However much money any God or other deity gets from me is how much charities can be trusted with... which is not much, because most charities, particularly the big and famous ones, absorb the proceeds instead.
When I was a kid saw my uncle brag about how much he gave to the church. He was a contractor and built a house free labor for his pastor. Meanwhile, his poor widowed mother's house was literally falling apart around her.
I know a couple people who were helping our former pastor build his house and they both fell off the roof and sustained severe injuries. Guess who didn't help them with their hospital bills, or even make a claim on their insurance? These guys were working under the table for their pastor, and their pastor took them for all they were worth. Broken backs, a shattered pelvis, etc. and that pastor just casually ignores their pain as he goes to preach another sermon.
My uncle built the church. You should've seen the house he lived in. Holes in the floor, rooms with no doors, a kitchen that was sloooowly repaired after a fire, broken tiles, etc. The church on the other hand was a masterpiece, high ceilings, a fountain in the entryway, stained glass windows, river rock baptistry, etc. His labor was free, but he bragged about the church buying the supplies... like what the heck?
@@SmolTrailer I had a Mexican friend in Mexico, her mother's lifelong dream was to go to Vatican city and see the pope. My friend, Nancy, worked hard and saved and took her mother as a gift to mark her 60th birthday. Her mom was thrilled and when they got back, Nancy left the chuch. She grew up in a poor community where people would pull together whatever few precious cents they could manage, to put in the collection plate on Sunday. She wasn't impressed with the wealth, she was disgusted. (Like anyone with a functioning mind should be).
@@TheKim369 My boyfriend is from Nicaragua, he has similar feelings about the wealth and super nice mega churches. Like there are people dying in Nicaragua because they don't have food or medical access (to extensive procedures, basic procedures are free) and yet they have mega churches there too.
Kenneth Copeland saying "don't you stop tithing" to people struggling to pay for basic necessities is absolutely deplorable. He should be helping them financially not guilting them into parting ways with more money.
The whole idea of tithing was meant for the church to help out the poor and helpless in the community. It's been taken over by people who take "God's" money to live like kings.
From what I understand, that was what sacrifices were about in general. People weren't just burning up animals and tossing them away. They were used to feed the community and those less fortunate. The aspect of charity has been completely removed from the concept of sacrifice in modern culture, and looking at these people who control of the collection plates I think there's a deliberate reason for that.
Martin Luther founded Lutheranism. Modern Baptists are from a different branch of Protestantism. However, the original Baptists told members to renounce worldly wealth.
If Kenneth Copeland took off his rubbery mask-face and revealed himself to secretly be the devil himself all along, I wouldn't be surprised in the least. Dude legit freaks me out.
i like how he relies on his followers to give money to keep the church's lights on....why doesn't he just pray for money?? i swear, these slimy fkers are scamming millions right in front of our eyes.
“God is my business partner”. I laughed way too hard at that. I was raised as a secular Jew and Jews just have folks mail annual donations privately to the synagogue. I freaked out the first time I went to a Christian church and they passed a collection plate. I thought that was bizarre.
@@ghostest1719 this is where it gets even crazier. Some churches have really slick moves to help pastors evade giving tithes. Because a church doesn't have to discole it's finances, the church can literally print out a receipt for the pastor's non-existent tithe. A lot of churches know they will never be audited!
@@breveth If we could elect legislators who actually had the power, we could pressure them to change the law and subject these mega-ministries to the burden they deserve. The megachurches are no better than the multi-Gigadollar corporations who stashed money away in the Cayman Islands.
I once played a goblin priest in World of Warcraft. For those who don't know, Goblins in WoW are mostly money-obsessed grifters. Some people said that, therefore, a Goblin Priest made no sense. So when I RP'd, my goblin just repeated what megachurch pastors say about tithing except replace "God" with "The Light". It was surprisingly spot on.
This topic reminds me how I like to think about if Jesus were alive today, he'd be flipping tables all across the country. Jesus would be _pissed_ if he could see the state of Christianity today.
@@an8strengthkobold360 i cant agree that jesus was a cool guy, for one, that rat advocated for slavery and is more on the level of mother teresa level kind of scum, preaching about love and peace while advocating for atrocities. being crucified on the cross for our sin was jesus/god's way of saying be irresponsible.
Tithing was the thing that made my family initially break with organized religion. Our church asked us to give up our summer vacation to Disney World and donate that money to the church so they could build a coffee shop in the lobby and some tennis courts. We stopped going to church that week and as far as I know, none of my family have regularly gone to church in the last 24 years. Since then we have all had our own individual paths from evangelical fundamentalist to generic christian to various other landing points (deism, atheism, polytheism) but it was church greed that was the wakeup call on organized religion.
Quite frankly, this was the first of many nails in the coffin of my adherence to religion. After my Uncle Robert died of cancer (six days of watching him suffocate and writhe), I began to very heavily study the Bible. The first thing that really bothered me was the idea that the tithe was mandatory for all Christians, as, when the scripture reading on it came about, I looked around the listed reading to find the audience and setting. I quickly realized that we were being lied to and started digging deeper. The more I studied in English, Hebrew and Greek (thanks to Walter Stooksbury, a Messianic Jew, for the guidance in understanding Hebrew), the less the current teachings matched up. I began to write everything down with references, context (both cultural and scriptural), audience and setting. I began trying to help people realize they were being lied to by making copies and passing them around to various members. Needless to say, I got booted from two and blacklisted by another (only after I compared a quote from the Bible to a quote from the Quran and described it as an illustration of how similar the two religious texts are). I began to study even more and realize how few things even made any sense anymore compared to what the pastors were saying and after months of emotional turmoil and cognitive dissonance, I decided my life was more important than trying to cling to a faith that provided no care or comfort to me. It scrambled my head quite a bit, but I am doing a bit better with it. Anyway, thanks for the videos and the community here with my fellow Nones.
had a similar experience finding out jesus wouldn't have subscribed to most of the things christian churches teach. he'd probably be pretty horrified to find out people are idolizing him now
That is because they are based off of the same faiths. Abraham is traditionally considered to be the first Jew and to have made a covenant with God. Because Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all recognize Abraham as their first prophet, they are also called the Abrahamic religions. While there was always a small community of Jews in historic Palestine, in 73 C.E. When you call any church out about anything you are basically challenging their authority, they don't like being challenged. Because it takes the whole world believing to make it work, otherwise they are exposed for being a glorified tax free organization. With the exception of smaller churches, these mega churches help no one but themselves. People like Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland take in obscene amounts of money into their churches, but Joel turned away people during the flood in Huston Texas when many were displaced. He was so worried that they would defile "his" church with their presence. If I help to pay for something, I would expect to use it, that's what the tithes go for, repairs on the church, building a church from scratch, or helping the community writ large. Kenneth Copeland has three private jets and a mega mansion, but his followers live in a constant state of need, while he lives in his greed. And if anyone challenges him about it he gets visibility upset at the "accusations" against him. Especially if it is a woman doing the questioning. These people are vile, but their followers keep right on giving. All churches are tax free, but if people don't give then they don't survive. So they will say anything to keep the cash coming in. People are starting to get wise to that and it is scaring the churches to death to think they are in danger of losing their source of income. Less people would need, if the churches stopped their greed.
I think my tipping point true religion was when I started to realize send two actions that God takes in the Bible if a man was to do the same thing then he would be considered more evil than Stalin, Hitler, and Jim Jones combined.. omniscient God means that he is everywhere all at once he knows everything and he is morally infallible... Just one tiny example... After God flooded the entire world killing every living thing but Noah's family after it was done he felt bad, apologized, and promised to never do it again... Someone that is morally infallible 1 would not have flood and killed everything 2 would not have felt guilty for doing it because he knew it was the right thing to do and 3 would not had to apologize because he did nothing wrong. God is evil! Stop worshipping evil just because it has more power than you...
Certain interpretations of the Bible are only present in the USA. I grew up in heavily Catholic Poland, attended mandatory catechism classes, and yet learned about the tithing to the church only now...I am not saying religion doesn't have its share of problems elsewhere, but here its another animal altogether.
When I heard about churches asking members to give their entire stimulus checks to the church and then the churches also were getting ppp loans. It’s disgusting. It’s all about money. That’s it. Greedy bastards.
Scamming laborers out of their stimulus check money, joining with multinational corporations in hogging all the PPP loans, and walking away nearly free of charge on their tax returns. At best, they're *triple* dipping from society!
If everyone's tithes were pooled to help the community, I coukd understand. Pay for utilities and upkeep of the church, and give the community access for gatherings, education, etc. Give the pastor a nice salary and home, fine with me. But " blessings" should come in giving back, to build up food, shelter, safety and well-being of those in need. Non-profit means NON Profit, anything in excess kept by the church is theft.
Yes! It's common sense that the church needs to keep the lights on, and that the full-time staff should be paid a living wage. But beyond that you've gotta do as Jesus would do (obligatory: if he really existed), and give it back to those in need, especially among the church members and local community. Actually I used to go to a tiny church that did just that... They were barely able to afford to rent space for their church services, and the pastor had a non-religious day job to pay his bills, but they organized tons of community service events where they would help out in local low-income neighborhoods. I _really_ admired that pastor.
+ the Church's form of "giving back" to communities should be ACTUAL help and not some vague "help them find God" counseling services. It's dishonest as fuck to say you're giving to the poor yet you only give them "God's word". It has the exact same energy as restaurant guests tipping with "The only tip you need is Jesus's love!" cards :|
During the great desperation, my great, great grandfather went to church to try and find some comfort. He was barely getting by and had just enough money to feed his family, but that was it. When the offering basket was being passed around, he couldn’t give anything, he couldn’t afford to. The shame and social pressure that he felt after that resulted in him never going back to a church for the rest of his life. He was still christen, but he hated organized religion. This shit has been happening for years, and it’s revolting how these people will take advantage of those who can barely get by.
This makes me so happy I don't tithe anymore. I was actually told by a senior friend, that "tithing is for old people, you young ones have families to raise."
@@heathercontois4501 sorry, I forget that not everyone is chronically online like I am. W just means your friend is a winner. He's a great friend. Sorry and have a great life!
The only time I never questioned tithing was when I attended a church where I saw them using the funds for taking care of the congregation. They bought a woman a car They paid daycare tuition for those that couldn't afford it. Even paid my and many other folks rent. I'm not even a believer anymore and I still donate to that church cause they keep doing things like that.
@@aurorapaisley7453 atheist? Yeah I'm sure. How can you say they are doing "God's" work if you don't believe in the entity whose work you claim they're doing? I can see that they're doing good work that sounds like a fantastic church and as an atheist to myself I would in fact donate to said church but that doesn't mean they're doing the work of any God they're just being good humans what people call God is inside every one of us all the time we just have to access and utilize it. It's nothing more than an immense propensity for good and kindness we all have it. Well except for a very small number of people.
@@kovudiangelo7734 what some call "God" is inside of all of us. All thime. It's called humanity and it's doesn't ce form some magic toddler with apocalyptic temper tantrums. It's with us at all times. People should know that. Our nation (America) is in the shitter because religion has been used (one of the methods at least)to make people cowardly ass twats who believe "violence" is never ok unless it's committed by government boot licks. It's why so many children were harmed and why so many people are lost. They have been bombarded by filth like "Christianity" and "Islam" and what the hell ever have you. Religion is POISONOUS LIES used to hypnotize the masses convince them they are helpless trash and can only be "saved" by blind mindless obedience to whatever is the latest "thing" all the while robbing and enslaving us all mind body and soul.
@Brielle_Zoe A person's morality is decided by actions not appearance. Just cuz they might be nice to people in passing doesn't mean they aren't entirely two faced. Just cuz they might shake your hand and give you full respect, doesn't mean they didn't just make thousands of people homeless or unable to pay certain debts or etc. His lack of morality is entirely quantifiable. Like, Vlad the impaler was probably a chill dude, if you did everything he said to a T and were never his enemy or poor. You could say the same about most people. They aren't giving the bird to everyone they walk past, wow, what a nice guy!
My family in the Southside of Chicago had been going to a single catholic church for 3 generations. Had almost all family weddings in said church and never missed a week. Then one day after I had moved away and lost my faith in god and the church my aunt calls me with news. The priest had pulled her aside and told her that he had been keeping track of her tithe. Which was odd as all of it was anonymous. Then told her that if she didn't give more she would have to find a new church. That almost broke her....
That's disappointing. The church does not require tithes, so this priest was either very corrupt (which happened everywhere) or the story is bs. I'm more inclined to believe that you guys got stuck with a scrappy priest, I'm very sorry.
If you want to do some good, I suggest giving your 10% to a homeless shelter, soup kitchen or women's refuge. Pastors are salaried, and churches pay no tax.
Speaking as someone who is in the process of trying to figure out what I truly believe, I've started donating my 10% to charity organizations. I don't feel comfortable enough in my faith to give it to the church anymore.
There are groups that rate charities, by how much goes to overhead/salaries, what is actually supported, what they provide, what they "believe" or if they're non-religious. Or one can wade through the paperwork to find all that.
@@justinland1208 That's why I choose small, local charities and, where possible, make my donations "in kind" - food, blankets, toiletries - rather than in cash.
@@justinland1208 No they are not. I'm not saying everything is fine, their are some big scandals and really questionable choices made by some. But the sole fact that NGOs have to disclose how they spend the money makes a huge difference in compare to churches. It might appear as if it was as worst in charities as in churches only because it is way easier to spot corruption or insane salary in charities rather than in churches. A lot of people would be more than astonished if they knew how much money most churches are earning and how they chose to spend it. Lucky for them, they don't have to publish it. Which also make churches a really great tool to launder money easily.
A woman once told me that when she and her husband were young they had little money. She told her pastor that she felt badly that they could not tithe. Her pastor told her not to feel badly; he said that anything she did for others, buying a sick person a get well card, donating food, helping someone who was sick, even thinking of a friend on her birthday counted as part of that tithe. By that reasoning you could take your 10% and give to the food bank, help others, support non-profits and “tithe”.
At least that pastor sounds nice, rather than the blood-sucking demons you see in this video, demanding people send money to the church even when they're financial trouble. Disgusting.
@@mechanomics2649 On the nose! Churches love Capitalism cos they get to "opt out" of paying any tax, yet reap all the profits and get all the benefits of what taxes do - like those housing subsidies, not to mention roads & the post office that brings them tithing checks & so on. And cornering the market of every possible thing all over spots in Colorado & whatever other holes. (No spite to CO, just specifically those weird Millerite towns, and their tentacles that spread far beyond.)
I left Christianity about a year ago, but I still haven't really processed or deconstructed the things I was raised to believe. I found this channel a few months ago and have been going back and watching almost all of your videos and podcasts. Thank you for making these and for sharing parts of your story. Listening to you has really helped me process all those deep rooted beliefs in my head and helped me see the flaws and contradictions in religion from a different point of view, from someone who has already been through the deconstruction process. I really appreciate the work you've put into this channel and your podcast, thank you so much :)
Good luck. Just keep in mind it's a process and can take a while for some. In my case, long after I stopped believing I still sometimes had an irrational fear of hell.
I will say this for my Catholic Church. One Sunday a year we talk about money, if we are under budget (not enough collections) the priest tells us that and asks for us to be extra generous if we can. If we are over budget, (maybe 25 percent of the time) we are told where the extra money is going. Usually the youth group gets a free or reduced extra trip or something and the rest of the overflow goes to the other Catholic Churches in our diocese
I was just talking about tithing to my non-indoctrinated boyfriend. Explaining to him how my mother guilted me when I was 7 or 8 about birthday money I was excited about. The knowing glance and disapproving eyebrow raise when she said “you really should be tithing 10%” was seared into my brain and made me feel so anxious and depressed as a kid when I couldn’t/didn’t want to give.
@@srslydoatm9251 When I was going to my old church I won the customer of the month award at a restaurant. I got $20 of the waiter's tips and my parents made me tithe 10% of the amount and I was about 6 or 7. In the church's youth Sunday school (7-IDK late teens) they would have all of the kids tithe. I don't think that it was mandatory (I don't really remember because it was a long time ago), but it was most likely frowned upon not to give something. I eventually it got to the point where I would give 1 cent because it was every Sunday and I didn't like spending any money (mine or other's). My mom wanted me to give at least 25 cents, but I refused and I thought I was a bad person for this. I eventually realized I could be doing worse than not giving a lot and after about 2 years we left the church because it was a toxic place. P.S My parents aren't terrible , they were just a bit brainwashed by the church (everyone there probably is) and sorry for the rant.
It's the reason they do the whole church thing. It pays extremely well if you do it right. Plus, no taxes! You'd better believe they're going to be asking for ALL THAT MONEY!!$!$!$!!
I used to think that the plate was for the needy so I would take a bit off of the top. I learned later that it was just for the church and I was confused.
It's absolutely disgusting how they care so little for the lives of their followers. Actually telling people to give them their money before they feed their children. Before they make sure they continue to have a roof over their families heads. Give me your money before you provide heat and light to the people who depend upon you. If this is the word of god. If sacrificing your family's health and security is required for proper worship of your God. If your god makes you give money to millionaires while you have homelessness and starvation are pervasive in our country and communities. How can you pretend to stand upon any sort of morality and ethics at all. What other evidence is required to show how morally bankrupt the system you support actually is.
Even when I was deep in Christianity I thought that churches should be taxed. My parents, while still religious, left because one of their friends was homeless and sleeping in her car but the pastors all had homes beyond what my folks could ever afford and didn’t lift a finger to help their faithful church member who had lost her home.
Same happened at my home church which was a well to do mega church that definitely had the income to help others. (The pastor lived in a mansion and drove around in a Maserati) One of the members, a widowed mother with multiple children was laid off from her job and fell behind on her rent. She was always at church working and giving her time, money, volunteering even when she didn’t have a sitter. She asked if there was any way they could help her so she wouldn’t lose her home and they did nothing but prayed for her. She lost her home and lived in her van for a few months. Once she was able to find an apartment, my mom gave her our living room and dining room furniture(we got new furniture), cash for toiletries and I gave clothing that I outgrew to her kids. My mom, grandma and I helped her more than the church did. My mom was a single mom herself but she had it in her heart to give what she could. These churches take all the money for themselves, but could never turn around and use that money for members in the church that may have an emergency or fallen on hard times. While I’m no longer Christian, I believe the church should have more empathy for their followers, and since they have the funds, they should help out instead of living in mansions and driving fancy cars. Till this day I wonder about that lady, if she’s still a member of the church or still Christian. I’m 33 years old now but this was when I was 10. I knew then something was terribly wrong.
Man I remember my old pastors especially my last one. He was a felon while he was in prison he found religion. When he got out he got a decent job. Then opened a super small church. Sure he said if you wanna give you give. If not or if you can't bring supplies like tp tents canned food and such. And then he would go around with those who were free to give out the supplies to the needy. He would sacrifice what would be extra money to pay the bills and taxes for the church. We would sometimes put some money towards those even though he never asked for that.
I went to a church, that quarterly sent out a statement with by the numbers breakdown of how tithes and offerings were spent. I really liked that transparency. I wish more churches were doing that.
Ironically, the concept of tithing is one of the few things that the bible explains very clearly down to the smallest detail. Why is that ironic? Because tithing in the bible is more of a tax on farmers, only given to the poor, widows, and monks with zero property (Levites). But today, it is given to rich pastors to add to their wealth. It is that one thing churches say to follow without actually following it.
Came here to say this. What’s more ironic is that the tithing system is centered around the Temple at Jerusalem and since we Christians no longer have a Temple, we shouldn’t be tithing at all!
lol maybe we could do something like this redistributive income policies seem to make the economy better somewhat, and it likely also will help innovation in the long term albeit keep the poor just poor enough such that they dont damn starve to death or have health problems and such but at the same time just enough to feel unsatisfied with their lives and want to go higher because competition helps the economy a lot
In some churches even in the 20th century, unofficial pew-rent was a thing. My great-grandmother was moved from the front pew because she couldn't afford to give enough money. So she just stopped going to church.
@@laceybabay1013 It definitely scarred the family for generations. My grandmother didn't really go back until her 70s. Oddly enough her children are all some form of conservative Christian. My dad being the most extreme: he's Catholic, and I'm not 100% but I think he is a Society of St Pius X guy, possibly believing that Paul VI was assassinated and the Second Vatican Council was called by his imposter.
@@Futt.Buckerson as a former Trad Catholic (Fraternity of St. Peter which was supposed to be part of the mainstream church as its founders broke off from the Society that you mentioned) I saw the SSPX as a bunch of nutjobs, or religious extremists at least, while I was just that at one point and years ago I heard that the local chapel of theirs required that you dressed like the 1950's or they wouldn't let you in for Mass which is something my former parish, however conservative it was, never did before I left almost two years ago. However one of the things that led me to ditch Catholicism entirely was finding out that my parish was for some reason filled with creationists (one of them a former friend of mine now in seminary in Nebraska) which led me to finding out that I was supposed to believe in a literal Adam and Eve because otherwise the whole Original Sin bit doesn't work out, so I suppose that if it wasn't for the Trad movement I may have deconverted later than I did in life (after all it was also through the SSPX that I found out just how Catholic theology contradicts itself through the ages despite the apologists denying it to their last breath).
@@Futt.Buckerson Is there much contrast between the Society of St. Pius X, the Opus Dei, and whichever Cathol had the flagellantes whipping their backs with beaded ropes?
@@dominicfucinari1942 pretty much the only real difference is that the former refuses to obey the pope and says the Mass in Latin while the latter doesn't do any of that. Either way both look like cults to me and I can't believe I once considered joining the Opus Dei and somewhat admired their founder.
I'm personal friends with God (the one, the only), and if you send me some cash I can take it up with the big man and maybe we can come to an agreement. No promises.
@@lrcavalli290 also he’s everywhere and judges you for what you do with ur genitals but lets people starve and die from horrible diseases all the time.
My family used to go to church often. My brother and I also were schooled at that church as well. All of that cost 4 to 5 times as much as public school. My parents were working their asses off and could barely feed us. We were 8n debt for over 20 years. My parents also went to court because they couldn't pay their debts during the time we went to that church. It wasn't till we stopped going to church and and paying such high prices for school, that we were able to keep above water.
The point of "tithes" in the old testament was a way to protect the poor. Leaving a tenth of your crops for the poor to take. And actually if we lived in a society where the rich (or even everyone) gave 10% to those less fortunate than them, then we would be in a more fair society. But like always, the church has twisted that into bleeding the poor and giving to themselves.
I wish I heard this before. As a child my family was extremely poor, and my mom would rather scrap up money to give the church than for me and my siblings. I couldn’t properly believe in a god when my mom would rather let us go hungry for him. It wasn’t justifiable to me in the slightest.
That's what taxes are supposed to be. A small percentage of all our production goes to support the baseline for society. But that's been poisoned over generations so much that we thinks it's how it always was and how it's supposed to be.
The moment that my church was reluctant to baptize my son because I wasn't in the Pew putting money in the collection plate every week. Is the moment that I decided I was never going to put money in the collection plate again!
I couldn't care less about Christianity but I'm devouring these videos. These are all incredibly insightful, well-edited, and you are a wonderful narrator. I am shocked you don't have a million subscribers.
I remember I grew up ELCA Lutheran, which is pretty liberal, and I first heard about tithing 10% from my youth pastor who said her family did it. I straight up told her that was stupid, especially because we already do offering, bake sales, and silent auctions. 10% of your income is way too much, and you know that's why they want people to get married and have kids, to keep that money flowing.
I never felt so utterly repulsed by the absolute absence of basic human empathy. Kenny here acknowledges that people are losing their jobs, but still wants them email money. I don't understand how the people that give him money don't understand that hes nothing but a con artist that laughs at the face of the poor. These pastors are literally leeches on society. As for the introduction, I'm really sorry that you went through that. I'm happy to see that you're still carrying on, we all have to after all.
I don't think Pastor's should be on the verge of homelessness but I feel the "surplus" from the forced tithes should go to helping as many of "God's children" as they can manage while keeping the lights on, not to a new private jet.
That's the thing though, that money going to "God's children" is a pretext for proselytizing to those in desperate situations. The Church has been spec designed to scoop up new believers when they are at their most desparate. I'm ok with pastor's losing their jobs as pastors because of how much damage they do in the context of that job. I agree with you 💯% that the person behind the job of pastor shouldn't be homeless because I think basic housing should be a human right. I just don't think the job of pastor needs to be the means through which they are kept afloat. Especially not off the backs of so many desparate people who are giving what they can't afford to give because that pastor is telling them it's God's will.
Hey man, I just want to say that I really appreciate your videos. I had a litany of reasons for why I fell away from my faith and eventually turned fully against it, but I have never been able to really explain it or coalesce it in my mind fully. You have given me the tools to do just that. Thank you!
my parents gave almost $200 to the church every week, nearly $800 a month, but for birthdays and christmas, they gave my sibling and me a budget of $100 total for gifts (still thankful for my parents, but they clearly had their priorities, and it wasn’t their kids)
@@later_babes "and it wasn't their kids" That absolutely stuck with me growing up and on other issues I didn't know if the church was more important or me.
Now I want to start an atheist church that actually gives the money to charities that helps all people not just specific people who fit the churches description.
@@monus782 we had a small group, so I’d say very informal and fun. There was singing, usually a speaker talking about something interesting- sometimes related to philosophy or religion, sometimes something just completely random, like spiders. Or once a guy talked about ham radio. 😂 We would do inspirational readings, A moment of reflection, and a segment called “life happens“ where the group would share things happening in their lives. I made some good friends there.
2:45 "Your job's not your source" I've rewatched this video so many times and I can't stop feeling stunned at this line. "Your job's not your source." I'm struggling because I can't figure out if this is a religious concept of differentiating "Job" as a thing god put you on this earth to do, or if this is just a weird capitalism thing where the guy who said this is so divorced that he thinks people just...have a second line of income in times of everything that happened in 2020
My church encouraged people to give what they had, and used most of thr money to buy food and supplies to run a soup kitchen during the pandemic. It actually showed me how much people were willing to give, not because they felt they had too, but because they knew it was going to help people.
In Germany we have to pay „church tax“ when we are a member of the catholic or Protestant church. This is the reason why I’m going to leave the church as soon as I get an appointment. My conservative Christian family doesn’t have to know.
@@apolloandwarrior_3229 In Poland, belonging to a church does not have any legal or financial consequences, and (at least in case of Catholic Church) leaving requires handing a notice with a copy of the baptismal record to the local priest, so most non-believers do not bother with paperwork and just ignore the whole thing.
What about members of Mosques or Orthodox churches? Isn't this a huge violation of religions freedom? They can't just give some religions money but not others. Of course, Germany shouldn't give religions any amount of money, but they should stay consistent and fair.
Jokes on them. I'm an introvert. Mandated isolation, and less crowed public spaces was indeed freedom for me, and I actually had more money coming in than last year, so sure, they were right. In a way. :p
Just wanting to share love for fellow Canadian ... thinkers. Let's go with that. Thank you for your regular videos, questioning critiquing, and even encouraging APPROPRIATE various aspects of Christianity.
Church in the old days (like during 1st century CE): we are basically a charity organisation. The money collected will be sent to those who are in need, and the preacher will take the oath of poverty so that other people's needs are met first. Church today: I have a private jet plane but you will still have to give me money even though you're poor because it's the pandemic.
How weird is it that they keep showing, and how irresponsible to keep implying, that giving your money away will be instantly followed by getting even more back?
@@spate7207 well pretty much all evangelicals tithe because their preachers have told them that they will get more back in one way or another. Planting a seed, blah blah, BS.
My dad’s a pastor and anytime I’ve had financial problems, instead of buying my groceries or paying a bill for me he tells me to tithe. I’m an atheist now but even when I was a Christian the idea of giving 10% of my income to the church when I was struggling to pay rent just pissed me off. And the fact that my dad thinks it’s helpful financial advice to tell someone to give 10% of your money away is just fucking mind blowing to me.
Pre pandemic my family started attending a new church. I mentioned that I didn’t really like how the preacher talked because it kind of just seemed like he was yelling his points to make them seem deeper than they were. No one agreed with me at the time, but after making the switch to live streamed services, my mom started to understand what I meant. When you no longer have the people in the room, it makes it significantly harder for them to become immersed by the techniques that are used. And along with that, she also stopped tithing to them.
"I didn't know what my balance was." If ever there was a line written by a rich person. People who live from check to check know their checking balance down to the penny every moment of every day.
I tithed and gave offerings when I was in Church, we were always struggling financially, credit shot, filed for bankruptcy, car got repoed, nothing in savings. I left about 7 years ago. We're now financially stable, excellent credit, own my house and have enough savings to keep me afloat for a bit. My advice, don't give in to the grift, no matter how emotionally manipulative it is.
My mother loved ghost stories, especially faith promoting ghost stories. One of her favorites: a mother was worried about her son in the navy during a war. When, she was doing the dishes, she heard the voice of her son behind her. When she turned around, he was standing there in the kitchen looking at her. "Are you on leave? How long can you say?" "I can only stay for a few moments, Mom. I have just come to tell you that I am okay. Everything is all right." She turned to dry her hands, and when she looked again, he was gone. Later, she was informed by the military that his ship had gone down with all hands. The enemy attack was exactly the date and time, he had visited her. It is not all the relevant to the topic under discussion, but whenever I hear one of these tithing miracles, I think of the raw power of an anecdotal fallacy, especially a faith promoting ghost story.
I grew up Christian, closeted gay, conversion therapy. After getting out I loved watching all of the anti-religious documentaries like Religulous or Jesus Camp. There hasn't been much for a few years and you have an entire channel devoted to it! Love it!!
DarkMatter2525. His channel has really been helping me deconstruct and think clearly, and I just found his channel, like, 3 days ago? His stuff is entertaining and thought-provoking.
I cannot remember a day when I woke up and found "God" to be working away, doing my job for me. I ain't giving that freeloader a friggin' dime. When I do go to my job in the morning, I always tune into the 700 Club. I love watching the Ginger, the Hag, and the Alien - I always like to start my day with a big belly laugh - and they never disappoint. My son could never understand why $700 club would be on T.V. and more so why the hell I was watching it. I gave him pearls of wisdom that day. I said, son, it is always good to be in the know of what the crazies are thinking and saying these days, and this show pretty much sums it all up for you in a half-hour. A fool and their money are easily parted.
the original reason to pay for the religious institute was because they provided community services, today most religious institutes don't provide those services and can't (as they are part of the government and city management). but they still need the money (even after the massive tax break), thus Tithing.
@@dr.insaneoiv one of an endless list of ways a lot of modern Christians have fundamentally the inverse belief of what the Bible says Jesus did. Guess Jesus’s fan club barely cares about what good things he did say or do
If I could change things I would not take away the charitable exemption but require all churches to fully disclose how much money they take in and account for how it's spent including the pastor's compensation. Then if people still want to give to that group/church they are free to do so. Other charities have higher levels of accountability than religions.
I know this is an old post, but I wanted to point out that I worked for a not for profit organization and we had to account for all money coming in and going out. It's ridiculous that churches don't have to do the same.
It's absolutely sickening how these people and institutions abuse these people's generosity. I would never want to discourage people from helping those in need, being generous with your money, time, and other resources is admirable. But these pastors are churches that are already loaded and fly their own planes, they are not the people in need of your generosity.
i used to go to a church in a poor community, every year, for the pastors birthday and pastor appreciation day they would gather funds from these poor people, to buy him a new suit and his wife a new dress. it was disgusting. as soon as I could i stopped going
Watching this and then thinking of my childhood pastor who rarely mentioned giving beyond a general encouragement to be generous to others. He always said he felt gross preaching on tithing and that he knew we were generous people and he wasn't worried about us letting his family starve. My pastor lived comfortably as in never struggling to pay basic bills or afford a modest house. But he's never been rich either. And he's a kind, giving man who has taken good care of his people in return. That's how it should be.
I was raised in church. I even worked for the church for a few years. When I saw the inner workings of the church I left. It is truly a money making operation. The pastor would come in and ask how much we took in after the offering. It was unspeakably ugly.
Homeless guy: is starving to death Atheists: *gives their spare money Pastors: We'll pray for you and when you're finally back on your feet, give us 10% of your income
The talk that Charles Stanley gave about tithing and trusting, was given at my church a few years ago. It was specifically to a couple who lost almost everything. That, among other ceremonies, was the point of me to stop believing in the existence of god or gods. It was heartbreaking to see that couple struggling to make ends meet and still being pushed to pay up.
It's really nothing to do with God at all. It's the manipulation of some very greedy pastors etc who are doing a great job of making God look awful and merciless. I promise you, He's not in the slightest happy about all this either. I don't give anything now. Very satisfying.
Just make a church of the charitable bum. Where it looks as shoddy as possible so you know the money isn't going to the preacher or aesthetic, and will get spent elsewhere on good stuff. And then do field trips on how to volunteer to help the homeless or such.
Me as a child: I don't think I'm a Catholic and want to explore other religions. My mum: you can be any religion you want as long as you keep going to church, catechism, Christian summer camp and go through confirmation.
I remember once telling a priest that I wanted to get into the entertainment industry and the only thing he said to me was "whatever happens just give to the church"... I chuckled and said don't you bastards have enough money??
Man I feel so horrible that so many people have been brainwashed into believing that they need to give a portion of their earnings to the church even if they can’t afford it. I realized lately I have more religious trauma than I thought and your videos are really helping me understand and work through it, thank you!
This video made me remember all the guilt I felt when I was 15 and younger for not giving 10%. I mean I felt a lot of anxiety about it. Why did they pass around a tithe basket during the elementary kids service? It creeps me out so much.
Rent is so horrible now that it's literally impossible for a lot of people to tithe 10% now if even they want too, ironically these same people who are always wanting you to go to church often also support corporations becoming as powerful as possible. My parents have been tithing 10% for years, we could have had our house paid off about 7 years ago but no, their religion had to get in the way, did I mention that they have struggled with money a few times?
When I was religious in my after college years I didn't tithe. I was struggling. I can proudly say I never gave 10% of a paycheck. Just a few bucks here and there.
I remember when I had a newspaper route my mom would make me take out 10% of every paycheck I got for church I went with it without complaint cause I was just a little kid, but deep down I hated being told what to do with what I earned and I'm still salty about my mom doing that to me
Watching this the demon possessing Kenneth Copeland should trade him in for a better,less horrifying model. The way his face looks like it is barely hanging on is creepy as hell😂
The demon possessing him is afraid to leave him. It knows it has a tiger by the tail. Copeland is a zillion times as dangerous and evil as any demon or fallen angel imaginable.
Amen brother, amen. Pardon my southern for, Wonderfully researched and laid out content my guy, I genuinely appreciated what you've made 👌🏻 fr fr, good stuff
This is one of the few times that makes me think that being raised Catholic wasn't so bad in comparison to those groups (at least in some things) as even as a broke college student the very conservative parish I was greatly involved with never pressured me to tithe, at least not this way. I've heard from former members that it's worse in the Mormon church as you're more or less forced to give the usual 10% or you're in serious trouble, so my upbringing could've easily been worse.
Yeah I was raised Catholic too and while tithing was expected it wasn’t insisted upon in sermons and it wasn’t framed as giving money to “God”, you knew you were giving it to the church.
@@birdiejett3163 pretty much, the Church may be greedy in some other ways but I'll give props to them in that most of the times they're at least not that blatantly shameless about it unlike these scumbag preachers, although of course one could argue that's because they learned their lesson after the Reformation happened.
I have my hang-ups about Roman Catholic history, but to know that Blab It And Grab It is more blatant about passing themselves as God is really saying a lot. Also, I've heard that the LDS aristocracy wants people to turn to the church structure for help with problems that can't be resolved at the family level before asking for help from the public sector. If the LDS aristocracy is pushing so hard for tithes, perhaps some of them are using it to trap people within the LDS' circle.
@@dominicfucinari1942 I've also have heard that even the poorest members are pressured to tithe by their bishops, to their great detriment just like with these preachers, and that the LDS church owns a crapton of land (alongside around $100 billion dollars in stocks sitting around somewhere), even more so than most corporations.
Former Catholic here. I’m right there with you. Say what you will about the RCC and its positions on birth control, homosexuality, support for fascist regimes, and child sexual abuse obstruction, the RCC doesn’t tithe and its clergy live a very modest existence.
The way i tithe: throw the money in the air, God takes what he wants, any that comes back down he's giving back to me
I put my money in my bank account and then whatever god doesn't take I figure is mine
😂😂 brilliant
However much money any God or other deity gets from me is how much charities can be trusted with... which is not much, because most charities, particularly the big and famous ones, absorb the proceeds instead.
That's a very old joke.
@@annalieff-saxby568 classics never die 😂
"What's 10% of zero" has big "sell their homes to whom, Ben?" vibes
FUCKING AKWAMAN????
I love that joke.
Also reminds me of: "Larry, I'm on duck tales"
It also has big "what does god need with a starship" vibe.
I hate that I know what thats in reference to 😂
Oh man... You can't get any more stereotypical villain than Kenneth Copeland. He's a natural.
He looks like he stepped right out of an episode of LazyTown.
People like him should only exist in comic books. His "character design" just scream minor villain
He looks like the guy you'd get to play the Devil disguised as a human.
Dude would get crazy heel heat as a pro wrestling manager.
i swear that guy is evil
When I was a kid saw my uncle brag about how much he gave to the church. He was a contractor and built a house free labor for his pastor. Meanwhile, his poor widowed mother's house was literally falling apart around her.
I know a couple people who were helping our former pastor build his house and they both fell off the roof and sustained severe injuries. Guess who didn't help them with their hospital bills, or even make a claim on their insurance? These guys were working under the table for their pastor, and their pastor took them for all they were worth. Broken backs, a shattered pelvis, etc. and that pastor just casually ignores their pain as he goes to preach another sermon.
I think they used him as the model for that creepy SAW Movie puppet.
My uncle built the church. You should've seen the house he lived in. Holes in the floor, rooms with no doors, a kitchen that was sloooowly repaired after a fire, broken tiles, etc. The church on the other hand was a masterpiece, high ceilings, a fountain in the entryway, stained glass windows, river rock baptistry, etc. His labor was free, but he bragged about the church buying the supplies... like what the heck?
@@SmolTrailer I had a Mexican friend in Mexico, her mother's lifelong dream was to go to Vatican city and see the pope. My friend, Nancy, worked hard and saved and took her mother as a gift to mark her 60th birthday. Her mom was thrilled and when they got back, Nancy left the chuch. She grew up in a poor community where people would pull together whatever few precious cents they could manage, to put in the collection plate on Sunday. She wasn't impressed with the wealth, she was disgusted. (Like anyone with a functioning mind should be).
@@TheKim369 My boyfriend is from Nicaragua, he has similar feelings about the wealth and super nice mega churches. Like there are people dying in Nicaragua because they don't have food or medical access (to extensive procedures, basic procedures are free) and yet they have mega churches there too.
Kenneth Copeland is the most impressive stop motion clay animation I've ever witnessed.
If he was edited into Moral Orel no one would notice
OH MY 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Kenneth Copeland saying "don't you stop tithing" to people struggling to pay for basic necessities is absolutely deplorable. He should be helping them financially not guilting them into parting ways with more money.
The whole idea of tithing was meant for the church to help out the poor and helpless in the community. It's been taken over by people who take "God's" money to live like kings.
I know, just because there's always someone more needy does not invalidate your being needy.
From what I understand, that was what sacrifices were about in general. People weren't just burning up animals and tossing them away. They were used to feed the community and those less fortunate. The aspect of charity has been completely removed from the concept of sacrifice in modern culture, and looking at these people who control of the collection plates I think there's a deliberate reason for that.
I don't know why anybody follows that guy. He looks like Satan. I've never seen anybody who looks as evil as that guy does.
Meanwhile he flies around in his personal jet.
Modern evangelicals: "you can buy blessings
Martin Luther's disembodied voice: am I a joke to you?
It's called a full circle revolution
@@juanausensi499 it's called insanity.
Martin Luther founded Lutheranism. Modern Baptists are from a different branch of Protestantism. However, the original Baptists told members to renounce worldly wealth.
@@samfisher9413fax
It isn’t a modern thing
If Kenneth Copeland took off his rubbery mask-face and revealed himself to secretly be the devil himself all along, I wouldn't be surprised in the least. Dude legit freaks me out.
i like how he relies on his followers to give money to keep the church's lights on....why doesn't he just pray for money?? i swear, these slimy fkers are scamming millions right in front of our eyes.
They would still give him their money. They're programmed, which means they don't do any thinking, just what they're told to do.
Right?! I didn't believe in the devil until I saw him laughing. Like holy shit, I feared for my non existence soul.
I always think he looks like the puppet “Madame“ of Wayland Flowers and Madame. Look it up.
@@chasethe808 Oh, my god!
“God is my business partner”.
I laughed way too hard at that.
I was raised as a secular Jew and Jews just have folks mail annual donations privately to the synagogue. I freaked out the first time I went to a Christian church and they passed a collection plate. I thought that was bizarre.
It's quite common to spread around a box of donations in secular communities as well.
My local political party does that very thing.
Me: What if I just give 10 percent of my income directly to a homeless person?
The church: waTCH UR MOUTH BOY
This is what is what l do now. Churches get money from the government these days without paying taxes!!
Lol
They'd say you're enabling the homeless to stay homeless 😂
My very religious granny refuses to give money to homeless people but she makes sure to pay her tithes 😂💀
I have seen literally thousands of collection plate offerings (former Evangelical). I have NEVER seen a pastor put money into the plate for tithes.
Neither did I ever see this happen. I guess they think it doesn't apply to them🤔😂
I do tax returns for a bunch of Ministers. Most do contribute a good sum. I won't swear on 10%, though.
@@ghostest1719 this is where it gets even crazier. Some churches have really slick moves to help pastors evade giving tithes. Because a church doesn't have to discole it's finances, the church can literally print out a receipt for the pastor's non-existent tithe. A lot of churches know they will never be audited!
@@breveth If we could elect legislators who actually had the power, we could pressure them to change the law and subject these mega-ministries to the burden they deserve. The megachurches are no better than the multi-Gigadollar corporations who stashed money away in the Cayman Islands.
They took the proverb a fool and his money are soon parted to heart.
I once played a goblin priest in World of Warcraft. For those who don't know, Goblins in WoW are mostly money-obsessed grifters. Some people said that, therefore, a Goblin Priest made no sense. So when I RP'd, my goblin just repeated what megachurch pastors say about tithing except replace "God" with "The Light". It was surprisingly spot on.
ok thats actually genius and I may borrow that one day for a build.
lmao nice,,
😂 that's how I see Kenneth copeland an all those mega churches 💯
This topic reminds me how I like to think about if Jesus were alive today, he'd be flipping tables all across the country. Jesus would be _pissed_ if he could see the state of Christianity today.
I'm an athiest but jesus (fictional or otherwise) was a pretty cool guy.
I think we'd agree on a lot.
I think he would have good reason to be pissed as these people are doing everything he spoke out against & saying that he approves😓
"WHAT IN MY DAD'S NAME ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING DOWN HERE???"
I would love to hear them try to explain this to Jesus. I can't see it going well😂
@@an8strengthkobold360 i cant agree that jesus was a cool guy, for one, that rat advocated for slavery and is more on the level of mother teresa level kind of scum, preaching about love and peace while advocating for atrocities. being crucified on the cross for our sin was jesus/god's way of saying be irresponsible.
Tithing was the thing that made my family initially break with organized religion. Our church asked us to give up our summer vacation to Disney World and donate that money to the church so they could build a coffee shop in the lobby and some tennis courts. We stopped going to church that week and as far as I know, none of my family have regularly gone to church in the last 24 years. Since then we have all had our own individual paths from evangelical fundamentalist to generic christian to various other landing points (deism, atheism, polytheism) but it was church greed that was the wakeup call on organized religion.
Quite frankly, this was the first of many nails in the coffin of my adherence to religion. After my Uncle Robert died of cancer (six days of watching him suffocate and writhe), I began to very heavily study the Bible. The first thing that really bothered me was the idea that the tithe was mandatory for all Christians, as, when the scripture reading on it came about, I looked around the listed reading to find the audience and setting. I quickly realized that we were being lied to and started digging deeper. The more I studied in English, Hebrew and Greek (thanks to Walter Stooksbury, a Messianic Jew, for the guidance in understanding Hebrew), the less the current teachings matched up. I began to write everything down with references, context (both cultural and scriptural), audience and setting. I began trying to help people realize they were being lied to by making copies and passing them around to various members. Needless to say, I got booted from two and blacklisted by another (only after I compared a quote from the Bible to a quote from the Quran and described it as an illustration of how similar the two religious texts are). I began to study even more and realize how few things even made any sense anymore compared to what the pastors were saying and after months of emotional turmoil and cognitive dissonance, I decided my life was more important than trying to cling to a faith that provided no care or comfort to me. It scrambled my head quite a bit, but I am doing a bit better with it. Anyway, thanks for the videos and the community here with my fellow Nones.
I'm so sorry that you went through so much, and simultaneously glad that you made it through so much
had a similar experience finding out jesus wouldn't have subscribed to most of the things christian churches teach. he'd probably be pretty horrified to find out people are idolizing him now
That is because they are based off of the same faiths.
Abraham is traditionally considered to be the first Jew and to have made a covenant with God. Because Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all recognize Abraham as their first prophet, they are also called the Abrahamic religions. While there was always a small community of Jews in historic Palestine, in 73 C.E.
When you call any church out about anything you are basically challenging their authority, they don't like being challenged. Because it takes the whole world believing to make it work, otherwise they are exposed for being a glorified tax free organization. With the exception of smaller churches, these mega churches help no one but themselves. People like Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland take in obscene amounts of money into their churches, but Joel turned away people during the flood in Huston Texas when many were displaced. He was so worried that they would defile "his" church with their presence. If I help to pay for something, I would expect to use it, that's what the tithes go for, repairs on the church, building a church from scratch, or helping the community writ large. Kenneth Copeland has three private jets and a mega mansion, but his followers live in a constant state of need, while he lives in his greed. And if anyone challenges him about it he gets visibility upset at the "accusations" against him. Especially if it is a woman doing the questioning. These people are vile, but their followers keep right on giving. All churches are tax free, but if people don't give then they don't survive. So they will say anything to keep the cash coming in. People are starting to get wise to that and it is scaring the churches to death to think they are in danger of losing their source of income. Less people would need, if the churches stopped their greed.
I think my tipping point true religion was when I started to realize send two actions that God takes in the Bible if a man was to do the same thing then he would be considered more evil than Stalin, Hitler, and Jim Jones combined.. omniscient God means that he is everywhere all at once he knows everything and he is morally infallible... Just one tiny example... After God flooded the entire world killing every living thing but Noah's family after it was done he felt bad, apologized, and promised to never do it again... Someone that is morally infallible 1 would not have flood and killed everything 2 would not have felt guilty for doing it because he knew it was the right thing to do and 3 would not had to apologize because he did nothing wrong. God is evil! Stop worshipping evil just because it has more power than you...
Certain interpretations of the Bible are only present in the USA. I grew up in heavily Catholic Poland, attended mandatory catechism classes, and yet learned about the tithing to the church only now...I am not saying religion doesn't have its share of problems elsewhere, but here its another animal altogether.
When I heard about churches asking members to give their entire stimulus checks to the church and then the churches also were getting ppp loans. It’s disgusting. It’s all about money. That’s it. Greedy bastards.
And they don't get taxed either
Scamming laborers out of their stimulus check money, joining with multinational corporations in hogging all the PPP loans, and walking away nearly free of charge on their tax returns. At best, they're *triple* dipping from society!
Of course, what else COULD it be about? There is no sky fairy, and no supernatural dieiety
How would they handle the obnoxious laughing?
Absolutely disgusting.
If everyone's tithes were pooled to help the community, I coukd understand. Pay for utilities and upkeep of the church, and give the community access for gatherings, education, etc. Give the pastor a nice salary and home, fine with me. But " blessings" should come in giving back, to build up food, shelter, safety and well-being of those in need. Non-profit means NON Profit, anything in excess kept by the church is theft.
Couldn't have said this better.
Yes! It's common sense that the church needs to keep the lights on, and that the full-time staff should be paid a living wage. But beyond that you've gotta do as Jesus would do (obligatory: if he really existed), and give it back to those in need, especially among the church members and local community.
Actually I used to go to a tiny church that did just that... They were barely able to afford to rent space for their church services, and the pastor had a non-religious day job to pay his bills, but they organized tons of community service events where they would help out in local low-income neighborhoods. I _really_ admired that pastor.
Amen
+ the Church's form of "giving back" to communities should be ACTUAL help and not some vague "help them find God" counseling services. It's dishonest as fuck to say you're giving to the poor yet you only give them "God's word". It has the exact same energy as restaurant guests tipping with "The only tip you need is Jesus's love!" cards :|
@@Orynae My man should be a role model for these televangelists
Ah yes prosperity gospel, the gift that keeps YOU giving.
During the great desperation, my great, great grandfather went to church to try and find some comfort. He was barely getting by and had just enough money to feed his family, but that was it. When the offering basket was being passed around, he couldn’t give anything, he couldn’t afford to. The shame and social pressure that he felt after that resulted in him never going back to a church for the rest of his life. He was still christen, but he hated organized religion.
This shit has been happening for years, and it’s revolting how these people will take advantage of those who can barely get by.
This makes me so happy I don't tithe anymore. I was actually told by a senior friend, that "tithing is for old people, you young ones have families to raise."
W friend
@@srslydoatm9251 Sorry?
@@heathercontois4501 sorry, I forget that not everyone is chronically online like I am. W just means your friend is a winner. He's a great friend. Sorry and have a great life!
@@srslydoatm9251 AH, okay. Thank you, I hope you have an awesome life yourself.
The only time I never questioned tithing was when I attended a church where I saw them using the funds for taking care of the congregation.
They bought a woman a car
They paid daycare tuition for those that couldn't afford it.
Even paid my and many other folks rent.
I'm not even a believer anymore and I still donate to that church cause they keep doing things like that.
Wow I'm an atheist yet they're doing god's work
@@aurorapaisley7453 atheist? Yeah I'm sure. How can you say they are doing "God's" work if you don't believe in the entity whose work you claim they're doing? I can see that they're doing good work that sounds like a fantastic church and as an atheist to myself I would in fact donate to said church but that doesn't mean they're doing the work of any God they're just being good humans what people call God is inside every one of us all the time we just have to access and utilize it. It's nothing more than an immense propensity for good and kindness we all have it. Well except for a very small number of people.
@@samfisher9413 jeez man wtf
@@kovudiangelo7734 what some call "God" is inside of all of us. All thime. It's called humanity and it's doesn't ce form some magic toddler with apocalyptic temper tantrums. It's with us at all times. People should know that. Our nation (America) is in the shitter because religion has been used (one of the methods at least)to make people cowardly ass twats who believe "violence" is never ok unless it's committed by government boot licks. It's why so many children were harmed and why so many people are lost. They have been bombarded by filth like "Christianity" and "Islam" and what the hell ever have you. Religion is POISONOUS LIES used to hypnotize the masses convince them they are helpless trash and can only be "saved" by blind mindless obedience to whatever is the latest "thing" all the while robbing and enslaving us all mind body and soul.
@Damien Chiroptera I didn't think it was ANY of those things. Well it WAS ironic I guess.
Kenneth Copeland is so terrifying looking. Great argument for the existence of demons lmao
The dude's face looks like it is melting😂 The demon needs to get a new skin suit ASAP😂
@Brielle_Zoe nice guy how? Everything about him is transparently fake and skeevy.
@Brielle_Zoe Oh he is a nice guy, just robbing thousands of poor desperate christians lmao
@Brielle_Zoe A person's morality is decided by actions not appearance. Just cuz they might be nice to people in passing doesn't mean they aren't entirely two faced. Just cuz they might shake your hand and give you full respect, doesn't mean they didn't just make thousands of people homeless or unable to pay certain debts or etc. His lack of morality is entirely quantifiable. Like, Vlad the impaler was probably a chill dude, if you did everything he said to a T and were never his enemy or poor. You could say the same about most people. They aren't giving the bird to everyone they walk past, wow, what a nice guy!
You should see him doing Ha Ha Ha... when he heard of Trump losing. Now that's legit scary.
My family in the Southside of Chicago had been going to a single catholic church for 3 generations. Had almost all family weddings in said church and never missed a week. Then one day after I had moved away and lost my faith in god and the church my aunt calls me with news. The priest had pulled her aside and told her that he had been keeping track of her tithe. Which was odd as all of it was anonymous. Then told her that if she didn't give more she would have to find a new church. That almost broke her....
"Hey Deborah, just so you know, I'm trying to run a scam here."
That's disappointing. The church does not require tithes, so this priest was either very corrupt (which happened everywhere) or the story is bs. I'm more inclined to believe that you guys got stuck with a scrappy priest, I'm very sorry.
@@Rattlehead-gy9ct It doesn't, but it does. It's in your book.
When I left church I decided I was a goddess and started to pay myself 10% right off the top. Best savings plan ever!
If you want to do some good, I suggest giving your 10% to a homeless shelter, soup kitchen or women's refuge. Pastors are salaried, and churches pay no tax.
Speaking as someone who is in the process of trying to figure out what I truly believe, I've started donating my 10% to charity organizations. I don't feel comfortable enough in my faith to give it to the church anymore.
Look close at charities and you’ll find most of them are as corrupt as most churches.
There are groups that rate charities, by how much goes to overhead/salaries, what is actually supported, what they provide, what they "believe" or if they're non-religious. Or one can wade through the paperwork to find all that.
@@justinland1208 That's why I choose small, local charities and, where possible, make my donations "in kind" - food, blankets, toiletries - rather than in cash.
@@justinland1208 No they are not. I'm not saying everything is fine, their are some big scandals and really questionable choices made by some. But the sole fact that NGOs have to disclose how they spend the money makes a huge difference in compare to churches. It might appear as if it was as worst in charities as in churches only because it is way easier to spot corruption or insane salary in charities rather than in churches.
A lot of people would be more than astonished if they knew how much money most churches are earning and how they chose to spend it. Lucky for them, they don't have to publish it. Which also make churches a really great tool to launder money easily.
A woman once told me that when she and her husband were young they had little money. She told her pastor that she felt badly that they could not tithe. Her pastor told her not to feel badly; he said that anything she did for others, buying a sick person a get well card, donating food, helping someone who was sick, even thinking of a friend on her birthday counted as part of that tithe. By that reasoning you could take your 10% and give to the food bank, help others, support non-profits and “tithe”.
At least that pastor sounds nice, rather than the blood-sucking demons you see in this video, demanding people send money to the church even when they're financial trouble. Disgusting.
But that would actually help people and we can't have that. Have to keep the poor poor and hoping to be "blessed" like a horse to carrot on a stick.
@@mechanomics2649 On the nose! Churches love Capitalism cos they get to "opt out" of paying any tax, yet reap all the profits and get all the benefits of what taxes do - like those housing subsidies, not to mention roads & the post office that brings them tithing checks & so on. And cornering the market of every possible thing all over spots in Colorado & whatever other holes. (No spite to CO, just specifically those weird Millerite towns, and their tentacles that spread far beyond.)
How is then going the pastor to buy his private jet?
😂
I left Christianity about a year ago, but I still haven't really processed or deconstructed the things I was raised to believe. I found this channel a few months ago and have been going back and watching almost all of your videos and podcasts. Thank you for making these and for sharing parts of your story. Listening to you has really helped me process all those deep rooted beliefs in my head and helped me see the flaws and contradictions in religion from a different point of view, from someone who has already been through the deconstruction process. I really appreciate the work you've put into this channel and your podcast, thank you so much :)
Thank you for putting into words what I've been thinking for months.
If you ever want to talk IM HERE 🙂
Good luck. Just keep in mind it's a process and can take a while for some. In my case, long after I stopped believing I still sometimes had an irrational fear of hell.
Mine was AXP.
Thank you for sharing. I appreciate this channel as well.
I will say this for my Catholic Church. One Sunday a year we talk about money, if we are under budget (not enough collections) the priest tells us that and asks for us to be extra generous if we can. If we are over budget, (maybe 25 percent of the time) we are told where the extra money is going. Usually the youth group gets a free or reduced extra trip or something and the rest of the overflow goes to the other Catholic Churches in our diocese
I was just talking about tithing to my non-indoctrinated boyfriend. Explaining to him how my mother guilted me when I was 7 or 8 about birthday money I was excited about. The knowing glance and disapproving eyebrow raise when she said “you really should be tithing 10%” was seared into my brain and made me feel so anxious and depressed as a kid when I couldn’t/didn’t want to give.
Making a child give up their money? Wth. I hope you're doing better
@@srslydoatm9251 When I was going to my old church I won the customer of the month award at a restaurant. I got $20 of the waiter's tips and my parents made me tithe 10% of the amount and I was about 6 or 7. In the church's youth Sunday school (7-IDK late teens) they would have all of the kids tithe. I don't think that it was mandatory (I don't really remember because it was a long time ago), but it was most likely frowned upon not to give something. I eventually it got to the point where I would give 1 cent because it was every Sunday and I didn't like spending any money (mine or other's). My mom wanted me to give at least 25 cents, but I refused and I thought I was a bad person for this. I eventually realized I could be doing worse than not giving a lot and after about 2 years we left the church because it was a toxic place. P.S My parents aren't terrible , they were just a bit brainwashed by the church (everyone there probably is) and sorry for the rant.
As a child I always wondered why they constantly asked for money.
It's the reason they do the whole church thing. It pays extremely well if you do it right. Plus, no taxes! You'd better believe they're going to be asking for ALL THAT MONEY!!$!$!$!!
Cause they are scammers.. every single religion is cancer
I noticed this too - they kept talking about how well-off their deity is, but kept asking for your money…
@@MrDmadness are you saying that each individual church is corrupt, or that religion as an institution is a scam?
I used to think that the plate was for the needy so I would take a bit off of the top. I learned later that it was just for the church and I was confused.
"But he always needs money"
- George Carlin
YES!!!!...my favorite
It's absolutely disgusting how they care so little for the lives of their followers. Actually telling people to give them their money before they feed their children. Before they make sure they continue to have a roof over their families heads. Give me your money before you provide heat and light to the people who depend upon you.
If this is the word of god. If sacrificing your family's health and security is required for proper worship of your God. If your god makes you give money to millionaires while you have homelessness and starvation are pervasive in our country and communities. How can you pretend to stand upon any sort of morality and ethics at all. What other evidence is required to show how morally bankrupt the system you support actually is.
Ive seen 'born agains' praising Carlin. Like wat.
And he wants you to give it to HIS WIFE (the Babling Church) instead of the poor and the imprisoned (whom Jesus claimed to be).
“He is all Powerful, all perfect, all knowing, all wise......somehow just can’t handle money!”
Even when I was deep in Christianity I thought that churches should be taxed. My parents, while still religious, left because one of their friends was homeless and sleeping in her car but the pastors all had homes beyond what my folks could ever afford and didn’t lift a finger to help their faithful church member who had lost her home.
My mom was a good Catholic until she saw the exact same thing happen. She’s kind of made her own Christianity now.
@@beccangavin Good for her.
I do not like most of the big pastors because the preach kindness but shut you out when you beg for help
Same happened at my home church which was a well to do mega church that definitely had the income to help others. (The pastor lived in a mansion and drove around in a Maserati)
One of the members, a widowed mother with multiple children was laid off from her job and fell behind on her rent. She was always at church working and giving her time, money, volunteering even when she didn’t have a sitter. She asked if there was any way they could help her so she wouldn’t lose her home and they did nothing but prayed for her. She lost her home and lived in her van for a few months.
Once she was able to find an apartment, my mom gave her our living room and dining room furniture(we got new furniture), cash for toiletries and I gave clothing that I outgrew to her kids. My mom, grandma and I helped her more than the church did. My mom was a single mom herself but she had it in her heart to give what she could.
These churches take all the money for themselves, but could never turn around and use that money for members in the church that may have an emergency or fallen on hard times. While I’m no longer Christian, I believe the church should have more empathy for their followers, and since they have the funds, they should help out instead of living in mansions and driving fancy cars.
Till this day I wonder about that lady, if she’s still a member of the church or still Christian. I’m 33 years old now but this was when I was 10. I knew then something was terribly wrong.
Most "pastors" don't get paid that much, and most live very modestly..
Yeah, I've found that this is quite typical behavior, and it doesn't matter which denomination
Man I remember my old pastors especially my last one. He was a felon while he was in prison he found religion. When he got out he got a decent job. Then opened a super small church. Sure he said if you wanna give you give. If not or if you can't bring supplies like tp tents canned food and such. And then he would go around with those who were free to give out the supplies to the needy. He would sacrifice what would be extra money to pay the bills and taxes for the church. We would sometimes put some money towards those even though he never asked for that.
I went to a church, that quarterly sent out a statement with by the numbers breakdown of how tithes and offerings were spent. I really liked that transparency. I wish more churches were doing that.
That's rare. I wish more did this.
Ironically, the concept of tithing is one of the few things that the bible explains very clearly down to the smallest detail.
Why is that ironic? Because tithing in the bible is more of a tax on farmers, only given to the poor, widows, and monks with zero property (Levites).
But today, it is given to rich pastors to add to their wealth.
It is that one thing churches say to follow without actually following it.
Came here to say this. What’s more ironic is that the tithing system is centered around the Temple at Jerusalem and since we Christians no longer have a Temple, we shouldn’t be tithing at all!
You mean to the poor?
Exactly why I wouldn't be surprised if the entire Blab It And Grab It aristocracy got their souls flushed down into Hell when they die / died.
Wait a minute...the one thing they dont follow? C'mon man
lol maybe we could do something like this redistributive income policies seem to make the economy better somewhat, and it likely also will help innovation in the long term albeit keep the poor just poor enough such that they dont damn starve to death or have health problems and such but at the same time just enough to feel unsatisfied with their lives and want to go higher because competition helps the economy a lot
In some churches even in the 20th century, unofficial pew-rent was a thing. My great-grandmother was moved from the front pew because she couldn't afford to give enough money. So she just stopped going to church.
In the end, she was the real winner. Although, that’s awful and I’m sure embarrassed the hell out of her.
@@laceybabay1013 It definitely scarred the family for generations. My grandmother didn't really go back until her 70s.
Oddly enough her children are all some form of conservative Christian. My dad being the most extreme: he's Catholic, and I'm not 100% but I think he is a Society of St Pius X guy, possibly believing that Paul VI was assassinated and the Second Vatican Council was called by his imposter.
@@Futt.Buckerson as a former Trad Catholic (Fraternity of St. Peter which was supposed to be part of the mainstream church as its founders broke off from the Society that you mentioned) I saw the SSPX as a bunch of nutjobs, or religious extremists at least, while I was just that at one point and years ago I heard that the local chapel of theirs required that you dressed like the 1950's or they wouldn't let you in for Mass which is something my former parish, however conservative it was, never did before I left almost two years ago. However one of the things that led me to ditch Catholicism entirely was finding out that my parish was for some reason filled with creationists (one of them a former friend of mine now in seminary in Nebraska) which led me to finding out that I was supposed to believe in a literal Adam and Eve because otherwise the whole Original Sin bit doesn't work out, so I suppose that if it wasn't for the Trad movement I may have deconverted later than I did in life (after all it was also through the SSPX that I found out just how Catholic theology contradicts itself through the ages despite the apologists denying it to their last breath).
@@Futt.Buckerson Is there much contrast between the Society of St. Pius X, the Opus Dei, and whichever Cathol had the flagellantes whipping their backs with beaded ropes?
@@dominicfucinari1942 pretty much the only real difference is that the former refuses to obey the pope and says the Mass in Latin while the latter doesn't do any of that. Either way both look like cults to me and I can't believe I once considered joining the Opus Dei and somewhat admired their founder.
Gawd needs money. He’s a dealer in joy and salvation. Everything is gonna be alright. Give “him” money and you’ll all be fine. Please, DO NOT THINK.
I'm personal friends with God (the one, the only), and if you send me some cash I can take it up with the big man and maybe we can come to an agreement. No promises.
@@kakizakichannel I got 5 on it.
God is all seeing,all knowing,and almighty...just can't handle money... George Carlin
@@lrcavalli290 also he’s everywhere and judges you for what you do with ur genitals but lets people starve and die from horrible diseases all the time.
@@vincemcmahonreadskoran3120 it's almost like he's not actually real,huh?
Remember friends: Tithe goes to people, not to God. If someone is using his name to collect your money they are committing blasphemy.
My family used to go to church often. My brother and I also were schooled at that church as well. All of that cost 4 to 5 times as much as public school. My parents were working their asses off and could barely feed us. We were 8n debt for over 20 years. My parents also went to court because they couldn't pay their debts during the time we went to that church. It wasn't till we stopped going to church and and paying such high prices for school, that we were able to keep above water.
The point of "tithes" in the old testament was a way to protect the poor. Leaving a tenth of your crops for the poor to take. And actually if we lived in a society where the rich (or even everyone) gave 10% to those less fortunate than them, then we would be in a more fair society. But like always, the church has twisted that into bleeding the poor and giving to themselves.
100% this ^^
I wish I heard this before. As a child my family was extremely poor, and my mom would rather scrap up money to give the church than for me and my siblings. I couldn’t properly believe in a god when my mom would rather let us go hungry for him. It wasn’t justifiable to me in the slightest.
The Christian Right: that sounds like socialism!! 😂
@@N3CR0T1C_V3N0M How criminal, Jesus would never want that.
That's what taxes are supposed to be. A small percentage of all our production goes to support the baseline for society. But that's been poisoned over generations so much that we thinks it's how it always was and how it's supposed to be.
Ah, yes, tithing - the marriage of religion and capitalism!
God Damn 😶
those idiots bastardised capitalism with religion capitalism requires actual rational people doing fucking rational things
that means continue spending and give the damn workers enough money to spend but all of that is wasted on fucking tithing
To be fair, tithing was around wayyyyyy before Capitalism was even a concept.
Feudalism more like
The moment that my church was reluctant to baptize my son because I wasn't in the Pew putting money in the collection plate every week. Is the moment that I decided I was never going to put money in the collection plate again!
I couldn't care less about Christianity but I'm devouring these videos. These are all incredibly insightful, well-edited, and you are a wonderful narrator. I am shocked you don't have a million subscribers.
I remember I grew up ELCA Lutheran, which is pretty liberal, and I first heard about tithing 10% from my youth pastor who said her family did it. I straight up told her that was stupid, especially because we already do offering, bake sales, and silent auctions. 10% of your income is way too much, and you know that's why they want people to get married and have kids, to keep that money flowing.
I never felt so utterly repulsed by the absolute absence of basic human empathy. Kenny here acknowledges that people are losing their jobs, but still wants them email money. I don't understand how the people that give him money don't understand that hes nothing but a con artist that laughs at the face of the poor. These pastors are literally leeches on society.
As for the introduction, I'm really sorry that you went through that. I'm happy to see that you're still carrying on, we all have to after all.
my dad tithes the equivalent of a semester of my college tuition every year and yet won’t even help me with $100 to pay for books.
Apparently he doesn’t share your appreciation for communism.
Your dad sounds like an idiot.. invest in fiction and don't actually help in reality.. religion is cancer
@@ChristianF15cher I ate god.. prove I didn't
@@ChristianF15cher since when is helping your literal child afford books for school communism? That’s just basic support for your family.
@@afish1659 that's the joke. His dad probably thinks he some hardcore Anarcho-Communist just for going to college
I don't think Pastor's should be on the verge of homelessness but I feel the "surplus" from the forced tithes should go to helping as many of "God's children" as they can manage while keeping the lights on, not to a new private jet.
That's the thing though, that money going to "God's children" is a pretext for proselytizing to those in desperate situations. The Church has been spec designed to scoop up new believers when they are at their most desparate. I'm ok with pastor's losing their jobs as pastors because of how much damage they do in the context of that job.
I agree with you 💯% that the person behind the job of pastor shouldn't be homeless because I think basic housing should be a human right. I just don't think the job of pastor needs to be the means through which they are kept afloat. Especially not off the backs of so many desparate people who are giving what they can't afford to give because that pastor is telling them it's God's will.
@@Skapo Agreed.
He may not want to fly in a tube of demons but he will end up in a Hell full of demons soon.....hes in his 80s.
Hey man, I just want to say that I really appreciate your videos. I had a litany of reasons for why I fell away from my faith and eventually turned fully against it, but I have never been able to really explain it or coalesce it in my mind fully. You have given me the tools to do just that. Thank you!
I'm an entire grown man and Kenneth Copeland terrifies me. The smile on his face doesn't reach his eyes.
It always astounded me how much money my parents gave to the church every week when I was growing up.
That’s why I didn’t have a boat growing up, like all my friends’ families 😂. (Wouldn’t trade places with anybody though, I love my parents.)
my parents gave almost $200 to the church every week, nearly $800 a month, but for birthdays and christmas, they gave my sibling and me a budget of $100 total for gifts (still thankful for my parents, but they clearly had their priorities, and it wasn’t their kids)
@@later_babes "and it wasn't their kids" That absolutely stuck with me growing up and on other issues I didn't know if the church was more important or me.
Yeah me too.. my mom still gives to the Nondenominational church we used to get, its good church but I just walked away from it. Their all the same.
Maybe its whats actually destroying the middleclass, hmmm.
Well it's not hard to locate God today.
It's at the back of every dollar.
that God that pays my bills
@@gustavogodoy9626
🤣 I need this on a shirt or poster.
So is the all seeing eye. Don't think God has anything to do with a federal reserve note
@@philmajohnson9150 except that too is Christian religious symbolism
Now I want to start an atheist church that actually gives the money to charities that helps all people not just specific people who fit the churches description.
I’ve been involved in Sunday Assembly, and we give money to some local charities that actually help kids in need
@@MarkSheeres if you don't mind me asking what are the services like?
@@monus782 we had a small group, so I’d say very informal and fun. There was singing, usually a speaker talking about something interesting- sometimes related to philosophy or religion, sometimes something just completely random, like spiders. Or once a guy talked about ham radio. 😂 We would do inspirational readings, A moment of reflection, and a segment called “life happens“ where the group would share things happening in their lives. I made some good friends there.
The Satanic Temple does charity work.
I want to start a Cthulhuist church that collects tithes for the purpose of lobbying for the legalization of human sacrifice!
2:45 "Your job's not your source"
I've rewatched this video so many times and I can't stop feeling stunned at this line. "Your job's not your source."
I'm struggling because I can't figure out if this is a religious concept of differentiating "Job" as a thing god put you on this earth to do, or if this is just a weird capitalism thing where the guy who said this is so divorced that he thinks people just...have a second line of income in times of everything that happened in 2020
This whole thing reminds me of a quote from a game I like.
" Yes we have something like that in the Empire. Just we call it a protection racket"
My church encouraged people to give what they had, and used most of thr money to buy food and supplies to run a soup kitchen during the pandemic.
It actually showed me how much people were willing to give, not because they felt they had too, but because they knew it was going to help people.
In Germany we have to pay „church tax“ when we are a member of the catholic or Protestant church. This is the reason why I’m going to leave the church as soon as I get an appointment. My conservative Christian family doesn’t have to know.
You have to have an appointment to leave the church? Is it so they can adjust tax info or something?
@@ToastyJunebugs German bureaucracy is one of the most *German* things about Germany.
One of the few times I'm relived to be American, wonder how it is in Poland?
@@apolloandwarrior_3229 In Poland, belonging to a church does not have any legal or financial consequences, and (at least in case of Catholic Church) leaving requires handing a notice with a copy of the baptismal record to the local priest, so most non-believers do not bother with paperwork and just ignore the whole thing.
What about members of Mosques or Orthodox churches? Isn't this a huge violation of religions freedom? They can't just give some religions money but not others. Of course, Germany shouldn't give religions any amount of money, but they should stay consistent and fair.
Died laughing at 13:35. "2020 will be a year of freedom and favor..." Fucking hilarious.
**In a bane voice* "yes, from you"
They jinxed us bro
Jokes on them. I'm an introvert. Mandated isolation, and less crowed public spaces was indeed freedom for me, and I actually had more money coming in than last year, so sure, they were right. In a way. :p
Think of how stupid the average person, and realize half of them are stupider.
They are basically taking advantage of the mentally ill.
Trust me, it was a great year for people in the right spaces
Just wanting to share love for fellow Canadian ... thinkers. Let's go with that. Thank you for your regular videos, questioning critiquing, and even encouraging APPROPRIATE various aspects of Christianity.
Church in the old days (like during 1st century CE): we are basically a charity organisation. The money collected will be sent to those who are in need, and the preacher will take the oath of poverty so that other people's needs are met first.
Church today: I have a private jet plane but you will still have to give me money even though you're poor because it's the pandemic.
How weird is it that they keep showing, and how irresponsible to keep implying, that giving your money away will be instantly followed by getting even more back?
I guess the phrase "You gotta spend money to make money."
They say it's to show that those who give are selfless, but giving and expecting to get that money back is definitely selfish is it not
@@spate7207 well pretty much all evangelicals tithe because their preachers have told them that they will get more back in one way or another. Planting a seed, blah blah, BS.
Sounds a lot like a Ponzi scheme to me. 🤔
It's like those "Millionaires don't want you to know this trick - Get a second income with only 250$".
My dad’s a pastor and anytime I’ve had financial problems, instead of buying my groceries or paying a bill for me he tells me to tithe.
I’m an atheist now but even when I was a Christian the idea of giving 10% of my income to the church when I was struggling to pay rent just pissed me off. And the fact that my dad thinks it’s helpful financial advice to tell someone to give 10% of your money away is just fucking mind blowing to me.
That's a great shame why would Pastors be confident leading other families and neglect his own?
It's supposed to be the opposite.
Pre pandemic my family started attending a new church. I mentioned that I didn’t really like how the preacher talked because it kind of just seemed like he was yelling his points to make them seem deeper than they were. No one agreed with me at the time, but after making the switch to live streamed services, my mom started to understand what I meant. When you no longer have the people in the room, it makes it significantly harder for them to become immersed by the techniques that are used. And along with that, she also stopped tithing to them.
"I didn't know what my balance was." If ever there was a line written by a rich person. People who live from check to check know their checking balance down to the penny every moment of every day.
“Maybe it’s time to tax the churches…”YES!!!!!!
Long overdue time!
I tithed and gave offerings when I was in Church, we were always struggling financially, credit shot, filed for bankruptcy, car got repoed, nothing in savings. I left about 7 years ago. We're now financially stable, excellent credit, own my house and have enough savings to keep me afloat for a bit. My advice, don't give in to the grift, no matter how emotionally manipulative it is.
I've stopped too. And my finances have improved. God isn't raining fire down on me - but I bet these greedy bastards pastors would love to.
My mother loved ghost stories, especially faith promoting ghost stories. One of her favorites: a mother was worried about her son in the navy during a war. When, she was doing the dishes, she heard the voice of her son behind her. When she turned around, he was standing there in the kitchen looking at her.
"Are you on leave? How long can you say?"
"I can only stay for a few moments, Mom. I have just come to tell you that I am okay. Everything is all right."
She turned to dry her hands, and when she looked again, he was gone. Later, she was informed by the military that his ship had gone down with all hands. The enemy attack was exactly the date and time, he had visited her.
It is not all the relevant to the topic under discussion, but whenever I hear one of these tithing miracles, I think of the raw power of an anecdotal fallacy, especially a faith promoting ghost story.
I grew up Christian, closeted gay, conversion therapy. After getting out I loved watching all of the anti-religious documentaries like Religulous or Jesus Camp. There hasn't been much for a few years and you have an entire channel devoted to it! Love it!!
This channel quite refreshing. UA-cam had good anti-religion videos ten years ago, but then people like Thunderf00t went into far right anti-feminism.
Comparing this channel to shit-for-brains Bill Maher is an insult to this channel
@@smrtfasizmu7242 well yeah I'd agree, but we didn't have much else then
DarkMatter2525. His channel has really been helping me deconstruct and think clearly, and I just found his channel, like, 3 days ago? His stuff is entertaining and thought-provoking.
I cannot remember a day when I woke up and found "God" to be working away, doing my job for me. I ain't giving that freeloader a friggin' dime. When I do go to my job in the morning, I always tune into the 700 Club. I love watching the Ginger, the Hag, and the Alien - I always like to start my day with a big belly laugh - and they never disappoint. My son could never understand why $700 club would be on T.V. and more so why the hell I was watching it. I gave him pearls of wisdom that day. I said, son, it is always good to be in the know of what the crazies are thinking and saying these days, and this show pretty much sums it all up for you in a half-hour. A fool and their money are easily parted.
the original reason to pay for the religious institute was because they provided community services, today most religious institutes don't provide those services and can't (as they are part of the government and city management).
but they still need the money (even after the massive tax break), thus Tithing.
Don’t you think God would be pretty pissed that these people have turned church into basically a subscription service
Nah man, God's A-OK with it. It's Jesus that would flip the tables.
@@dr.insaneoiv one of an endless list of ways a lot of modern Christians have fundamentally the inverse belief of what the Bible says Jesus did. Guess Jesus’s fan club barely cares about what good things he did say or do
If I could change things I would not take away the charitable exemption but require all churches to fully disclose how much money they take in and account for how it's spent including the pastor's compensation. Then if people still want to give to that group/church they are free to do so. Other charities have higher levels of accountability than religions.
Yes!
I know this is an old post, but I wanted to point out that I worked for a not for profit organization and we had to account for all money coming in and going out. It's ridiculous that churches don't have to do the same.
@@Katie-hh9euIt is, isn't it? They absolutely should be required to account for it all.
It's absolutely sickening how these people and institutions abuse these people's generosity. I would never want to discourage people from helping those in need, being generous with your money, time, and other resources is admirable. But these pastors are churches that are already loaded and fly their own planes, they are not the people in need of your generosity.
i used to go to a church in a poor community, every year, for the pastors birthday and pastor appreciation day they would gather funds from these poor people, to buy him a new suit and his wife a new dress. it was disgusting. as soon as I could i stopped going
'the church does not need your money...' SO DO NOT ASK FOR MONEY!
Watching this and then thinking of my childhood pastor who rarely mentioned giving beyond a general encouragement to be generous to others. He always said he felt gross preaching on tithing and that he knew we were generous people and he wasn't worried about us letting his family starve. My pastor lived comfortably as in never struggling to pay basic bills or afford a modest house. But he's never been rich either. And he's a kind, giving man who has taken good care of his people in return. That's how it should be.
I was raised in church. I even worked for the church for a few years. When I saw the inner workings of the church I left. It is truly a money making operation. The pastor would come in and ask how much we took in after the offering. It was unspeakably ugly.
my mom would give all the time to those t.v. preachers ..... I remember going without because of that.....and her life never ever got better
Homeless guy: is starving to death
Atheists: *gives their spare money
Pastors: We'll pray for you and when you're finally back on your feet, give us 10% of your income
The talk that Charles Stanley gave about tithing and trusting, was given at my church a few years ago. It was specifically to a couple who lost almost everything. That, among other ceremonies, was the point of me to stop believing in the existence of god or gods. It was heartbreaking to see that couple struggling to make ends meet and still being pushed to pay up.
It's really nothing to do with God at all. It's the manipulation of some very greedy pastors etc who are doing a great job of making God look awful and merciless. I promise you, He's not in the slightest happy about all this either. I don't give anything now. Very satisfying.
I'll never forget the time our pastor brought us a box of stale expired food and moldy potatoes so my mom could "afford" tithe... 🙄
He gave you moldy,expired food in order to get you to give him money?😓 Wtf?😕
That sounds like great incentive...
I thought a church foodbank was the one place you could give and feel it couldn't be exploited, I guess I was wrong about that.
Just make a church of the charitable bum. Where it looks as shoddy as possible so you know the money isn't going to the preacher or aesthetic, and will get spent elsewhere on good stuff. And then do field trips on how to volunteer to help the homeless or such.
That interview with Copeland raises my blood pressure every time I see it
If I had kids I’d tell them that naughty children are haunted by Kenny Copeland.
Thanks!
Im pretty sure i found your channel through subscribing to The Friendly Atheist. Awesome.
I remember when my mom found out I was an atheist, the first thing she asked me was "You're still going to tithe right?"
😑
Me as a child: I don't think I'm a Catholic and want to explore other religions.
My mum: you can be any religion you want as long as you keep going to church, catechism, Christian summer camp and go through confirmation.
I remember once telling a priest that I wanted to get into the entertainment industry and the only thing he said to me was "whatever happens just give to the church"... I chuckled and said don't you bastards have enough money??
Holy crud! That is pretty epic! If you really said that. I'm on your side, but TBH don't believe you
Man I feel so horrible that so many people have been brainwashed into believing that they need to give a portion of their earnings to the church even if they can’t afford it. I realized lately I have more religious trauma than I thought and your videos are really helping me understand and work through it, thank you!
Criminally undersubbed channel, glad I found it! Great analysis and video editing!!
This video made me remember all the guilt I felt when I was 15 and younger for not giving 10%. I mean I felt a lot of anxiety about it. Why did they pass around a tithe basket during the elementary kids service? It creeps me out so much.
Rent is so horrible now that it's literally impossible for a lot of people to tithe 10% now if even they want too, ironically these same people who are always wanting you to go to church often also support corporations becoming as powerful as possible.
My parents have been tithing 10% for years, we could have had our house paid off about 7 years ago but no, their religion had to get in the way, did I mention that they have struggled with money a few times?
When I was religious in my after college years I didn't tithe. I was struggling. I can proudly say I never gave 10% of a paycheck. Just a few bucks here and there.
Because when you're struggling with money, the only logical thing to do is give it to some random shouty man. Because ya know: God
I remember when I had a newspaper route my mom would make me take out 10% of every paycheck I got for church
I went with it without complaint cause I was just a little kid, but deep down I hated being told what to do with what I earned and I'm still salty about my mom doing that to me
Rewatching your whole collection. Really speaks to me!
Wow, Kenneth Copeland looked really serious when he was demanding you continue to tithe, even during the lock down. What a Saint 😂
Man, I think these videos are just as good as any episode of Last Week Tonight.
Wow, thanks!
Watching this the demon possessing Kenneth Copeland should trade him in for a better,less horrifying model. The way his face looks like it is barely hanging on is creepy as hell😂
Yes. That so called man scares the hell out of me. Doesn’t he also own something like 3 airplanes of his own?
Yes he does.
I scared my Christian friend out following him after showing them the video of him being interviewed by a reporter about the demons in the tube.
The demon possessing him is afraid to leave him. It knows it has a tiger by the tail. Copeland is a zillion times as dangerous and evil as any demon or fallen angel imaginable.
hell I even told my father that if we took the net worth of all the major televangelists, we probably would've beaten world hunger
Possibly even more than that😂
Without the availability of examining their books, I wonder how much the churches give back to parishioners (or others) when they need it?
Amen brother, amen.
Pardon my southern for, Wonderfully researched and laid out content my guy, I genuinely appreciated what you've made 👌🏻
fr fr, good stuff
Church:
The biggest MLM with the smallest payout
True
This is one of the few times that makes me think that being raised Catholic wasn't so bad in comparison to those groups (at least in some things) as even as a broke college student the very conservative parish I was greatly involved with never pressured me to tithe, at least not this way. I've heard from former members that it's worse in the Mormon church as you're more or less forced to give the usual 10% or you're in serious trouble, so my upbringing could've easily been worse.
Yeah I was raised Catholic too and while tithing was expected it wasn’t insisted upon in sermons and it wasn’t framed as giving money to “God”, you knew you were giving it to the church.
@@birdiejett3163 pretty much, the Church may be greedy in some other ways but I'll give props to them in that most of the times they're at least not that blatantly shameless about it unlike these scumbag preachers, although of course one could argue that's because they learned their lesson after the Reformation happened.
I have my hang-ups about Roman Catholic history, but to know that Blab It And Grab It is more blatant about passing themselves as God is really saying a lot. Also, I've heard that the LDS aristocracy wants people to turn to the church structure for help with problems that can't be resolved at the family level before asking for help from the public sector. If the LDS aristocracy is pushing so hard for tithes, perhaps some of them are using it to trap people within the LDS' circle.
@@dominicfucinari1942 I've also have heard that even the poorest members are pressured to tithe by their bishops, to their great detriment just like with these preachers, and that the LDS church owns a crapton of land (alongside around $100 billion dollars in stocks sitting around somewhere), even more so than most corporations.
Former Catholic here. I’m right there with you. Say what you will about the RCC and its positions on birth control, homosexuality, support for fascist regimes, and child sexual abuse obstruction, the RCC doesn’t tithe and its clergy live a very modest existence.