To the editor:

My mother and stepfather are both devout Christians who raised me in United Methodist and Baptist churches. Throughout my entire childhood, I spent pretty much every Sunday morning (and many Sunday and Wednesday evenings) in Sunday school and worship service.

In all that time, I can never remember a preacher saying that people would get rich if they gave to the church and I’m disturbed by how prevalent this trend now is. In your Faith Forum, a local pastor repeated that mantra, writing that he’s even personally experienced it before; that God has rewarded him “sometimes financially,” for giving.

If you watch the televangelists very often, you’ll likely hear them preach this new refrain that God will “bless” you if you give money to them. The worst of these is the comical Robert Tilton, who is now focusing his television program on his book on how God will make you rich if you tithe.

This is a perversion of what I was taught in church. In the first place, if you read the New Testament, you’ll find that Jesus wasn’t too fond of money and those who worshipped it. He even assaulted the money lenders (capitalists) in the Temple.

Give what you can, if you desire, but do it because you believe it’s the right thing to do, not because you think you’ll get rich. And be very wary of any church or preacher who tries to motivate your giving with a spiritually bankrupt false promise of financial return.

Mike Cuenca,

Lawrence