Educating Christian Children

The Ecclesia

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels, and Sermons

Lesson: 4-7

Genre: Talk

Track: 4

Dictation Name: RR312B4

Location/Venue:

Year:

[Audience Speaker] Before we have any more questions, (?) I just wanted to tag on to something that Joe said; one of the things that we’d developed, I developed and we are going to have in a limited way, is the kitchen table tutor program. We’ve taken Sam Blumenfeld’s Alpha Phonics, we had a Christian school- and every Christian congregation can do this- one of the glaring problems in every community is functional illiteracy. I love Sam’s statement, the difference between illiteracy and functional illiteracy; illiteracy you never learn to read, functional illiteracy you go to school for 12 years and still can’t read. And any of you homeschoolers or Christian schoolers who like to teach phonics like I do, Blumenfeld’s book is a nice comprehensive program, you have a weekly meeting at your church where you bring parents in and say: “We will teach you how to teach your children to read.” And they buy the book, or if they are dirt poor and they can’t the church can buy the book for them, and go through and step by step with his teachers manual, and your congregation will be known as the only place in the area where people can come to read. I have got a lady write now who I am helping teach her six year old- I am teaching her to teach her six year old, convinced her to homeschool, so that she can teach her 55 year old husband who never learned how to read. He will never come to a public meeting, but if she knows how to do it he will sit down at the table with her and she can teach him. And any one of you mothers or dads who have had an experience like that can do something like that, inexpensively, efficiently, and you can package it all sorts of ways.

[Audience Leader] I have a confession to make. I am a German, and one of the things about Germans is that they keep the railroads running on time. However, I have misread the itinerary- we have more time! So, yes sir?

[Audience Member] I would be interested in hearing from both speakers if I could on this question; can reconstruction occur without the full restoration of the tithe to the church (?) maybe like 10-20% of all protestant church members tithe, can reconstruction happen (?) without this economic emphasis on the side of (?)?

[Audience Leader] Alright, the question will be to both Dr. Rushdoony and to Joseph, and the question is: “Can effective reconstruction take place without the instrument of the tithe, the estimate is that less than 20% of Christians tithe, and without that can reconstruction in fact take place? Dr. Rushdoony, if you would address that first?

[Rushdoony] The answer is no. The tithe is God’s tax for the kingdoms work. The average church member now tithes between 1-2% of his income, and that is a very sad and tragic fact. And in fact there is no subject that is more calculated to get a minister into trouble than the subject of tithing. Some will immediately declare it is legalism, and they don’t want any part of it; and others will resent it because: “The minister should stick to the gospel” as though God’s tax is not a part of the gospel. It is a very sad fact.

We forget that there have been times in the history of the faith when people have been ready not only to give the tithe and more gladly, but also their lives. In the Bible the term ‘offerings’ applies only to gifts above and over a tithe, you have not given an offering to the Lord unless you have first given the tithe, His tax.

There is an expression in the Bible that the Lord loves a cheerful giver. The word used in the Greek is related to our word ‘hilarious’; and while some doubt that it has the same meaning as our modern word hilarious, it is closer to it than most people are ready to grant.

One of the things that we don’t realize about the early church, that where it was strong, they tithed; they tithed gladly. And when they tithed gladly they were equally ready to give a lot more, including their own blood, because they counted it a privilege to serve the Lord, and there was a tremendous note of exhilaration and joy in so many of the early Christians and their martyrs.

I think I’ll tell you a story about one, and if I am wrong, Joseph you correct me- I think it was Saint Lawrence-

[Joseph] Oh yes. (laughter)

[Rushdoony] But he was the church treasurer, and collected the tithes, and at one time he had a fair amount on hand that was going to be dispensed through the deacons, and the Romans heard of it and they sent a couple of officers to seize the churches treasury. Someone got word of that to Saint Lawrence, and he quickly went out into the street, and a lot of poor people passing by, and he handed out the money to them immediately. And when the officers came up a couple of minutes later and demanded the churches treasury, Lawrence pointed to the people walking down the street and said: “They are Christ’s treasury.” And he had a good sense of humor about everything, and the Romans resented that because whenever they came by to arrest him or to seize something, he was ready with a good humored remark or a quip. So when he was arrested to be executed they decided: “This time we will get something besides good humor out of this character.” So they decided to burn him alive, they chained him to a grill, set fire to the wood underneath, and waited for him to scream for help. And Lawrence new they were waiting, so at a particular time although he was in great agony, he motioned with his head for them to come a little closer so they could hear him. They came over, eager to hear him beg for mercy and he said: “Turn me over now, I am done on this side.” (laughter)

There was more of a triumphant good humor among the early churches martyrs than people are more aware of. Did I have it right with Saint Lawrence? I’m pretty sure it was him… (laughter) [Tape Ends]