this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2023
954 points (97.5% liked)

Political Memes

5452 readers
2861 users here now

Welcome to politcal memes!

These are our rules:

Be civilJokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.

No misinformationDon’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.

Posts should be memesRandom pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.

No bots, spam or self-promotionFollow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
HLMenckenFan@lemmy.world
Rooki@lemmy.world
automodbeta@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
rjc@lemmy.world
Tenthrow@lemmy.world
JonsJava@lemmy.world
WrenFeathers@lemmy.world
954
And we pay 10% of our income for the privilege. (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 months ago by FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
24 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
top 24 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] MrMusAddict@lemmy.world 47 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

Speaking of "paying 10% for the privilege", one of the things irked me was my dad's insistence that tithes had to be monetary. Per him, volunteer work didn't count.

I was roped into running the computer, or doing the sound, for all 5 services Saturday + Sunday, plus practice before hand. 16 hour commitment twice a month.

My day job was only 20 hours/wk back then, so in terms of time, my volunteer work was ~30% of all my work. Yet my dad still insisted I payed 10% of the taxed cash I received...

That was one of many "cuts" in my "death by 1000" for being religious.

[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Religion has convinced people that there's an invisible man ... living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn't want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money.

  • George Carlin
[–] jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The bible never actually mandates giving 10% of your money to anything, much less the church, which didn't exist. That said, it does say a lot about wealth and how it should be used.

" From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded."

"...The rust of your wealth will be used as evidence against you."

In fact, a very central theme throughout the Bible is along the lines of, "I told you guys to take care of the poor and needy. You didn't do that. I'm pretty pissed about it, FYI. So, I'm going to tell you again. Take care of the poor and needy. --Sincerely, God".

Personally, I think people should be generous with their money. I think Christians, if they believe anything Jesus said, have an obligation to be generous. Our family gives money to our church but our church is highly mission centered and we do what we can to take care of those in our community who have needs. It's good to be able to help people but it's also very sobering because you find out that the needs are enormous.

The fact that a lot of churches have a money furnace in the basement and don't contribute anything meaningful to the world has earned Christianity some well deserved criticism. But not all churches are like that.

You should be charitable to the extent you are able. No more, no less. And money, time, and talent are all valid ways to do that.

[–] OpenStars@discuss.online 3 points 10 months ago

Very true but the person you responded to talked about being forced to give, rather than choosing to either give or not of their own free will. Also, doesn't it seem likely (by the mention of death by 1000 cuts) that Matthew 23:4-28 could describe the situation?

They pile heavy burdens on people's shoulders and won't lift a finger to help. Everything they do is just to show off in front of others.

e.g., the dad could have significantly eased the burden by giving the son the money to then hand over to the church, although ofc none of us will ever know what was going on inside the dude's head.

[–] mo_lave@reddthat.com 4 points 10 months ago

Time is money

[–] phorq@lemmy.ml 19 points 10 months ago

Don't get high on your own supply!

[–] LordOfTheChia@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Sources for the OP references:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A34-46&version=ESV

34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[a] you did it to me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

On divorce:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2019&version=NIV

9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

On abortion:

‎

[–] OpenStars@discuss.online 1 points 10 months ago

Just a tangential thought:

Tbf, the part about divorce has some substantial context behind it that is missing in modern societies, though I have seen it misused to say that the wife must put up with the husband doing whatever he wants anytime.:-(

Back then women were not allowed to own property, and ignoring atm how fucked up that already was, this commandment to not divorce her unless she was unfaithful was a rather liberal protection against her becoming homeless.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 12 points 10 months ago

Omnipotent God, Creator of all things, ruler of heaven and earth ..... needs 10% of your wages because he can't make ends meet ...... this universe ain't gonna pay for itself is it?

[–] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Any and all religious folks are indoctrinated and mentally ill.

[–] OpenStars@discuss.online 5 points 10 months ago

The ONLY mega-pastor of an Evangelical, Protestant group of churches in America, that I have EVER heard of who acknowledged Trump's moral failings (of being a lying rape-y sack of shit at best, and at worst someone who has attempted literal genocide) is John Piper. The fact that he knew already that he was old and dying of a wasting disease probably helped him care less about the fall-out that doing so would certainly cause, i.e. his career was already (mostly) over. In any case, THAT dude has earned my MAJOR respect. Which is not to say that I agree with or even understand everything he says - e.g. he is heavily anti-abortion, though to his credit he seems to acknowledge that Christian judgement should be reserved for other Christians and not extended to non-Christians, and I wonder if he would consider medical exemptions and such (at a guess... yes?).

But those religious freaks who twist the words of the Bible away from the likes of "workers deserve their wages", and "take care of widows and orphans", and "justice good, bribery/corruption bad" (all summed up in the infamous words of the most holy prophets Bill & Ted: "Be Most Excellent To One Another, Dudes!") to say that basically Christianity = voting Republican, can fuck all the way off! :-(

Especially given Trump's official COVID policy of letting the virus have its (usually non-consensual) way with us, which reminds me of that scene in Braveheart, like won't it affect some of us?.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago

This si how it's been explained to me.

Noah was a drunk, King David killed a husband to get near his wife, Solomon had thousands of concubines, and so on and so on...

The Lord can use a less than perfect man to deliver his message, and aren't we all sinners?

And yes, I think that's complete and utter bull.