No, they don't. The rules for tax deductible charitable contributions are pretty clearly spelled out. People gathering in someone's home to worship together qualifies no one for a tax deduction.
Steve.
You set your ministry up as a part time home business.
Actually you can, not under a charitable contribution, but as a business expense.
Please pray tell how that is done because as a tax preparer I would like to know.
Actually you can, not under a charitable contribution, but as a business expense.
In addition, you can write of the cost of your housing, even if you own your own home:
The institutional Roman Catholic Church has been functionally in eclipse since the close of Vatican Council II, i.e., 1965. Immediately thereafter, it began a course of self-demolition. I doubt there's been a legitimate Pope since Pius XII. Roman Catholic dogma teaches that any pope who's a formal heretic is, by that fact alone, not a true pope. It's pretty easy to identify the formal heresies of all the Roman Catholic "popes" since Pius XII.
Please enumerate and edify us all with your BS. Please, GFY !
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. _________________________
The scriptural position is that sinners are invited to repent and find redemption through free grace that changes the heart and mind and actions.
If folks don't change by way of grace and continue in obstinate notorious wicked deeds that can be observed then Church discipline is to be carried out; the final act being put out of the fellowship after several gracious attempts to affect repentance.
The Pope seems to be obscuring this scriptural position. The Bible is very clear about sins of immorality in the book of Hebrews, the marriage bed is honorable among all but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. The Apostle Paul uses very specific greek words in Corinthians in condemning deviancy; it should be translated catamite and sodomite; the pitcher and the catcher in the unspeakalbe unholy sin against nature.
The Pope is acting a lot like Joel Osteen in this, smooth talking white wash to seduce the masses. A true witness is like Jeremiah; he turns the people back from their sins.
As Luther said at the Diet of Werms... "Popes and councils have erred, my conscience is taken captive by the word of God..."
Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven.
The institutional Roman Catholic Church has been functionally in eclipse since the close of Vatican Council II, i.e., 1965. Immediately thereafter, it began a course of self-demolition. I doubt there's been a legitimate Pope since Pius XII. Roman Catholic dogma teaches that any pope who's a formal heretic is, by that fact alone, not a true pope. It's pretty easy to identify the formal heresies of all the Roman Catholic "popes" since Pius XII.
Please enumerate and edify us all with your BS. Please, GFY !
Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven.
Doesn't Empress Irene and the 7th Ecumenical disturb your conscience? She murdered her son by having his eyes gouged out but then convened a "robbers council" to settle the iconoclast controversy? That is a digression that goes back even further than the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre and even the errors of Trent...
Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven.
Doesn't Empress Irene and the 7th Ecumenical disturb your conscience? She murdered her son by having his eyes gouged out but then convened a "robbers council" to settle the iconoclast controversy? That is a digression that goes back even further than the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre and even the errors of Trent...
You'll have to explain why this should disturb my conscience in particular.
ACtually the thought that homosexuals have nothing to offer anyone or anything is crazy.
But how they go about it can be just as crazy.
Bottom line they are people too. And they can either be a positive or a negative in life, aside from the sexual part.
How they handle it and how folks receive it is what is going to matter.
I will say that we had a homosexual pastor for years that no one knew his leanings. And he was one of the very best ministers that church had. But he never followed his leanings, stayed single, and probably 10-20 folks out of maybe 600 ever knew....
We're all tempted to sin, ALL of us. Being tempted by illicit sex is almost universal. However, being tempted is not a sin. Giving in to it IS a sin but its one we can resist. The Bible promises that we can't be tempted beyond our ability to resist. God will always give us a way out. It sounds like your pastor found the way out.
We will all sin but we can all be forgiven if we repent and ask for it. That's the downfall of homosexuals. They're convinced that what they're doing is 'normal' and they refuse to repent. Without that repentance, they're doomed.
Before this is over, the true church will be underground. The visible church will be regulated by laws that force it to allow sin. The real Christians will leave and join secret churches that will obey Christ, leaving the visible, 'official' churches to wallow in sin.
Let's assume the IRS would accept your ministry as a part time business you would have to show you were running your business to turn a profit and I don't see how one could do that. There are special tax laws for minsters but minsters have to be ordained from a credited seminary and work for a 501(C)3 church. It's highly unlikely that the IRS would accept a home ministry and church as a 501(C)3 or business as the potential for profit is not there.
Don't vote knothead, it only encourages them. Anonymous
"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." Anonymous
"Self-reliance, free thinking, and wealth is anathema to both the power of the State and the Church." Derby Dude
On Monday morning, just before the Vatican released its positive report on gays, Francis preached that laws that do not lead people to Jesus are "dead;" what's more, Christ did "strange things" such as hanging out with sinners and tax collectors, the Pope preached, seemingly tipping his hand about the Vatican's direction.
Yes, Jesus did exactly that. However, the pope is insinuating that Jesus accepted their sin. He certain did NOT. The Bible says that after a meeting with Jesus, they repented. They gave up their sinful ways and followed him. There was one man, commonly called the 'rich young ruler' who placed his wealth above his salvation. He wouldn't repent and walked away in his sin. Jesus looked at him in sorrow knowing that the man was condemned.
The pope has it completely backwards.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
I've yet to find a church that exists without money.
You don't get around much. Yes, the most visible churches are visible because of what they do with money, but there are thousands of house churches that try to follow the New Testament. They are not visible because they have lay leadership and give their money away. The third world is full of them, and a movement exists in the United States that is pursuing this model. There could be one in your town without you knowing about it.
Steve.
I am sorry but you really must not get around much.......my grandfather taught me me a few things but this one stuck.... be wary of a church that has to have the nicest building, the newest equipment, and is trying to out-do the neighboring church.
If people can't realize the humor in Christian religions attempting to tear down other Christian religions as the Muslims are increasing daily, than you have no sense of humor.
People upset about churches taking in Mexicans, regardless that said Mexicans are Christian. Christian against Christian, whilst all you hypocrites talk about Obama destroying Christian rights and non-stop concern about Muslims.
Seems the right answer for the narrow minded is to destroy other Christian religions.
It's AMAZING the amount of stupid I read on the 'Fire. No damn wonder the likes of Obama had no problem getting elected.
There was one man, commonly called the 'rich young ruler' who placed his wealth above his salvation. He wouldn't repent and walked away in his sin. Jesus looked at him in sorrow knowing that the man was condemned.
I don't agree. The rich young man asked what he needed to do to be saved, and Jesus told him to follow the commandments if he wanted eternal life. The man said that he had always followed them, but wanted more. Jesus then told him how to "be perfect," i.e., to sell all he has, give it to the poor, and come and follow him. This, Jesus said, would give him treasure in heaven, i.e., not just get him there. That's when he walked away, unwilling to sell all he had.
People upset about churches taking in Mexicans, regardless that said Mexicans are Christian. Christian against Christian, whilst all you hypocrites talk about Obama destroying Christian rights and non-stop concern about Muslims.
Seems the right answer for the narrow minded is to destroy other Christian religions.
It's AMAZING the amount of stupid I read on the 'Fire. No damn wonder the likes of Obama had no problem getting elected.
I saw a church once fight the widening of a road, under pretext that they would have to move their sign back 5 feet, but it eventually came out that they didn't want the new low rent housing apartment complex across the street.
I had to ask myself why they didn't see another 200+ folks living across the street as an opportunity rather than a nuisance.
My attendance has fallen by the wayside when the Latin Mass was abandoned....and we've had priests which I couldn't understand what they were saying!
Whatever happened to....Benediction and Irish priest??
I'm impressed you understand a Latin Mass!
That was the final straw for me was the end of the Tridentine Mass and the fact that my perpetual missal was THE book one Sunday and was useless the next Sunday. Try as I might I never could get into the "New" Catholic Church after Vatican Council II.
That's also when I realized that the Catholic Church was the Roman Pope's Church i.e. the ancient Roman Emperor's Church and the religion about Jesus or God, NOT the religion of Jesus or God. I left Christianity with no regrets.
Don't vote knothead, it only encourages them. Anonymous
"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." Anonymous
"Self-reliance, free thinking, and wealth is anathema to both the power of the State and the Church." Derby Dude
There was one man, commonly called the 'rich young ruler' who placed his wealth above his salvation. He wouldn't repent and walked away in his sin. Jesus looked at him in sorrow knowing that the man was condemned.
I don't agree. The rich young man asked what he needed to do to be saved, and Jesus told him to follow the commandments if he wanted eternal life. The man said that he had always followed them, but wanted more. Jesus then told him how to "be perfect," i.e., to sell all he has, give it to the poor, and come and follow him. This, Jesus said, would give him treasure in heaven, i.e., not just get him there. That's when he walked away, unwilling to sell all he had.
He was not saved. Here's the quote:
Luke 18:18 A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 19 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No-one is good� except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: �Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother.�" 21 "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
He asked what he needed to be saved and Jesus told him he lacked one thing, to give up his wealth. He couldn't be saved until he did that one thing and he refused to do it. He put his money ahead of his soul. Jesus must be first in everything. Jesus doesn't require us to be paupers. He just requires us to put him 1st. He knew where this man's heart really was.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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