scholarly journals The Over-Emphasis on the Paying of Tithe and the Quest for Materialism among Religious Leaders: An Evaluation of the Biblical Teaching on Tithe

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-200
Author(s):  
Philip Igbo
Keyword(s):  
Church Leaders ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Biblical Teaching ◽  
The Church

The concept of tithe and tithing is a biblical concept. Tithing was a hieratic tax instituted as a means to support the Levites who ministered at God’s sanctuary. The Levites were to receive the tithes offered by Israel to Yahweh, because of the service they rendered at God’s sanctuary, and because they had no landed inheritance. The tithe system was enacted as a hieratic tax meant to provide support for the priests and Levites “for the service that they perform at God’s sanctuary (Num 18:21f). The tithes are voluntary; tithable things were products from the land or the herd. The tithe was basically for the support of the Levites who served at God’s Sanctuary. However, it has been observed and sadly so, that some contemporary Church leaders, especially in Nigeria, seem to be laying undue emphasis on tithing to their own financial advantage. This study was, therefore, conceived as a re-evaluation of the concept of tithing and the context under which it developed. The goal is to use the findings of this reevaluation to mirror the over emphasis on tithing by contemporary Church leaders in Nigeria. Findings reveal that there is a deviation from the context under which tithing was developed to somewhat exploitation of unsuspecting members of the Church to the advantage of prosperity preachers in Nigeria. This raises the question as to whether  Christians of the contemporary era should still tithe since the context in which the tradition developed has changed.

An Extraordinary Confession

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. DeJonge
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Church Members ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
Jewish Ancestry ◽  
The Church

If the church decides to seize the wheel, to speak the directly political word, Bonhoeffer writes, then the church will find itself in statu confessionis. This chapter examines the phrase status confessionis to shed further light on Bonhoeffer’s idea of the church’s directly political word (the concern of Chapter 7). The phrase originates in a sixteenth-century episode where the emperor, with help from accommodating religious leaders, forced changes in order and rites on the Lutheran churches. The phrase status confessionis came to be seen as the battle cry of those who resisted these changes, the gnesio-Lutherans. In adopting this language, Bonhoeffer identifies a parallel between the sixteenth century and 1933, when Hitler and the Nazi regime threatened to force changes in church order (especially concerning church members of Jewish ancestry) on the church with accommodation from church leaders.

Is There No Blessing for Me?

2019 ◽  
pp. 104-118
Author(s):  
Quincy D. Newell
Keyword(s):  
Salt Lake ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
The Dead ◽  
To Receive ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Church

By the 1880s, Jane James began a campaign to get permission to perform the temple rituals she believed were necessary to reach the highest degree of glory after death. She wanted to be sealed to Joseph Smith as a child and to receive her endowment, requests that church leaders denied. In 1888, James received a temple recommend to do baptisms for the dead in the Logan Temple. James’s children, meanwhile, made their ways out of the church. She received a second patriarchal blessing in 1889, which may have encouraged her to persist despite her disappointments. Her ex-husband Isaac James returned to Salt Lake in 1890 and lived with Jane James until his death in 1891. The following year, Jane James’s brother Isaac Manning came to live with her. In 1894, church leaders created a temple ceremony to seal Jane James to Joseph Smith as a servant rather than a child.

Toward Understanding Gift-Giving in Relationships

1990 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-60
Author(s):  
David P. Mann
Keyword(s):  
Church Leaders ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Anthropology ◽  
Gift Giving ◽  
Close Collaboration ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Biblical Teaching ◽  
The Church

As the subject of stewardship is taught in a church where Western missionaries work in close collaboration with African church leaders, intercultural friction is inevitable. One culture stresses interconnectedness and sharing; the other emphasizes independence and self-sufficiency. But both see wealth as a primary means of expressing those values. This article reviews aspects of economic anthropology which relate to gift-giving, analyzes parts of the Dowayo culture, and draws missiological conclusions. Understanding the economic assumptions of a culture can inform biblical teaching on Christian stewardship and aid its integration into the life of the church.

#MeToo and #ChurchToo: Putting the movements in context

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-198
Author(s):  
Kelly Colwell ◽  
Sheryl Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
White Women ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Receive ◽  
The Church

The #MeToo movement, exposing sexual harassment and abuse through Twitter and other social media platforms, has had a significant impact on many segments of society, and the church has been no exception. In addition to prominent celebrities, many church leaders have been accused, and in some cases convicted, of sexual assault after stories were brought to light on social media using hashtags like #MeToo and #ChurchToo. In the church context, particular dynamics are at play, such as purity culture and a culture of shame and silence in relation to women’s sexuality. The #MeToo movement has been critiqued for a number of reasons, including that its founder, woman-of-color Tarana Burke, has not received much credit and that privileged white women (especially actresses) have tended to receive the most attention and be understood as the focus of the campaign. This article provides an overview of the history of the movement, exploring some prominent cases and investigating some of the critical engagement with the campaign and its impacts.

The Fundamentalist Belt

Rough Country ◽  
2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Church

This chapter considers the popular perception of Texas as a fundamentalist belt. This perception was never completely true, but it was not without basis either. It was more accurate to say that religious leaders who believed in a conservative interpretation of the Bible represented an almost unchallenged understanding of theology in Dallas to a greater extent than would have been the case in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, or Los Angeles. It was increasingly accurate to say that conservative Baptists and Methodists along with members of several smaller denominations carried greater influence in their denominations than their counterparts did in any other state. How that happened became evident in the church controversies that escalated between the 1880s and 1920s, in the opposition church leaders mobilized against evolution, in conflict between fundamentalists and modernists, in the monitoring of what was taught in schools and seminaries, and in the rising popularity of biblical interpretations emphasizing dispensational theology.

Ideas and Leaders in Contentious Politics: One Parish Priest in El Salvador's Popular Movement

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (01) ◽  
pp. 76-101
Author(s):  
PETER M. SANCHEZ
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Parish Priest ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
Resource Mobilisation ◽  
The Church

AbstractThis paper examines the actions of one Salvadorean priest – Padre David Rodríguez – in one parish – Tecoluca – to underscore the importance of religious leadership in the rise of El Salvador's contentious political movement that began in the early 1970s, when the guerrilla organisations were only just beginning to develop. Catholic leaders became engaged in promoting contentious politics, however, only after the Church had experienced an ideological conversion, commonly referred to as liberation theology. A focus on one priest, in one parish, allows for generalisation, since scores of priests, nuns and lay workers in El Salvador followed the same injustice frame and tactics that generated extensive political mobilisation throughout the country. While structural conditions, collective action and resource mobilisation are undoubtedly necessary, the case of religious leaders in El Salvador suggests that ideas and leadership are of vital importance for the rise of contentious politics at a particular historical moment.

Conflict and Financial Scandal on History, Culture, and Politic

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (03) ◽  
pp. 20628-20638
Author(s):  
Anik Yuesti ◽  
I Made Dwi Adnyana
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Spiritual World ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
The World ◽  
Financial Scandals ◽  
Financial Transparency ◽  
The Church ◽  
Transparency And Accountability

One of the things that are often highlighted in the world of spirituality is a matter of sexual scandal. But lately, the focus of the spiritual world is financial transparency and accountability. Financial scandals began to arise in the Church, as was the case in the Protestant Christian Church of Bukti Doa Nusa Dua Congregation in Bali. The scandal involved clergy and even some church leaders. This study aims to describe how the conflict occurred because of financial scandals in the Church. The method used in this study is the Ontic dialectic. Based on this research, the conflict in the Bukit Doa Church is a conflict caused by an internal financial scandal. The scandal resulted in fairly widespread conflict in the various lines of the organization. It led to the issuance of the Dismissal Decrees of the church pastor and also one of the members of Financial Supervisory Council. This conflict has also resulted in the leadership of the church had violated human rights. Source of conflict is not resolved in a fair, but more concerned with political interests and groups. Thus, the source of the problem is still attached to its original place.

Priesthood Ordination

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan A. Stapley
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
Book Of Mormon ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Church ◽  
Power And Authority

Early Mormons used the Book of Mormon as the basis for their ecclesiology and understanding of the open heaven. Church leaders edited, harmonized, and published Joseph Smith’s revelation texts, expanding understandings of ecclesiastical priesthood office. Joseph Smith then revealed the Nauvoo Temple liturgy, with its cosmology that equated heaven, kinship, and priesthood. This cosmological priesthood was materialized through sealings at the temple altar and was the context for expansive teachings incorporating women into priesthood. This cosmology was also the basis for polygamy, temple adoption, and restrictions on the participation of black men and women in the church. This framework gave way at the end of the nineteenth century to a new priesthood cosmology introduced by Joseph F. Smith based on male ecclesiastical office. As church leaders expanded the meaning of priesthood to comprise the entire power and authority of God, they struggled to integrate women into church cosmology.

scholarly journals Motivational factors for a sports ministry: A case study of churches in Pretoria

2012 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Tucker ◽  
Noel Woodbridge
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Motivational Factors ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Great Commission ◽  
General Strategy ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Sports Ministry ◽  
Teaching Life ◽  
The Church

The purpose of this study was to investigate church leaders’ perceptions of motivational factors for a sports ministry in churches in Pretoria. A survey questionnaire was developed by the researchers to investigate the above perceptions. The survey consisted of demographic questions and perception questions using a structured and a semi-structured questionnaire. The results of the survey were assessed by calculating the significance of each motivational factor for a sports ministry in the church, as perceived by the respondents. Participants were recruited from 32 church leaders from a wide variety of denominational and cultural backgrounds in Pretoria. Results showed that a sports ministry could assist the church in evangelism and fulfilling the Great Commission. Over 95% of all respondents agreed that a sports ministry would have a positive impact on evangelism. The results of the survey showed that the participants from the churches in Pretoria are supportive of a sports ministry as a general strategy to help churches to promote evangelism and outreach, to cross cultural barriers, to keep in touch with society and to provide a place for teaching life skills and develop leaders.

Die koninkryk van God in die Ou Testament: ’n Kort oorsig

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel F. O'Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Kingdom Of God ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Real Difference ◽  
Central Concept ◽  
The Past ◽  
To Come ◽  
Psalm 22 ◽  
The Church ◽  
Technical Terms

The kingdom of God in the Old Testament: A brief survey. The kingdom of God is a central concept in the teaching of Jesus, but the question posed by this article is the following: What does the Old Testament say about the kingdom of God? Several Old Testament terms convey the concept of kingdom, kingship and rule of God. This article focuses on the Hebrew and Aramaic ‘technical’ terms for kingdom: mamlākâ, malkût, mělûkâ and malkû. One finds only a few Old Testament references where these terms are directly connected to God, most of them in the post-exilic literature: 1 Chronicles 17:14; 28:5; 29:11; 2 Chronicles 13:8; Psalm 22:29; 103:19; 145:11–13; Daniel 2:44; 3:33 (4:3); 4:31 (4:34); 6:27; 7:14, 18, 27; Obadiah 21. A brief study of these specific references leads to a few preliminary conclusions: The kingdom of God refers to a realm and the reign of God, the God of the kingdom is depicted in different ways, God’s kingdom is eternal and incomparable with earthly kingdoms, the scope of the kingdom is particularistic and universalistic, the Old Testament testifies about a kingdom that is and one that is yet to come, et cetera. It seems that there is no real difference when comparing the ‘kingdom of God’ with the ‘God is King’ passages. One cannot unequivocally declare that ‘kingdom of God’ is the central concept in the Old Testament. However, we must acknowledge that Jesus’s teaching about the kingdom of God did not evolve in a vacuum. His followers probably knew about the Old Testament perspective on the kingdom of God.Contribution: The concept ‘kingdom of God’ is relevant for the church in South Africa, especially congregations who strive to be missional. Unfortunately, the Old Testament perspective was neglected in the past. The purpose of this brief survey is to stimulate academics and church leaders in their further reflection on the kingdom of God.

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