When you hear the word offering what exactly comes into your mind?
sacrifices of offering Ram to God for atonement of sin in the old testament, which was practiced in ancient Judaism(old testament ) and not Christianity .We all agreed that the resurrection of Christ which comes with a better covenant that ushered us into Christianity is now a substitute to that.
The question is, why are christians inspite knowing this truth keep offering offerings of money in churches? And pastors will keep reading portions of old testament(not new testament where Christianity started ) to uphold these practices for their financial benefit? (the same thing goes to Tithe doctrine)
Is this not a modern day religious deception?
Well, i am not against church members contributing money to sustain church activities, But that contribution should not come in disguise of offering, people offering money thinking that they are replicating the offering of old testament, It is anti intelligence to do that. It shows that people practicing Christianity are extremely foolish. And any pastor who calls money donation to church offering, do not care about the intellectual development of his church members, but is just interested in the money.
Now, offering money in churches is already a tradition and it can never be changed. But while we go about with this practice, it is of prime importance that, for the sake of the intellectual development of people for modern day living , especially nigerians, some inherent religious traditions such as, calling money contribution offering should be reviewed, and address it with the actual name , church contribution

I was fascinated by the topic of thread but I can't really take u up on this because the whole write up is devoid of any biblical reference to justify your point. Anyway while I allow you to search for biblical references let me remind you that th e word "offering" is derived from "offer" which literarily means "to give freely". Either you call it contribution or whatever diction you employ as long as you are giving it to God, you are offering it. And mind you, offering is not limited to animals remember Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu offered Strange fire before the Lord Lev 10:1 the wise men offered Jesus gift gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh matt 2:11.

ilevic:
I was fascinated by the topic of thread but I can't really take u up on this because the whole write up is devoid of any biblical reference to justify your point. Anyway while I allow you to search for biblical references let me remind you that th e word "offering" is derived from "offer" which literarily means "to give freely". Either you call it contribution or whatever diction you employ as long as you are giving it to God, you are offering it. And mind you, offering is not limited to animals remember Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu offered Strange fire before the Lord Lev 10:1 the wise men offered Jesus gift gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh matt 2:11.

thanks for pointing out the literal meaning of offering. which means, to offer, to give freely .
The question is, do many christians think offering means to give freely?
are they not told that because the Israelites sacrifice offering of goat or Ram for atonement for sin in Leviticus 5:10, therefore they should sacrifice their money in order to get blessings
how about pastors reading this passage to get people believe that God will restore them from poverty if they give more offering
Joel 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the cancerworm,....
is it true that this passage implies God will restore people of this generation from poverty if they continue to pay offering?

paxonel:

thanks for pointing out the literal meaning of offering. which means, to offer, to give freely .
The question is, do many christians think offering means to give freely?
are they not told that because the Israelites sacrifice offering of goat or Ram for atonement for sin in Leviticus 5:10, therefore they should sacrifice their money in order to get blessings
how about pastors reading this passage to get people believe that God will restore them from poverty if they give more offering
Joel 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the cancerworm,....
is it true that this passage implies God will restore people of this generation from poverty if they continue to pay offering?

I believe as a Christian, you don't need your pastor to tell you that giving attracts God's blessing. Don't know if you have read Luke 6:38. Anyway, one problem we have a Christian is that we think pastors are super human and that makes us blame them for any error we think they are committing. But the truth is, Christianity is personal relationship between one and God not between us and God through our pastors. If we allow the spirit to lead, we won't ask and argue issues like this.

ilevic:






I believe as a Christian, you don't need your pastor to tell you that giving attracts God's blessing. Don't know if you have read Luke 6:38. Anyway, one problem we have a Christian is that we think pastors are super human and that makes us blame them for any error we think they are committing. But the truth is, Christianity is personal relationship between one and God not between us and God through our pastors. If we allow the spirit to lead, we won't ask and argue issues like this.

that's true,
giving attracts God's blessing, giving in the context of the Luke 6:38 implies giving to the poor people in your community, that is what will attract people giving back to you in good measures, press down, running over when you are in need.
they will give back to you because they notice that you have been helping people who were in need. I think this is what Jesus was try to say in Luke 6:38, not giving to church .
Now, if we allow the spirit to lead us, we should be asking questions.
The spirit of God gives us sound mind and intelligence to ask questions. Why will pastors quote Luke 6:38 to make church members believe that Jesus was actually talking about giving offering or sowing financial seeds in churches?
like i have said, it is better for these pastors point out church projects to church members that these money they collect are needed for, then the church members will know what they are giving for, and why they are giving.
it should not be a situation where pastors perceive that if scriptures are quoted to support giving in church, members will start running to the alter with their last money so long scriptures are quoted (whether the scriptures were rightly quoted or not )