I wrote two articles on the Word of God and “Widows and Orphans” and now that the elections in America are over, I want to express my opinion about what the Churches are responsible for.
The problem with the high rate of abortions in America is not because we have government laws that permit them but because the churches have failed to address the major causes of abortions in America. Poverty, lack of education, unchurched youth, desperation for “love”, and the lack of funding for the unwed mothers. All these needs should have been met by the churches and their congregations. The major causes for failure of the means to stem abortions is due it two factors: 1) A lack of honest tithing. and 2) a failure of most churches to use tithe in a biblical fashion.
On the first, a lack of honest tithe, that is the fault of all Christians. There are many who tithe regularly and I commend them. But they are not vocal enough in explaining that to tithe is a privilege, an act of praise to God. I do not belong to any individual church but to the greater Church. that is the Body of Christ. Yet I give to each church that I worship in each time I go. I refuse to cheat in my tithe. If for some reason I can’t get to a church any given Sunday, I complete my tithe the following week. Whenever I give to a charity, it is above and beyond my tithe. Tithe is a sacrifice of praise. Here in America, we complain that we pay to much in taxes yet cheat God with a failing to pay our tithe. If the wealthiest of our nation gave their ten percent to God insted of buying “toys” for themselves. the poorest of the poor would be fed and housed. If the morgage lenders delt fairly and in a godly manner, we would not have been in this crisis that we are in now. And if the rich churches shared their tithe with the poorer ones, more people would trust that they are working in the will of God.
On the second point, the use of tithe in the churches, I can say that in none of the churches I have been a member of in the past has used the tithe as expressed in Deuteronomy. As I have expressed in my prior article, one third of the tithe is to be used for the care of widows, the fatherless and the homeless in your communities. In the context of the bible, widows are the women whose husbands have died, those whose husbands have abandoned, divorced or disposed of them, and those who are victims of rape. In today’s terms that would also include those whose sexual partners have failed in their moral and financial responsibility of raising the children they fathered. The Church community should be offering assistance to each and every one of these women and the raising and caring of the children left behind. We should be offering pre and post school programs to teach the children and aid the mothers who have to work low paying jobs. We as lovers of the Word, we have the responsibility to see that they are given an equal opportunity to learn and to grow in our society.
We as a free people have in the past decided to “take our own” and give little to the needs of the rest of our society. Yes, we are the most giving of nations but that means little when we still are not honest in our giving. The more you have should mean that you have more to give. America is still the richest nation in the world. If Every CEO gave according to the Law of Moses to his or her Church, Synagogue or Mosque, we could solve the problem of world hunger and homelessness. If our Nation paid farmers to grow food for the starving nations instead of paying them to have fallow fields, there would not be a problem of food shortages. If we acted like a truly Christian Nation that we claim to be, we would do as Jesus asked and be willing to sell all that we owned and give to the poor. Not that Christ commanded us to do that, but we should be willing to do what ever God calls us to do for eachother.
And if we really cared about the needs of the children that are born in homes without fathers, and if we truly felt the anguish of the women who face the terrible choices before them, abortion or raising a child in poverty, we would bring them into our homes and teach them how to live a viable life and how to raise their children in a safe and nurturing environment.
James wrote in James1:27 that we should “…care for the orphans and the widows in their trouble, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.” When we let the issues of the land decide that we should outlaw abortion as many wish, and yet offer nothing to help the women in their choice of life, then we have let the world corrupt the word of God. We make demands of people that they can not meet. If we are to prevent abortion, then we must offer alternatives. The best alternative is to open our hearts and our purse strings to give to them as Jesus would have us. We need to show that we are willing and able to help them in their life choice. This is not the responsibility of the government, it is the duty and privilege of the Christian and Jewish communities.
Help you sisters in their need, help the fatherless children. Use your tithe in the manner of God’s will and by His Law. Give with a glad Spirit and in the focus of the Love of Our Heavenly Father.
