I had recently (last 16 months) become a tithing member of the United Methodist Church.
Around six months ago, I withdrew my support for this reason:
The newsletters from the church became very aggressive in asking for money. The moment I drew the line is when they sent a letter saying, "In this issue we will tell you who your money belongs to."
No, you won't tell me who my money belongs to, because primarily, it belongs to me.
Secondarily, in the scheme of the Kingdom, my money belongs to God. But this argument of the church, "Your money belongs to God, we represent God, and so we have a right to a portion" does not bear. I'll tell you why it does not bear.
This is a church that unabashedly teaches against the Law of God. Unabashedly. If you're going to make a claim to tithes, which I will gladly hear, if it has founding, you will have to
a) Show that you are the lawful succession of the Aaronic priesthood
and
b) Explain which portions of the Law apply today and which do not and why
If you fail to do these both, then I conclude,
i) You are a church that makes a dubious and convenient claim that none of the laws today but the one that says give money to the church.
I can't conclude any thing else. I don't have a problem giving to a church that teaches error, if that error arises from a good faith claim, a good-hearted belief in the rightness of the way and it does not approach a level of infamous error.
In this case, this church approaches infamous error, by teaching a self-serving belief, and rejecting the Law of God for the commands of men.
