Take the money and give it to God.

Post Reply New Topic

First off, I am a very spiritual person who is a gnostic, searches for wisdom and feels supernatural strength in my soul. I feel connected to the spiritual but my spirituality cannot fathom money.
I don't feel God and money are connected. God is very personal and I feel this personal, intimate connection that really isn't anyone else's concern imo. This is why I have such a hard time with this concept, taking the money from others because of what God is to me and me alone.
This is why I feel so indignant when folks try to take my money for God. God is too pure for money.

That seems really contextual from both sides, being that money and God are such broad concepts. Giving relief money to Haiti after a hurricane is also a far cry from giving thousands in donations to the Bakkers.

I am not talking about disaster relief for humans. That money's going for them, physical beings in a physical word . This topic was created in frustration regarding what's happening around me but I found out the distressing state question that allows state money to go directly toward religious schools at the expense of the tax payer in the form of a tax increase didn't pass. Part of the plan was to fund homeschooling and religious schools with the tax increase. To me that's a slippery slope which will increase taxes significantly in the long run. I underestimated the voters. Despite thousands of super pact funded, dark money commercials airing every five minutes, enough had the sense to vote NO.
I just hope the legislatures accepts what the public wants regarding taxes. And the ones who did vote yes? In my opinion they can provide the tax. Why can't it be voluntary?

Isn't the gnostic god analogous to the Biblical Lucifer?

True, I probably should have figured it was the state tax referendum you were talking about.

I don't know enough about the state you're in or the tax levy/referendum you mentioned to comment on whether or not it was a good idea - ie. I don't which state you live in, whether or not it already has a voucher system for school choice and whether its seen as an extension of that or some other overarching argument as to why they'd make a particular exception to give a break to parochial schools.

Speaking of God and money in general though the best we can offer though is platitudes and deepities. If I were to prod it with that stick on the general level though I'd probably have to ask you - where do you think money comes from? Or the human motion that it's meant to store?

Last edited by techstepgenr8tion on 09 Nov 2016, 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I don't believe in a Lucifer outside the realms of the human mind - imagination, fantasies, stories and as a teaching tool. I believe in innate higher power we all have and can reach if we choose to and no one should discourage anyone from doing that.

I live in OK. Charter schools exist in the capitol and lotteries determine who attends. Not sure if vouchers are involved.
A couple of recent referendums were troubling. One created an education slush fund out of a state wide one cent sales tax increase when, by itself, does not seem like a problem. However, anytime someone wants to publically fund anything around here, they pounce right on the sales tax first. It's not a good trend. It was voted down.
Another referendum, if you can believe, allowed public funds to be used for religion. Anyone who can put two and two together can figure out, part of the sales tax money would be used to fund grossly inflated tuition to private Christian schools. I disagree with funding any private school with public money simply based on costs alone. But, since it's religion, proponents could argue its a state tithe to God, like what they receive from their congregations. I disagree with the principle God demands money. That does not jive with me at all. I cannot fathom or support such a concept. My God is not money hungry like humans. I know that!
This state has a balanced budget amendment in the constitution so it behooves the government not to unnecessarily fund programs like education. They can't even manage the schools they have now so why create a subset of additional schools run by shady private entities which will use them to scam millions of dollars from the state government? Glad neither one of the referendums passed.

Then that just sounds like bad governance and a war of ideologies between teachers unions on one hand and parents who want a good education for their own kids on the other. Neither side gets their way overall, at least outside of parents giving up on the system who have the money to send their kids to private schools or do the home schooling themselves, and the losing party between the two are the kids who the state has to educate because they don't have the means to leave and a failing school system doesn't have the funds, or talent in many cases, to educate them.

Most the time it is parents who educate their young kids, get paid nothing, and do a exemplary job and that's not saying they should expect the government to hand them a $35,000 a year check per pupil. This is not practical.
So many private vocational colleges have taken out federal student loans and grants on non existent students. It's time for both Healthcare and private educators to get the message they will not be allowed to keep handing their ginormous bills to the government expecting Uncle Sam to cover them all which is exactly what is happening right now. If you want expensive education, figure out how to pay for it. If the school in a neighborhood is bad, move someplace else or do your part to improve it. A lot of the time parents can sit in class with their kids. Don't think the government should pay $35,000 a year to educate your child while the parent does nothing. That's like the biggest sense of entitlement ever.
Even though I am socialist it is true I am conservative. People do not always need a big pay out from the government. This kind of thinking destroys quality of life. It bankrupts the government, inflates prices, raises cost of living and taxes so high no one can pay them and have enough to live on. Republicans are obsessed with funding private schools but fiscally it is a slippery slope. If they are truly fiscally conservative they need to abandon that idea right now because it's wasteful spending.