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Posted on 08/07/2007 5:43:07 AM PDT by NYer
Is that an ATM in the church lobby? Credit and debit card swipe machines in churches may startle some of the pious, but such kiosks, already present in some houses of worship, might become even more commonplace now that a new IRS regulation is in effect.
Beginning with gifts given in 2007, the IRS will demand documentation for charitable contributions under $250. Once, all one needed was a diary entry to vouch for such donations. Specially designed ATMs at church will help document such spur-of-the-moment cash gifts, as well as planned giving. Also as a result of the new IRS rule, credit card donations and tithing are likely to increase too because such electronic fund transfers leave a paper trail.
Large urban churches have been accepting credit cards for several years, tapping into the Generation P (for Plastic) aversion to carrying cash. Pastors like to tell jokes about parishioners collecting Frequent Flier points on the way to heaven. A recent Dallas Morning News poll found that 55% of 200 local churches accept credit and/or debit cards.
Automatic checking account withdrawals are used by some churches, and more recently, ATM-like kiosks are now available in many church corridors and lobbies, where parishioners can swipe a card and receive a printed receipt, which they can either save for the IRS or plunk into the collection basket with a flourish, so pew mates will know they're not spiritual freeloaders.
The card-swipe kiosks were a brainchild of Dr. Marty Baker, pastor of Stevens Creek Community Church in Augusta, Georgia. They were so successful in his own church that he now markets the devices privately and has placed them in 35 congregations across the U.S.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Soon we’ll be able to swipe the card, leave a donation and on the receipt will be the sermon of the day. Actually this would even work better with the Drive In Churches, they could be re-named Drive Thru Churches.
Some things just need to be left alone. I’m old, I can say things like this, my children expect it from me. ;^)
Strikes me as a bit weird. Certainly suggests that the moneychanger has wormed his way back into the temple.
Baptist ping
I just write out a check every week.
Well,......
And if that really becomes a burden -- don't see how it will, but if it does -- I've thought about writing one check per month.
Didn't Yah'shua drive out the money changers from the temple?
In January, we get a letter from the church office stating how much we donated the previous year.
No need to worry about receipts or checks that way.
Jesus condemned the moneychangers not for fair transactions but for profiteering. “A den of robbers.” Since ATM machines generally ding a fee from anybody whose ATM card wasn’t issued by the bank that deploys the ATM machine, this could put said banks into the category of the temple moneychangers. Even if the church somehow arranges to swallow the fee.
ATM’s hardly have any similarity to the money changers that were involved in changing currency. Jesus’ parables about the talents and pounds refer to the practice of money lending and placing money in a bank to gain interest. An ATM would only be considered a banking device, as they are used today.
There was certainly greater tolerance for money lenders in the city, compared to money changers in the temple. And as money lending was not being performed at the temple, it does not follow that Jesus spoke out angrily against bankers.
The law requires that an individual letter be generated for any donation of $250 or more. Then another letter is generated as a catch-all for the total of all other donations. This can be confusing and require check book sleuthing, especially if the church happens to batch together the collections from multiple Sundays.
Truthfully, the issue that provoked the Lord’s anger was the profiteering on money changing that was required so country folk would have the right coinage to buy the lame animals being sold by the priests for the required annual sacrifices.
Christians and Jews are instructed not to charge interest on loans, but I don’t believe the Bible prohibits worldlings from doing so. The Lord isn’t that interested in money - He merely doesn’t want us to be.
And He certainly doesn’t want the church leaders skinning His sheep.
This one is just too far out for me... I understand technology is on the move - but somehow I really don’t think I could handle electronic tithing...
Yes, but wasn't that because they were cheating people?
Next, we’ll have auto-deduction from your bank account. You won’t even have to go to church - an email with the service summary will suffice.
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