Did I tell you about the "carrot & the stick"?

It's what all of the "traditional" churches, from the "Roman" down through the "Evangelicals" and "Holy Rollers" use to ensure tithing by the "faithful". They believe that, if there's no "reason" for tithing, the congregants won't pay.

The "carrot" is the promise of "good" things, heavenly "things" to those who observe the churches' teachings..their "gospel".  So, tithing is expected and they are rewarded. Of course, the classic case of this was  "Indulgences", signed by the Pope, which were tickets to heaven on the "fast track".

Luther spotted these as the pre-eminet scam, and they stopped.  But, then there's other ceremonies and practices that "good" catholics observe that does pretty much the same thing.

So much for the "carrot", let's take a look at the "stick".  It's a BIG stick.  Failure to be a faithful follower and believer of the church "line" and your a good candidate for HELL. You'll burn in hell for eternity.  Never mind that there is no such thing, but has been conjured up by man to scare the "faithful"  into adhering to  the churches'  teachings, so as not to go off the beaten path and suffer the consquences..naturally, this includes tithing.."paying" your dues.

So, there we have it.  Do good, be faithful to the "church" and you go to heaven (wherever that is).  But, if you don't, you're destined to go to hell, which of course also doesn't exist.           "Man" used the fires of Gehenna, which will be used for the "second death" to serve his purpose in conjuring up a "hell".

There is only one "religious" organization that makes no promises, other than what Paul promised, and does so, through payment in kind.  You purchase books and pamphlets from Concordant Publishing and that's all that's expected.  Of course, if you feel as most due, grateful for the teachings provided, you may very well tithe extra..they don't live on a million dollar budget, but not in order to expect something special from them..the promise of "good" things is already assured and this was done by Jesus over 2000 years ago..paulnbob