Life is full of annoyances, and I shrug most of them off. But one thing that really grinds my gears is the casual misquoting of biblical passages:

Pride goeth before the fall Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. -Proverbs 16:18

Money is the root of all evil. the love of money is the root of all evil. - I Tim. 6:10

Even worse is the distorted lifting out of context from the Book of Ruth: "I will follow you where ever you go" (at weddings!) (or, as an exhortation to a woman to follow her husband, regardless of her feelings on the subject) 1:11 Naomi said, "Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 1:12 Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, 'I have hope,' if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons; 1:13 would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your sakes, for the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me.” 1:14 They lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth joined with her. 1:15 She said, "Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law.” 1:16 Ruth said, "Don't entreat me to leave you, and to return from following after you, for where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; 1:17 where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried. Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part you and me.”

Last, and certainly the least of these, is one explanation given for why you must tithe - and here, I step into the shadow of doubt, for I fear to incense readers who may not see my point: Of the twelve tribes of Israel, only the Levites were excused from the daily rigors of tilling the land and raising cattle. In fact, they received no land at all. Instead, they were charged with the care of the Tabernacle, the offering of sacrifices and generally, the spiritual matters of the tribes. Well, they too had to eat, so it was commanded that they collect tithes from the other eleven tribes. One tenth of the tithe was an offering to god, while the Levites were entitled to

the remaining nine tenths as a reward for their services. (See Numbers 18:26 - 31) Yet, we commonly hear that "tithing to the church" means you must donate one tenth of everything you make! Technically, you would bring the first of your fruits, and one tenth of that is to be offered to god, while the remaining nine tenths went to the representative of the Tribe of Levites (your pastor.) So, if I am being a smart-ass, I would say, give the church your first paycheck and be done with it. How the pastor offers one tenth of your paycheck to god, I don't know (repaint the sanctuary?), but he is entitled to the rest, because he has bills to pay, too! Of course, the tithe was not a one-time collection, but occurred periodically. (I said I was being a smart-ass.) I have heard some people say that you shouldn't have to tithe at all, because with the advent of the New Covenant, the blood of the lamb for one sinner is replaced by the blood of Christ for all sinners. What they are implying is that the Old Covenant no longer holds force. This, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31-34, is indeed the case; and, according to Matthew 25:26-29, the prophecy is fulfilled. Even though tithing is part of the Old Covenant, that seems, to me, to be an underhanded way of getting out of supporting your spiritual leader. And that, dear reader, is what really grinds my gears! [Since this is my opinion, I have not rigorously researched this subject. However, I have discovered a delightful site about tithing, and you are welcome to explore it. Check out what it says about tithing under the New Testament. People forget that the Old Covenant was still in force under the New Testament, during the life of Christ.]

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