This may not meet a lot of you well but I will explore some of my unpopular Christian thoughts today.
Let me mention the issue of compulsion in the church. Personally, my soul detests compulsion. I believe in people setting goals and accomplishing them, but I have a problem with anything compulsory.
On Leke Alder’s recent posts on TITHING, the Pentecostals and the Charismatic are busy arguing if tithing is compulsory.
The Catholics, on the other hand, are viciously arguing about Pope Francis’ proposal for celibacy to be made optional. Now Catholic Christians are arguing that “the compulsory celibacy” is what makes the Catholic Church better than other groups and denominations.
Haha! Imagine a man who has never been celibate in his life, arguing so passionately that priests should compulsorily avoid sex on his behalf! Just imagine the wickedness! You go home to the warm comfort of your wife’s twin peaks; so because you have no priestly ambition so you deserve that supple headrest?
Again, I detest compulsion because it makes some believe that they are better than others based on their “ability” to abide by the compulsion. Tithe apologists claim that only an amount of grace will lead you to tithe and the tithing will make you do even more! Just negodu nonsense: money that we all know will perish here on Earth has become a basis of salvation and grace for many. On Leke Alder’s page, we were dangerously close to crowning “tithing” as the basis of Salvation. He (LA) said, “Without tithing, we would have no argument for the creation of Christianity.”
This is money people worked for ooo! And please don’t tell me how it is God that did it for them even though they had all the skill and expertise. Let this tither stop working today; let him stop investing and going for training and we will see how far he goes on his “God did it”.
Some come with the argument that a lot of people escaped the “Devourer” because they said so in their Church testimony. Let’s look at our nation holistically and stop being myopic. We have a lot of tithers, how come the Devourer is running loose on our streets? Way more than those countries who don’t compel it or, in some cases don’t even have churches? I personally feel like all those who make those “I did nothing, my tithe/God did it” testimonies are the first set of frauds we need to arrest.
Most have cheated someone, employed some nepotism, bribed someone or done some questionable thing that cannot be discussed on the altar, so they quickly nail it on tithes. God responds to your work and diligence. He is not a money doubler, bureau de change or pay-per-trick expert.
The nature of human beings has never been tied to zombie behaviour. We were designed with independent souls, accountable for our own decisions. I believe compulsion is what will lead a lot of people to other people’s hell, it’s not going to be their own punishment but they will bear other people’s punishment because they lived all their lives trying to conform to compulsory mandates made by humans like them.
Imagine a priest who knows he has raging hormones; he has never survived a night without masturbation. Imagine a priest who ministers on the altar but his male genitals are still in perfect working condition. Does this render him unholy? If indeed what consecrates us is the blood of Jesus, then the remaining arguments are null and void.
This is not a thesis on scripture verses; I believe God gave us brains for a variety of reasons. First, to be honest with ourselves, and second, to make life easier for one another as temporary tenants on earth.