The case that was made was trying to assert that the government was giving illegal benefits to churches through tax exempt status. The courts said they weren't ... The courts happen to be right. The government is not supporting the church by giving them tax exemption. It is therefore, not a government benefit.
Nice spin doctoring; but the courts have said what they have said, including the fact that tax exemption is a government "privilege" and "benefit." The fact that they have declared it to be "legal" doesn't change that fact.
It doesn't subjugate the church to the IRS. You are crying wolf. In the real world, it just doesn't matter.
We recognize that it doesn't matter to you; but how does that constitute "crying wolf"? It's your prerogative to live in denial. Indeed, a great many pastors today live in denial of how their worldly pragmatism has compromised the church.
I have no problem being subject to the IRS anyway.
Gasp! Well there you have it folks -- evidence of worldly pragmatism. But for my part, I do have a problem, a most serious problem, with my church in any way being "subject" or subordinate to the evil IRS.
IF they don't ask me to do something unbiblical, I can abide under them.
They already have. Read the terms and conditions of IRC 501c3. As a 501c3 State-Church you can't "influence legislation." That means you can't oppose abortion, sodomy and sodomite "marriages", and thousands of other unbiblical "laws" our government legislators have enacted.
So when your state legislature takes up a bill to "legalize" the marriage of sodomites, that means you can't say anything about it. You can't so much as tell your congregation, "This is evil. You need to call your state rep and give him a piece of your mind." This is a significant factor in how so much evil legislation has sailed through state legislatures and the federal congress -- no organized opposition from local church bodies. The pastors are silent, and they have been silenced by their precious 501c3.
Is it biblical for you to permit the government to silence you? Is it biblical to keep your mouth shut as a pastor rather than speak to the vital issues of the day and "preach the whole counsel of God"?
If you are allowing the message of the Scripture to be controlled by the government, then you are wrong. Period. I am not. Most pastors I know are not.
If that's really true then you are a lawbreaker. Rather than being a church (which evidently isn't good enough for most pastors today) you took the government "privilege" of being a "tax-exempt 501c3 nonprofit limited liability religious organization" and tell us that you agree to be "subject to the IRS," but you're not keeping your end of the deal. Your end of the deal is to keep your mouth shut and never say anything against "public policy" including anything against government legalized baby murder, government sanctioned sodomy, or anything else the government "legalizes" that is unbiblical.
If you keep your mouth shut about it then you sin by your silence. But if you do speak out you sin because you've made a covenant with the IRS to keep your mouth shut.
In my experience, most pastors who claim they don't allow the IRS to govern what they preach never preach anything the IRS cares about anyway. The IRS doesn't care if you preach salvation messages. The IRS doesn't care if you preach about Bible prophecy. The IRS doesn't care if you give altar calls every week. But speak out against anything the government has "legalized" and they'll probably care quite a bit, especially if your message is going out over the airwaves.
It's appropriate for me to start a new thread to illustrate just how the 501c3 has silenced most pastors. Most 501c3 pastors won't ever admit it. They live in denial, because it's easier than admitting the obvious. But there is (thank God) one pastor who has had the guts to admit that he has been "gagged by the IRS."
[ June 28, 2004, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: kirkguardian ]
