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eroded my concept of possession to
a mere shadow of its former self, 1
was faced with an understanding
tha t was the greatest shock of all! 1
discovered God had a prior claim to
my income tha t superseded govern–
ment claims and personal desires!
He insisted on
lOo/o
off the top! He
seems to think His claim comes first!
I don't mean to be funny in the
wrong way, but have you ever
thought that there might be a fee for
the license to live; that there might
be a tax for the sun, moon and stars,
not to mention the earth which we
all- governments and individuals
alike- take too much for granted
and that the One who made and
now owns all things might want a
little return on His investment?
Don't misunderstand.
lt
rains on
the just and the unjust alike. God
does not charge us anything for His
utilities. He freely gives us every–
thing we have, beginning with life
itself. Bu t it is an interesting
thought. He is God, after all , and if
He so chooses to charge us for His
many services tha t we take for
granted, l wonder what the rate
would be? Well anyway, thankfully
a ll these are His free gifts to us!
Are All These Prior Clalms
legltlmate?
When 1 was very little, 1 realized
that my toys, which had been given
to me, could be taken away by my
parents at any time- they had prior
claim on them. As 1 grew older, 1
realized 1 owed certain duties and
obedience to my parents just by vir–
tue of the fact that they fed, clothed
and sheltered me. My parents' prior
claim was legitimate. Later, 1 carne
to see that governments which sup–
ply us with certain security and ser–
vices exercise a prior claim on our
possessions and income by virtue of
their sober responsibilities. These
are perfectly legitimate prior claims.
Can any of us acknowledge our par–
ents' and our government's prior
claim as being legitimate and be–
lieve, on the other hand, that God's
is not?
There is a saying that surely must
be universal: "There is nothing su–
rer than death and taxes!"
J
have
heard of people who have gotten
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1978
away with tax evasion, but have you
ever heard of someone who got
away with death evasion? Solomon
puts it down wisely and succinctly:
"No one can hold back his spirit
from departing; no one has the
power to prevent bis day of death,
for there is no discharge from that
obligation and that dark battle. Cer–
tainly a man's wickedness is not go–
ing to help him then" ! (Eccl. 8:8,
The Living Bible.)
Do not misunderstand.
1
am not
saying that you can buy life from
God with tithe money. God cannot
be bribed, and life is God's gift that
cannot be purchased!
' But then no one would const rue
that you buy your house from the
government when you pay taxes on
it either-at least no reasoning per–
son would.
What is it then that you do get in
return for the due payment of taxes?
You get continued permission to
live in freedom under the form of
the government to whom you pay
taxes!
Fortunately for you and me, God
is not nearly so harsh as human gov–
ernments when it comes to
delinquent taxes- but He knows
what you owe Him. You may not
have been aware of His prior right.
However, it's your responsibility to
act on that knowledge when you do
become aware of it.
The Government Doesn't Exlst!
Have you ever seen a government?
I've read about government. I've
seen buildings where tbey tell me
the government resides. J've read
laws the government puts out-espe–
cially about my money! I've talked
to people who say that they repre–
sent the government. I've also read
about people being jailed, fined and
maligned by the gove rnment.
Everybody seems to believe there is
a government.
But 1 don't believe government
exists!
To quickly borrow a phrase from
the apostle Paul , Jet me basten to
say, "I speak as a fool!"
Permit me a little more foolish–
ness. How far do you think I would
get with my disbelief in the exis–
tence of government? l f I didn' t pay
my property tax, it wouldn't be long
before the government would be
telling me- and backing it up with
force, if necessary- that my property
no longer belonged to me! lf 1 paid
no tax on my income- and stub–
bornly refused to do so on the basis
of my disbelief in govemment–
people who do believe in govern–
ment and claim to represent it
would remove me from all my free–
doms and security and put me be–
hind bars until 1 had paid my debt
to "society"!
The only consolation 1 would
have would be that
1
could spend
the money
1
didn't spend on taxes
for things
1
might want- for the
short space of time between the
committing of the crime of not pay–
ing taxes and the time of being ap–
prehended for that crime.
Solomon's logic is hard to beat in
this connection. Solomon says: " Be–
cause God does not punish sinners
instantly, people feel it is safe to do
wrong. But though a man sins a
hundred times and stilllives, I know
very well that those who fear God
will be better off'' (Eccl. 8: 11 -12,
The Living Bible).
You see, whether
l
believe gov–
ernment exists or not has nothing to
do with the actual fact. The govern–
ment, in time, proves in a very per–
suasive manner that it does indeed
exist! The same reasoning applies to
God. My point is not to prove God
exists in this article. (However, we
wi ll send you a free booklet on the
subject if you'd like. Just write and
ask for
Does God Exist?)
In fact, I'm
sort of taking for granted that any–
one reading an article like this has
at least a hunch, if not a conviction,
that God does exist!
The First Reason 1Tlthe
1
tithe because God exists! Let's face
it. It's the reason upon which all the
other reasons hang. God lives!
If the government didn' t exist,
you know you would not pay taxes.
You and
1
pay taxes because of two
basic reasons based on our bel ief
tha t government does exist: ( 1) If
we pay, the govemment does things
for us; and (2) if we don ' t pay, the
govemment does things to us! Cer–
tain benefits accrue to us by the
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