If you went to church in the last two weeks you may have been subjected to the classic you-should-be-giving-more-to-us guilt-trip sermon. My favorite is the, “If you love God you would give to Him a tenth” line followed by the reminder that it’s tax deductible.

Sermons that run this route typically change a few Old Testament teachings and feature emotional carrot-and-stick style arguments in order to declare ten percent of the congregation’s income property of the church. Most of these points and changes look like this:

• The scope of who is required to tithe is expanded to all Christians instead of just the Children of Israel.

• What is given for tithe is changed from agricultural products produced in the land of Israel (under the theocracy) to money that is earned worldwide and from every occupation.

• Who receives the tithe is changed from the Tribe of Levi to whatever church is holding the sermon or churches in general.

• The tithe requirement is changed from profit based (the increase) to revenue based (all income).

• There are often promises that God will bestow financial blessings for those that comply.

• Pastors sometimes say God may punish you with hardship for “robbing God of his dues.”

• Guilt-tripping or other emotional manipulation are often used. (ex. If you love God you would give more to this church)

It only takes one of these points to render a sermon harmful and counterproductive. Congregations that are subjected to such sermons can sense something is wrong, especially those that are guilt-tripped. These teachings pervert the Biblical concept of giving, discourage attendance, weaken faith, and even turn people away from God. Atheists absolutely love this particular line of sermons because they get to use these teachings to portray all of Christianity as a financial scam. And it works because that’s exactly what this line of teaching is.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be giving to those who minister to us. Good pastors and churches should be rewarded for good ministry. But those rewards should come voluntarily from the congregation. Too many ministries go about asking for funds the wrong way. Twisting scripture, emotionally manipulating, and purposefully deceiving people to achieve goals, even good goals, is still evil. Pastors should never use such tools against their own congregations. The ends do not justify the means.

Even though such teachings still appear in the minority of American churches as a whole, the effects seem to have an effect across all of Christendom. Several studies that directly measure attendance show a significant decline in church populations, with very few areas of growth. Factor in the fact the U.S. population is growing and things get much worse.

How do we fix this? Simply by confronting the pastors who choose to use the underhanded tactics like those listed above. We have to let them know that perverting God’s word is not acceptable. If they do not heed the call, we need to stay true to the Bible and vote with our feet.

What pastors need to do to raise funds is ask their congregations for donations by truthfully saying why they need the money, and how their plans would help spread the love of God. Doing it this way gives the congregation a chance to freely and cheerfully choose to do something good for God. The mere act of choosing to donate fosters involvement and provides feelings of accomplishment and goodwill. These are the positive results we wish to see. Pushing guilt-trip tithing does just the opposite.