Three Simple Questions

1. How important is tithing to your spiritual life? And how important is speaking in tongues to your spiritual life?
2. How often do you hear a sermon on tithing? And how often do you hear a sermon on God's wrath? (Or if you are a preacher, how often do you preach on tithing? And how often do you preach on God's wrath?
3. How much do you affirmatively discuss tithing? And how much do you affirmatively discuss predestination and election?

With your answers on the questions above, I want you to check out the following graph.


The Graph Explained

1. Using a free Bible software, words were sought in the English Standard Version New Testament.
2. The graph above represents the number of occurences of some words that have something to do with one of three subjects: tithing, God's wrath, and predestination.
3. For TITHING, the words "tithe", "tithes", and "tithing" were used. These appeared in 7 verses in 4 chapters of 3 books. [1]
4. For SPEAKING IN TONGUES, the word "tongues" should occur in the context of spiritual gifts. It appeared in 17 verses in 7 chapters of 3 books. [2]
5. For GOD'S WRATH, the words "God" and "wrath" should occur together. These appeared in 19 verses in 15 chapters of 6 books. [3]
6. For PREDESTINATION / ELECTION, the words "predestined", "chosen", and "elect" were used. These appeared in 19 verses in 11 chapters of 9 books. [4]
7. Except for tithing, some appearances were not counted due to context inconsistencies. While on tithing, all appearances were counted regardless of context. [This implies that, except for tithing,  the figures should have been higher if context is not considered.]

Now, were your answers above consistent with the graph?

Three Radical Statements (At Least to Tithers)
Once, I opened my Sunday sermon with these three statements:

1. "Pastor Bernard, your pastor, does not believe in tithing."
2. "John Wesley, the founding father of your Methodism, also did not believe in tithing." Then I quoted Rev. Wesley in his Sermon 50: The Use of Money, "Do not stint yourself, like a Jew rather than a Christian, to this or that proportion. 'Render unto God,' not a tenth, not a third, not half, but all that is God's... (emphasis mine)"
3. "Your pastor (and your founder) does not believe in tithing not because 10% is too much but because 10% is too small." I then absurdly rephrase Mark 12:30, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength and with 10% of your pocket." It does not fit, does it?

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Albert Mohler writes, "Preachers need books as camels need water. The preacher knows the experience of needing a particular book at a particular time in order to prepare a message; other than friends and family, books are often the preacher's closest companions."

	The Juvenilization of American Christianity. Thomas E. Bergler (Eerdmans)
	In The Juvenilization of American Christianity Thomas Bergler traces the way in which, over seventy-five years, youth ministries have breathed new vitality into four major American church traditions -- African American, Evangelical, Mainline Protestant, and Roman Catholic. Bergler shows too how this "juvenilization" of churches has led to widespread spiritual immaturity, consumerism, and self-centeredness, popularizing a feel-good faith with neither intergenerational community nor theological literacy. Bergler's critique further offers constructive suggestions for taming juvenilization.
	Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church. Gregg R. Allison (Crossway)
	What is a church? This can be a difficult question to answer and Christians have offered a variety of perspectives. Gregg Allison thus explores and synthesizes all that Scripture affirms about the new covenant people of God, capturing a full picture of the biblical church. He covers the topics of the church's identity and characteristics; its growth through purity, unity, and discipline; its offices and leadership structures; its ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper; and its ministries. Here is a rich approach to ecclesiology consisting of sustained doctrinal reflection and wise, practical application.
	Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction. Jonathan T. Pennington (Baker Academic)
	This textbook on how to read the Gospels well can stand on its own as a guide to reading this New Testament genre as Scripture. It is also ideally suited to serve as a supplemental text to more conventional textbooks that discuss each Gospel systematically. Most textbooks tend to introduce students to historical-critical concerns but may be less adequate for showing how the Gospel narratives, read as Scripture within the canonical framework of the entire New Testament and the whole Bible, yield material for theological reflection and moral edification.
	Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles. Graeme Goldsworthy (InterVarsity Press)
	For fifty years Graeme Goldsworthy has been refining his understanding of biblical theology through his experiences as a student, pastor and teacher. In this valuable complement to his Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics, Goldsworthy defends and refines the rationale for his approach, drawing especially on the work of Australian biblical scholar Donald Robinson.
	Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD. Peter Brown (Princeton University Press)
	Jesus taught his followers that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Yet by the fall of Rome, the church was becoming rich beyond measure. Through the Eye of a Needle is a sweeping intellectual and social history of the vexing problem of wealth in Christianity in the waning days of the Roman Empire, written by the world's foremost scholar of late antiquity.
	Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. Charles Murray (Crown Forum)
	In Coming Apart, Charles Murray explores the formation of American classes that are different in kind from anything we have ever known, focusing on whites as a way of driving home the fact that the trends he describes do not break along lines of race or ethnicity.
	The Intolerance of Tolerance. D.A. Carson (Eerdmans)
	Carson examines how the definition of tolerance has changed. It now has less to do with recognizing the right of another to disagree with us, and more to do with not saying that others are wrong. It is impossible to deploy this new tolerance consistently, so that actual practice is often whimsical and arbitrary. Worse, the word "tolerance" has almost become an absolute good, and "intolerance" an absolute bad. Tolerance and intolerance have become merely rhetorical terms of approval and disapproval.
	Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. Ross Douthat (Free Press)
	As the youngest-ever op-ed columnist for The New York Times, Ross Douthat has emerged as one of the most provocative and influential voices of his generation. In Bad Religion he offers a masterful and hard-hitting account of how American Christianity has gone off the rails - and why it threatens to take American society with it.
	God Is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology. Gerald Bray (Crossway)
	This volume is unique from others in that Bray traces the common theme of God's love through the Bible categorically--from God's love for himself and his creation to the cross as the ultimate expression of God's love, among other categories. The centrality of God's love in Bray's theology reflects a deep conviction that the Bible shows us God for who he really is. This volume will be of interest to Christians seeking to grow in their faith.
	Delighting in the Trinity: an Introduction to the Christian Faith. Michael Reeves (InterVarsity Press)
	In this lively book, we find an introduction to Christianity and the Christian life that is from start to finish rooted in our triune God - Father, Son and Spirit. Not only do we understand the person and work of Christ through the Trinity, but also prayer, the church and every aspect of our faith. With wit and clarity, Reeves draws from church history down to the present referencing a wide range of notable teachers and preachers. Here is a rich and enjoyable portrayal of the basic beliefs of Christianity that opens up the profound and life-changing truths of our faith.

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