Reconstructionists and the Tithe
Mainstream Baptist printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed May 24, 2006 at 02:19:46 PM EST
Reconstructionist thought has a special attraction for rural Americans.  A glance at R. J. Rushdoony's explanation of the biblical tithe in his Institutes for Biblical Religion reveals why.

Rural America subsists mostly on farming and ranching.  Every decade, for more than a generation, greater challenges have threatened the economic survival of those that live in these communities.  Every year the population of small towns decline as the elderly die, the young move to the cities to find work, and the rest live from one day to the next.  Foreclosures by banks for unpaid mortgages and by local governments for unpaid taxes have been commonplace.  Bad weather, bad luck and bad policies by civil bureaucrats have caused thousands of small farmers and ranchers to lose homesteads that have been in their families for generations.  Resentment is strong, conspiracy theories are rampant, and every possible scapegoat is actively pursued.

In this context, it is not hard to understand why rural Americans find a resonance in the implications that Rushdoony draws from the biblical tithe:

       The Bible provides, as the foundation law of a godly social order, the law of the tithe.  To understand the full implication of the tithe, it is important to know that Biblical law has no property tax; the right to tax real property is implicitly denied to the state, because the state has no earth to tax.  "The earth is the Lord's" (Ex. 9:29; Deut. 10:14; Ps. 24:1; 1 Cor. 10:26, etc.); therefore, only God can tax the earth. . . . For the state to enter into God's realm is to invite judgment.
    The immunity of land from taxation by the state means liberty.  A man then cannot be dispossessed of his land; every man has a basic security in his property. . . . Because the land is not the property of the state, nor is land a part of the state's jurisdiction, the state therefore has no right under God to levy taxes against God's earth.  Moreover, for the state to claim as much as God, i.e., a tenth of a man's income, is a sign of apostasy and tyranny, according to I Samuel 8:4-19.  The modern state, of course, claims several tithes in taxes.  p. 56-57.

Rushdoony believes that paying biblical tithes is a perpetual obligation and that "Those who do not tithe are spiritual anarchists; they destroy both the freedom and order of society and unleash the demons of statism."  p. 58

Rushdoony rues the days after the American revolution when the church was being separated from the state and laws requiring mandatory payment of tithes were being repealed:

       The tithe was for centuries legally collected, i.e., the state provided the legal requirement that tithes be paid to the church.  When Virginia repealed its law which made payment of the tithe mandatory, George Washington expressed his disapproval in a letter to George Mason, October 3, 1785.  He believed, he said, in "making people pay toward the support of that which they profess."  From the 4th century on, civil governments began to require the tithe, because it was believed that a country could only deny God His tax at its peril.  From the end of the 18th century, and especially in recent years, such laws have disappeared under the impact of atheistic and revolutionary movements.  Instead of freeing men from an "oppressive" tax, the abolition of the tithe has opened the way for truly oppressive taxation by the state in order to assume the social responsibilities once maintained by tithe money.  Basic social functions must be paid for.  If they are not paid by responsible, tithing Christian people, they will be paid for by a tyrant state which will use welfare and education as stepping-stones to totalitarian power.  p. 57.

Welfare and education are the foremost concerns that Rushdoony sees addressed by the biblical tithe and he sees a special class of people, "the group best instructed in the law of God," as those who should receive those funds:

       The Lord's tithe, and the poor tithe, took care of the basic functions which, under the modern totalitarianism, have become the province of the state, namely, education and welfare.  Education was one of the functions of the Levites (not of the sanctuary). . . . In a godly civil order, the group best instructed in the law of God will clearly have far-reaching social services to render.  Since their support is undergirded by the tithe, the basic cost to society for civil government becomes slight.  The tithe is an acknowledgement of God's kingship; in I Samuel 8:4-19, the consequences of a rejection of God's kingship are cited:  they are totalitarianism, oppression, a loss of liberty, and an increased cost of civil government.  Without the tithe, basic social functions fall into two kinds of pitfalls:  on the one hand, the state assumes these functions, and, on the other, wealthy individuals and foundations exercise a preponderant power over society.  Tithing releases society from this dependence on the state and on wealthy individuals and foundations.  The tithe places the basic control of society with the tithing people of God.  p. 55

This statement reveals a major thrust of Dominionism.  They view funding for welfare and education as the mechanism by which to regain "basic control of society."  They also realize that the language of "tithing" needs to be reframed for the American public.  That's why their agenda has been framed as a "faith-based initiative" that ends "discrimination" against churches in the distribution of federal funds.  




Display:
The chance that moderates and progressives will ever contribute sufficient funds to counteract these groups is slim.

In the end, these people may well "name and claim" this country by funding the people and organizations that are leading the Dominionist takeover of this country.

by Mainstream Baptist on Thu May 25, 2006 at 12:33:52 AM EST


Vouchers for education + faith-based funding for social services = the Dominionist mechanism for social control.

by Mainstream Baptist on Wed May 24, 2006 at 02:23:10 PM EST

If you think Rushdoony's promotion of tithing as the sole source of helping out the poor is scary, he has nothing--nothing--on some of the outright foot-bulleting towards the poor practiced by the "dominion theology" pente-dominionists.

Not only are people typically required to give no less than ten percent of their pre-tax income to these churches, the "dominion theology" community  (and in particular the "name it and claim it" folks, a MAJOR part of the bigger dominionist churches) promote the idea of "seed faith offerings"--tithes above and beyond the "minimum" ten percent to "secure a blessing" and as a way of "naming and claiming it".

Many of these pastors even claim that God will increase any "seed faith offering" tenfold or more; in other words, God is being promoted in these churches as no less than a glorified Ponzi scheme.

The poor are especially targeted in these schemes--often, multigenerational poverty is claimed to be the result of "generational curses" that are the result of one's ancestors (up to seven generations back) having misbehaved somehow and "opened doorways to Satan" to cause the whole family to be "oppressed".  The cure always is for the family to pretty much devote all their free time to the church (including political dominionist groups, "spiritual warfare" groups, endless "deliverance services", and "Christian alternatives" to things like Scouting, etc.) and to give ever larger amounts of "seed faith offerings" to the church.  In fact, the story of the "widow's mite" is specifically abused in this promotion.

People who can ill afford to give any money to the church as is have literally spent themselves into poverty donating fully fifty percent or more of their pretax income to the church (I grew up in this very situation, and it was one of the few things my mother and father got into violent shouting matches about; my father disapproved, my mother literally accusing him of "denying God" and "trying to take away her blessing").

When the "seed faith offering" fails--as it inevitably does--the parishoner is encouraged to send even more of his money to the church and is often accused of not having "named and claimed" enough or of having some sort of "secret sin" or "having opened a doorway to Satan in your life"; more and more, the person is isolated from non-dominionist influence as practically everything not preapproved by the church is described as infested by demons and thus "opening doorways" (including such innocuous things as the peace symbol, Nike shoes, and Cabbage Patch Kids dolls).  This also includes control of information--thus people are sucked farther into a particularly spiritually abusive form of dominionism, whilst digging themselves ever deeper into financial holes.  

These same groups also promote the idea of marathon fasting (for periods of 21 to 40 days) as a way of "naming and claiming" things.  (These fasts are even more extreme than, say, Ramadan fasting--often people will consume nothing but water for 40 days or more.  Even diabetics (who are generally advised NEVER to fast or even skip meals)  and other persons for whom fasting is medically inadvisable are encouraged to do limited fasting--through the "cabbage soup diet" (condemned by the Mayo Clinic and American Heart Association, and whose authors even warn never to stay on more than seven days due to risk of malnutrition).  The church I escaped from is a major promoter of this within Assemblies circles, and in fact a 1948 book (from near the dawn of modern dominionism) is literally titled "Atomic Power with God Through Fasting And Prayer".

Very often, poor people are also specifically targeted (as they get sucked further in) by dominionists promoting multilevel marketing schemes--particularly AmWay, which itself promotes dominionism and has been used as a recruitment front for dominionists; increasingly, people are being targeted in the "name it and claim it" neopente churches for frank pyramid schemes (in fact, the problem of "affinity fraud" targeting dominionists is sufficiently severe that many state Attorneys-General are issuing specific advisories on it, and it's now thought by consumer advocates that "affinity" pyramid schemes may be, along with 419 schemes, the fastest growing category of fraud in the United States).  The promotion of these schemes as "Christian business opprotunities" doesn't help here, either, and serves as yet another tool to lock down access to the outside world.

So people are throwing their finances in further chaos, are essentially being recruited to coercive religious groups (some of which are highly abusive, literally comparable to Scientology in some cases and as widely regarded as abusive by experts), are putting their actual health in jeopardy, and are often recruited into frank fraud--all in the name of something that is ironically called the "Health and Wealth Gospel" and which serves to do nothing short of stealing the health and wealth of the poor unfortunates involved.

The scary thing is, the groups that are promoting this the most are in fact some of the largest dominionist groups in the US and some of the oldest to boot (Rod Parsley's World Harvest Church, Ted Haggard's New Life Church, so many pastors in the Assemblies of God as to be innumerable (practically the entire "word-faith" expose section of Deception In The Church features either Assemblies-linked or "independent" neopente preachers with close links to the Assemblies; also, of note, practically all televangelists that are not explicitly Baptist, with very rare exception, are linked with the Assemblies or one of its daughter or granddaughter denominations or movements), and many other neopente preachers deep into the dominion theology and deliverance ministry movements are major, major promoters of this stuff).  Part of how groups like the "Patriot Pastors" get their money to do stuff is because members of the involved churches are literally giving half their pre-tax income to these churches in some cases (and World Harvest Church even keeps an automatic billing and deduction program on their website through Mastercard, just to make sure they get their thirty pieces of silver a week; several other really big megachurches do have similar programs).

by dogemperor on Wed May 24, 2006 at 10:20:53 PM EST

Thanks, dogemperor, for such a thorough exegesis of this malady & for listing AofG predominance in these Ponzi-ing of America ripoffs via very bad religion, extreme to be sure but prevalent also. That automatic billing via MC deduction surely must come under some FRAUD statute & may be the gall that brings the entire house of cards down sooner than not. Such 'bad religion' is what is first our legacy abroad & against which we must separate ourselves from in its totality if we are ever to be considered anything other than "kooks" in the rest of the world!
  And Bruce's following observation that normative folks can never keep up with such psychotic giving patterns is gainsaid, while that is a positive legacy of sanity & commended. This is what having such a fundamentalist at the presidential helm brings, in all its tyranny, here & abroad. Gawd 'elp 'us all!

by achbird65 on Thu May 25, 2006 at 12:45:11 PM EST
Parent



WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (374 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (199 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (111 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (251 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (64 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (177 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (107 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (211 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (163 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (180 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (331 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (148 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.