One Utah

Fundamentally, I disagree with Senators Orrin Hatch and Barak Obama in their legislation protecting tithing from debtors in bankruptcy. Bad theology, and absolutely terrifying, frightening, scary Constitutional law, not only not separating Caesar and God, but making siamese sisters of the two, connected at the unbilical cord, or shifting the metaphors, the money-tree (the Tree of Life if caesar is god), the mother’s milk of political and ecclesial money. Breast- feeding is great. I did this until I was embarrassingly old. Even in public. But please, boys, not like this. Obama’s playing presidential politics, doing homage to the fundamentalist religious voters, and Orrin is, well, just being Orrin.

As I understand tithing, tithing is one-tenth of our “increase.” Whether of flocks and herds, or olive oil, or coffee beans, or crude oil, or very crude money, it’s all the same: one-tenth of an “increase.” That year. Tax year or tithing year. One-year time periods, in both, before an accounting, with caesar, and god. If we have debts we owe to other human beings (after all, the obvious joke in Jesus’ statement of giving God to what he already owns, which is everything, or caesar what he can never own, is patent…), we don’t have an “increase.”

In fact, under my late friend, Milton Friedman’s definition of a negative income tax, government, or as applied to a church, temple or synagogue or mosque, would owe me money, if indeed, I as a debtor, had a debt to my sister, my brother, or my fellow citizen, and I netted less than nothing, given those debts owed others, in that taxable, or tithable, year.

Jesus says to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” As noted, Jesus spoke with wry humor, since he, and Saint Paul, noted often that we owe all to God, since He created all. And after all we do, we are still unprofitable servants. Further, Jesus said that if we had ought against our brother or sister, we must settle with our brother or sister before we dared approach God, across the alter. I think he meant it. Settle up, or don’t bother God at His, or Her, or Their alter. Ed Firmage Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

This entry was posted Thursday, December 7th, 2006 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Ed Firmage. Both comments and pings are currently closed.