Chester VanderZee

Yes, i was Elder for 2 terms;;

a good experience...I especially liked going to Synod 9 yrs ago!

cvz

 

i strongly recommend reading ,and following, Rick Warren's meditation for today --Nov 1, 2018.

it is so eminantly useful..

That is where it has to Start!!

 

i strongly recommend reading ,and following, Rick Warren's meditation for today --Nov 1, 2018.

it is so eminantly useful..

That is where it has to Start!!

 

There is too much casualness. 

 

I believe in the practice of tithing; let me share a brief history of how I got here, some Bible support.

 

As a young people attendee, we had a couple of good leaders; one I am thinking of was a hardware/plumber by trade, Clarence Timmer.

He first impressed me with the Malachi 3: 10 verse—a simple conditional promise.

 

“10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be [p]food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until [q]it overflows.” NASB

 

I believe Rev Vanderaa also often preached on conditional promises; and it was Mrs Vanderaa who told us ‘we could not make it if we didn’t tithe.’ This reinforced what We had already been practicing.

One big advantage of following a tithing plan is that one doesn’t have to put a lot of time into deciding how much to give, but only where does it go this month. There is real freedom in that.

When you buy a Bible and you give it to somebody who doesn’t have one, you’ve stored up treasure in Heaven. When you support a program that shares the Good News around the world, you have stored up treasure in Heaven. When you help build a church, you have stored up treasure in Heaven. That is the highest and best use of your money.

You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead by investing in people who are going to Heaven.

from Barna   May. 2003:  The group that had the highest proportion of households tithing was evangelicals. While that group represents just 6% of the public, nearly 9% of the group tithed in 2002 - roughly three times the national, [But still apathetically small amount.]

from CRC The Banner, Feb. 2010:  "Among other things, the survey found that the median percentage of household income given to the CRC (not including Christian education tuition) is 6.1 percent. Just 21.9 percent of respondents gave 10 percent or more of their income to the church."...Food for thought...

 

If this gets thru, I'd like to reaffirm the Biblical concept of tithing. It works! Try it.

It is also a strong suggestion by Jesus.. where He says re the Pharisees and tithing their herbs "This you should do." Many people miss this little clause.

Amen...bro...very good!

 The Giveness of things, by Marilynne Robinson; Heaven by Randy Alcorn

I like method a former pastor used with us in Counil___He

would ask each of us : "How has God been real to you last

week?"     I f you don't have an answer, you need to check your religious pulse.....

I too am [was] ,now retired, science teacher....taught all levels from grade 6- thru College.

Climate does change, but we humans may not be as in control of it as some think...

Think of ice ages, time when N AM was under ocean, etc

If we don't get control of our values in this country, there may not be enuf civilization left to worry about.  And we have the immediate threat of Muslim extremists..

At the moment we have bigger fish to fry,

 

 

 

 

  Y'all good people should read Genetic Entropy      by   J.C.Sanford; very scholarly work both scientific and math'l..

Would open a lot of eyes!!

Re credit cards: If one pays it off, there is no diff for average person from paying with cash.

I realize that a few places give a cash discount, but those are rare.