Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been church shopping for a while and one church sent us an email that said that if we want to attend services as members we had to pay. Like don't come back unless we complete the direct debit form attached to the email. We were so turned off. Is it just good business or money grubbing?

I’ve never heard of this in Christianity.

This happened to me in college decades ago when I met with a campus priest. He said I had to accept the pledging envelopes in order to go to mass. I chose not to attend church on campus and never joined another catholic church after that.

Well, he was wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think op is trolling.

because they make negative comments (which may be true - dunno) about Mormon tithing practices?

Op won’t identify the church. We don’t know if it’s a Mormon church. Because they won’t identify, it sounds like a hit and run against churches in general. If this were true, there would be no harm in identifying the church. Op won’t do so because it can be proven false.

Anonymous wrote:I think op is trolling.

because they make negative comments (which may be true - dunno) about Mormon tithing practices?

I think op is trolling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you looking at Mormon temples?

All are welcome at LDS worship services. Only members who have been in the church for a year are even allowed to attend the temple, which does necessitate tithing. If someone wants to be a member of a congregation and never pay tithing, they would still be welcome for Sunday worship and all other activities. There is no "offering plate." We meet with the Bishop once a year and self declare that we are "full tithe payers; part tithe payers or non tithe payers.) No one checks your income, it is between you and God (who gave the commandment in Malachi.)

Please speak to what you know...

Actually, Mormons are famous for asking a copy of your W2.
If you want to read Malachi, read whole chapter. Tithe is a tenth of your grain harvest and must be given to a levite priest. If levite priest wants new shoes he must make them himself.
If you go to war then a tithe is a tenth of the war loot, not a tenth of your yearly income
Oh, and it is not biblical to demand a tithe from women. Only men pay it

Anonymous wrote:Are you looking at Mormon temples?

All are welcome at LDS worship services. Only members who have been in the church for a year are even allowed to attend the temple, which does necessitate tithing. If someone wants to be a member of a congregation and never pay tithing, they would still be welcome for Sunday worship and all other activities. There is no "offering plate." We meet with the Bishop once a year and self declare that we are "full tithe payers; part tithe payers or non tithe payers.) No one checks your income, it is between you and God (who gave the commandment in Malachi.)

Please speak to what you know...

Here's your sign you shouldn't attend.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was a Unitarian I was asked to contribute 1% of my income. They even sent the Membership committee to my little basement studio apartment to have the discussion. I had been giving a nice amount each week at the service and thought that was enough. (I was just a couple of years out of college and working 2 jobs). I moved to another state and started attending another Unitarian church, but did not like it as much as the first one so I just left.

Being asked is different from being required. And it's perfectly ordinary for churches to have pledging committees that make personal visits. It's not just to get $$, it's to get to know each other..

Hahahahaha

Yes, the PTL Pass-The-Loot committee. Jim Bakker would be proud.

Liberal churches have pledging committees -- every religious organization needs $$ to survive. The Jews and mormons have actual dues. Most christian churches leave the mount given up to the individual, irrespective of income.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was a Unitarian I was asked to contribute 1% of my income. They even sent the Membership committee to my little basement studio apartment to have the discussion. I had been giving a nice amount each week at the service and thought that was enough. (I was just a couple of years out of college and working 2 jobs). I moved to another state and started attending another Unitarian church, but did not like it as much as the first one so I just left.

Being asked is different from being required. And it's perfectly ordinary for churches to have pledging committees that make personal visits. It's not just to get $$, it's to get to know each other..

Hahahahaha

Yes, the PTL Pass-The-Loot committee. Jim Bakker would be proud.

Op won’t provide the name of the church, so likely it’s just a made up thread.

After a sixteen-month federal grand jury probe, Bakker was indicted in 1988 on eight counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.[24] In 1989, after a five-week trial which began on August 28 in Charlotte, North Carolina, a jury found him guilty on all 24 counts. Judge Robert Daniel Potter sentenced Bakker to 45 years in federal prison and imposed a $500,000 fine.[46][47][48] At the Federal Medical Center, Rochester in Rochester, Minnesota, he shared a cell with activist Lyndon LaRouche and skydiver Roger Nelson.[49]

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld Bakker's conviction on the fraud and conspiracy charges, voided Bakker's 45-year sentence and $500,000 fine, and ordered a new sentencing hearing in February 1991.[50] The court ruled that Potter's sentencing statement about Bakker, that "those of us who do have a religion are sick of being saps for money-grubbing preachers and priests",[51] was evidence that the judge had injected his religious beliefs into Bakker's sentence.[50]

A sentence-reduction hearing was held on November 16, 1992, and Bakker's sentence was reduced to eight years. In August 1993, he was transferred to a minimum-security federal prison in Jesup, Georgia. Bakker was paroled in July 1994, after serving almost five years of his sentence.[52] His son, Jay, spearheaded a letter-writing campaign to the parole board advocating leniency.[53] Celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz acted as Bakker's parole attorney, having said that he "would guarantee that Mr. Bakker would never again engage in the blend of religion and commerce that led to his conviction."[54] Bakker was released from Federal Bureau of Prisons custody on December 1, 1994,[55] owing $6 million to the IRS.[56]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bakker

Jim Bakker went to prison for his criminal deeds, as he should have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was a Unitarian I was asked to contribute 1% of my income. They even sent the Membership committee to my little basement studio apartment to have the discussion. I had been giving a nice amount each week at the service and thought that was enough. (I was just a couple of years out of college and working 2 jobs). I moved to another state and started attending another Unitarian church, but did not like it as much as the first one so I just left.

Being asked is different from being required. And it's perfectly ordinary for churches to have pledging committees that make personal visits. It's not just to get $$, it's to get to know each other..

Hahahahaha

Yes, the PTL Pass-The-Loot committee. Jim Bakker would be proud.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was a Unitarian I was asked to contribute 1% of my income. They even sent the Membership committee to my little basement studio apartment to have the discussion. I had been giving a nice amount each week at the service and thought that was enough. (I was just a couple of years out of college and working 2 jobs). I moved to another state and started attending another Unitarian church, but did not like it as much as the first one so I just left.

Being asked is different from being required. And it's perfectly ordinary for churches to have pledging committees that make personal visits. It's not just to get $$, it's to get to know each other..

Hahahahaha

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was a Unitarian I was asked to contribute 1% of my income. They even sent the Membership committee to my little basement studio apartment to have the discussion. I had been giving a nice amount each week at the service and thought that was enough. (I was just a couple of years out of college and working 2 jobs). I moved to another state and started attending another Unitarian church, but did not like it as much as the first one so I just left.

Being asked is different from being required. And it's perfectly ordinary for churches to have pledging committees that make personal visits. It's not just to get $$, it's to get to know each other..

Yeah the “pledging committee” wants to get to know you …

Actually, when I belonged to a church, visiting and being visited by the pledging committee was a great way to get to know people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was a Unitarian I was asked to contribute 1% of my income. They even sent the Membership committee to my little basement studio apartment to have the discussion. I had been giving a nice amount each week at the service and thought that was enough. (I was just a couple of years out of college and working 2 jobs). I moved to another state and started attending another Unitarian church, but did not like it as much as the first one so I just left.

Being asked is different from being required. And it's perfectly ordinary for churches to have pledging committees that make personal visits. It's not just to get $$, it's to get to know each other..

Yeah the “pledging committee” wants to get to know you …

Op won’t name the church, why not?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a non-Christian faith and find this really shocking. I thought houses of worship (of any religion) were supposed to be welcoming places that offered refuge to all?

Reminds me of the quote

7 Gandhi Quotes That Are Totally Fake

https://gizmodo.com/7-gandhi-quotes-that-are-totally-fake-1716503435

Fake Gandhi quote, btw.

Fake and "no evidence" are two different things.

It’s a fake quote. There’s no evidence he said those words, and the basis for claiming he did is a movie pp admits isn’t proof. Just because it’s on Facebook doesn’t make it true.

There's also no evidence that Jesus died for our sins and that if you believe in him, you will live forever in heaven. Just because it's in the Bible, an ancient book cobbled together over 2,000 years ago, doesn't make it true. A lot of people believe it, though

People have faith in Jesus. They don’t need proof for faith. A quote from a man that lived from 1869-1948 needs evidence, of which there is none. In fact, a form of the quote is formally attributed to another man. There has been proof of that posted, with a documented source, and link. The graphic has been proven false.

Real Gandhi quotes: https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi

The Facebook memes are just pop culture pap.