1. Thou shalt not allow cell phones and beepers to go off.
2. Thou shalt not chew gum or stick it under the pews.
3. Thou shalt not pretend deafness while your baby hollers & cries.
4. Thou shalt not play with gameboys or do text-messaging during the preaching.
5. Thou shalt not come late or leave early to services.
6. Thou shalt not sing loudly if you sing badly.
7. Thou shalt not listen or watch the ball game while at services.
8. Thou shalt not come to church in tank tops and short shorts.
9. Thou shalt not tithe money that jingles but only money that folds.
10. Thou shalt not gossip and criticize at Sunday worship.
Good except for the last two unles you were being sillyk there.
Yes it is a JOKE! Notice that it is categorized under HUMOR.
Is it a sin to be obese and expect those who barely have enough to eat to give folding money?
Don’t forget the widow’s mite. It was coins. Often the poor do not have folding money to place into the offering and God still blesses them.
What is with the “fat comments” I am getting? I know I struggle with weight, we all have our weaknesses and sins. At least mine are not the secret kind that exploit and hurt others!
No one is starving here at my parish. Indeed, we run a food pantry for the poor, and despite our small size as a church community, do much to help others, even when they attend other churches, like the Baptists (of which you are a member). It is odd though that churches ten times our size send the poor to our door.
Is it not fanatical to dedicate a whole website in a crusade about/against tithing like you have? [link deleted]
In your case, it is no joke! Your site is an excuse to sell a book against tithing, a notion more prevalent in Protestant than Catholic circles. I suspect a lot of ministers have given you a hard time and the boot.
How could they keep a man on staff who opposes the manner in which they collect needed income?
Catholics are required to support their local churches through contributions of time, talent and treasure. It is one of the precepts of the Church. It is an obligation as a Christian. Even the priests are called to sacrifice their material wealth, many embracing a life of evangelical poverty.
I will never be rich.
I will never have a wife and family of my own.
I have sacrificed these things and more as a priest of Christ’s Church.
And you criticize me, a man you do not even know?
Can we add a few?
How about
“Thou shalt not shout while people are praying,
and
Thou shalt not receive Communion like an automated robot?”
If there were no place or time to criticize then the Church would never be reformed and corrected. The trick is knowing when, where and how to do such.
While constructive criticism (in the proper forum) is one thing, the joke-commandment was about those who needlessly tear down others and are never happy with anything. That is not right, either.
You are right about the “trick” being when and how to offer criticism; in this case you missed the mark to make a plug for your book that you are selling from your website. [link deleted] You spend a whole page on it listing your credentials.
I am a Roman Catholic, pure and simple.
Because of the fragmentation and divisions of contemporary Protestantism, you are compelled to describe yourself as a “conservative evangelical dispensational Baptist”.
That is a mouthful, but I suspect that it reflects tension with various hard-working and selfless Baptist ministers who could add a few more adjectives to your brand of personal religion.
Father Joe,
I did take a quick look at his website.
I think the appropriate word would be caca.
I’ve always had a problem with anyone whose response to a criticism is a personal attack.
Keep up the good work.
God Bless
About the singing: I once heard a priest say that everyone should sing, whether they could or not. If you can sing well, you give glory to God. If you can’t carry a tune in a bucket, then at least you pay Him back!