett’s Charge and Tithing
Russell Earl Kelly was quick to respond to my piece The Backlash Against Tithing. But, like our Confederate ancestors at places like Gettysburg, he may have charged without properly assessing what was in front of him. Let me start by reiterating one important point that Dr. Kelly has obviously missed: I do not say that …
The Backlash Against Tithing
As my church's Finance Committee chairman, the article about The Backlash Against Tithing (also here) certainly hits home. It's something I deal with all the time, especially at budget season. At one time in evangelical churches, people tithed first and then gave offerings on top of that. Today people are more likely to mentally allocate …
A Special Thanksgiving Verse
Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. (Proverbs 3:9, 10) The special opening sentence for Thanksgiving from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
Some Things Look Great on Paper. And Then…
Zack has an interesting response to my posting More on the Fairness of God, both on this blog and on his own Mutantcheez. Let me respond in turn to a couple of his comments. Paul goes on to talk in the letter about how Abraham is considered righteous based on his faith in God, and …
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What Will American Christianity Do After the Baby Boomers?
What should churches start doing, given Wuthnow's findings? My answer would be that they should redistribute energy. When we think of all the time and energy that churches invest in children, youth and their parents, and when we think of the high level of clout exercised by senior church members, it's clear that young adults …
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On the Value of American Missions, Dollar and Otherwise
Abu Daoud is absolutely correct in his response concerning the impact of the falling US Dollar on American missions: The weakening dollar will have a bad effect on world missions, by the way. It will become more difficult for the US to send out as many missionaries as it does today. Working as I do …
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The Class Dilemma of the Edwards Campaign
The news report put out by the Carolina Week staff (video below) and the attempt by John Edwards' campaign to get it pulled shows the dilemma that every candidate that runs on the left has in dealing with the "contradictions" (as Mao Dun would put it) in advancing their cause. Conventional wisdom would have us …
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Oral Roberts Says Devil Won’t Steal ORU
Oral Roberts says that the Devil won't steal ORU. Just don't give it away...
From Pentecost to Liturgy and Back
My friend Robert Easter at Sanctifusion has thrown me some very deep questions in the course of a discussion: I was talking about you to a young man who is in the process of shifting form Church of God to Anglican. Something about the ancient ties and the Nicene writers. When we look at it, …
Positive Infinity 