Tithing is the Key to Heaven

When I turned the TV on this morning, the 700 Club was on. I was checking emails and just wanted some background noise more than anything so it didn't occur to me to change the channel. There was a couple on there and they must have said "tithe" 50 times in 30 seconds. Now this didn't inspire me to head out to church, it really just affirmed my opinion that a big part of religion is money. It's like one big old never-ending fundraiser. I'm not arguing the merits of it, because obviously there is a lot of good (and a ton of bad) done by religions across the world. I just see the big business side of it when you get into the mega-churches, buying airtime for God-O-mercials, etc. When you donate to a cause, you want it to be worthy. I donate a small amount to St. Jude every month and my husband's favorite line is, "How much of my money actually goes to charity, Jennifer?" and every time I say, "88%, Fidel" and he shuts up for a few months. I'm pretty sure 88% is accurate for St. Jude and that's a fair amount. I understand that charities aren't cheap to run and you have reasonable expenses. However, you do have people and charities that just don't get the point of charity. For example, I knew this woman who had 4 kids, no job or desire to get a job, and a felon for a husband. This family was constantly getting evicted from rental homes for not paying the rent, couldn't buy school supplies, immunize or clothe their children but yet the mother had internet access and kept herself and her husband in cigarettes, beer and money for the casino. Doesn't exactly make you want to open up your wallet, does it? The icing on the cake for the family referenced above was the conception of the fifth child. Let's say that someone gave the Mom of that family $1000. How much of that do you think she would spend on legitimate purchases? If she hasn't already made the sacrifice of giving up cigarettes, beer and internet, she doesn't seem very committed to doing what's best for her family.

I think the redneck comedian Bill Engvall was onto something with his, "Here's Your Sign" line. Dumbass parents should be handed a sign, then have an intervention for the sake of their kids. I'm all for letting people make their own mistakes, but it really pisses me off to see people making mistakes that only harm their kids. Like taking a kindergartener who can't spell their name out of school for 5 days to go to a goddamned dog show, or lighting up a cigarette and logging onto the computer when your dirty little kids are crawling on the stove looking for something to eat. Unfortunately, with Tootie being in school now we are exposed to a whole different world of parents. Things I thought only happened to people on Dr. Phil are surrounding us!