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In Reply to: Re: on reading articles posted by Observer on October 24, 2003 at 21:01:20:
In November, 1972, in “Newsletter & Advisory” (ML 189), para.34,35, Berg promised:
“We're not going to enforce a tax on you like the governments of this world in order to help pay for the benefits of your own Government. Neither are we going to demand a ten percent tithe, as in the Old Testament and many churches of today.”
He repeated this promise in para.39: “As we have said, we're not going to ask for a tax or a tithe or take a collection.”
The following year, March 4, 1973, Mo spoke out even stronger against the mandatory payment of tithes, calling it a religious “racket”, a “tax” and a “burden on the poor”:
“If I were a religious racketeer, I could have become a rich man ... But we have done the unheard of, the ridiculous: We have as good as said, disorganise, scatter, decentralise, be independent, everybody handle your own finances. Take care of yourselves. We don't want your money, unless you want to give us a little to help us ...
“We don't say, like many denominations, you Colonies give us 10% of everything you have, 10% of everything you have must come to headquarters. Many churches levy a tax on their people, laying burdens on the poor that they aren't able to bear, which their leaders aren't willing to lift with one of their fingers!—Jesus said so! We could have been another religious racket like them, and I could have wound up with all the money and you kids still be poor! But God wouldn't have blessed it, and I would have lost it ... Instead, we have literally told you kids to keep it and invest it in your own needs ... Scatter it to the poor! Give out to others!” (“Rags to Riches”, March 4, 1973, ML 211:45-46)
However, a little over 6 years later, on July 26, 1980, he declared, “The tithe is not a gift, it is a required minimum tax as far as God's concerned. It's the minimum income tax that God requires of His children, at least 10%.” (ML 928:207)
In March 1980, he published on the cover of IRFers Beware, "If you fail to tithe God will take a collection."
A brutal murder had happened. In desperation, help is requested. It is denied. Why should Berg or The Family (of Love) be responsible to help or be sympathetic? According to Berg: the victims are to blame; the victim wasn't a good FFer; the husband was weak; and most of all, they weren't tithing. The emphasis was on tithing -- "If you fail to tithe God will take a collection." The message is clear -- Don't tithe, and God will kill you.
