The Ninety-Sixth Thesis

Losing Faith in the Church, Finding Faith in Christ

Brian A. Bompiani

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781725277175
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Five hundred years ago Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses or grievances to the door of the All Saints Church of Wittenberg and condemned the Catholic Church's teaching of indulgences as nothing but a scheme to raise money for the church. It is a supreme irony of history that, five hundred years later, it is now a subset of the Protestant Church, namely evangelical churches, that are defrauding the faithful. The Catholic Church's teaching of indulgences and the evangelical movement's teaching of tithing-to-be-blessed are substantially the same and lead to the same result: In both cases, the church walks away with a bag of money and the Christian walks away with a bag full of empty promises.This book explains why one might lose faith in the church, but finding faith in Christ. Something is preventing God from doing all the good that he would otherwise want to do. But here is the problem. How can God have limitations? If he has limitations, then he must not be divine. However, there is one thing that could prevent a good, all-powerful, God from doing all the good that he would otherwise want to do that would not detract at all from his omnipotence. What this is and how it holds the key to unlocking many of the mysteries of God is explained in this book.

Chapter 1

Losing Faith in the Church

A few years ago, a local car repair shop had a large banner over their garage door that advertised Wednesday as “Ladies Day.” Every Wednesday ladies would get a dollar off their already low-priced oil change. Instead of paying $19.99, they would pay only $18.99. On the surface, this seems like an act of goodwill. After all, it seems like this garage is trying to save ladies a little money. But is this garage really trying to save them a little money, or is something else going on here?

An immediate red flag that something unethical is going on here derives from the fact that garages make very little, if any, money off a twenty-dollar oil change. It costs more than that for someone to change the oil him or herself. The question that must be asked is, how can any garage afford to perform oil changes that barely cover the costs of parts and labor? The truth is that the cheap oil change is bait and those who show up to have their oil changed have taken the bait. The dollar savings is not evidence that the garage cares about women, but rather an attempt to bait into their garage a segment of society that generally knows little about cars for no other reason than to take advantage of them. The unsuspecting customer who thinks she is getting a deal on an oil change ends up with a litany of other things that the garage found wrong with the car while performing the oil change and ultimately a much more expensive bill. While it probably surprises no one that some businesses take advantage of customers like this, it is alarming to discover that the church, the most sacred and divine of all institutions, also takes advantage of people with its own form of bait.

Few topics receive more attention from evangelical churches than tithing.1 Tithing is the practice of giving 10 percent of one’s gross annual income to the local church. There is nothing wrong with churches asking those who attend to tithe. Churches are businesses and it costs a lot of money to support them. However, there is a problem with the way that tithing is taught in evangelical churches today. Because it is difficult to get people to give such a significant amount of their income to the church, many churches have sweetened the pot with the promise that God will bless the finances of those who tithe to their local church. Thus, what many evangelical churches teach is that the more money individuals give to their local church, the more money they will get back in return, a teaching that is in total harmony with prosperity theology.2

The second chapter of Hood’s book Take God at His Word: Experience the Power of Giving bears a title that succinctly summarizes the view of many evangelical churches with respect to giving: “I Want You to Tithe So I Can Reward You.”3 He explains: “This chapter focuses on the incredible blessings that God has promised once we decide to give at least a tenth of our income back to God. Giving a tenth, also called ‘tithing,’ should actually be a starting point in our giving. The Bible clearly teaches that the Lord is looking to bless us as a result of our important step of faith.”4

In his book The Treasure Principle, Alcorn writes: “The more you give, the more comes back to you, because God is the greatest giver in the universe, and He won’t let you outgive Him.”5 Youssef is another writer who teaches that the secret to getting is through giving.6 He writes that people “are always thinking about how they can get more and more and more—and they do not understand that the secret for positive living is getting by giving.”7 A few paragraphs later, he explains: “If we give sacrificially, God will give generously to us. Giving is the secret to activating God’s amazing give-back program. It’s impossible to outgive God.”8 An unfortunate result of this teaching is that many are giving on Sunday with the expectation that an unexpected check might arrive in the mail Monday through Friday!9 But is this really what the Bible teaches? Will Christians who tithe really receive more money in return?

In many evangelical churches tithing has become the litmus test of spiritual maturity. Those who tithe are regarded with higher esteem in the church and are treated as if they have accomplished the spiritual equivalent of having climbed Mt. Everest or having been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Those who do not tithe are often treated like second-class citizens who are not “good” Christians. But is it really fair to judge someone’s spiritual growth on the basis of how much money they give to the church? Would Jesus have done this? Unfortunately, many pastors seem to believe that this is acceptable.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of attending a Nazarene church that had a great pastor with a sincere heart. One evidence of his sincerity was that he never wanted to know who gave what to the church. However, when other pastors in his denomination heard this, many of them criticized him because, in their view, pastors have a right to know who gives what to the church because tithing is a measure of spiritual growth! In other words, they believed they could discern who was growing spiritually by looking at how much money people gave to the church.

Over the years I have attended a number of evangelical churches that span a broad spectrum of denominations and the one thing that so many of them have in common is the teaching, some explicitly and others more subtly, that tithing leads to some form of prosperity.

Some pastors shout platitudes to persuade their congregations to tithe. One of the most common platitudes is the well-known and overused: “You can’t out give God!”10 The implication is clear: the more money one gives to the church, the more money one gets back in return! Other pastors use urban legends to make their appeal and tell unsubstantiated stories about individuals who started to tithe and a week or so later received unexpected checks in the mail.11 Other pastors use the threat of financial ruin to frighten their congregations to tithe. They not only teach that God blesses the finances of those who tithe, but that he curses the finances of those who do not!12 In her book Blessed, Bowler writes about a pastor who taught that non-tithers’ households may be cursed, their vehicles might break down, and their bills might not get paid!13 I recently heard an example similar to this at a Nazarene church I attended. The pastor said that a young couple came to him to discuss their financial problems. He then said that the first thing he ask...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Losing Faith in the Church
• Chapter 2: Jesus’ Miracles and the Kingdom of God
• Chapter 3: The Messianic Secret
• Chapter 4: The God Who Defies Human Wisdom
• Chapter 5: The Story of Abraham
• Conclusion
• Bibliography