It's (sort of) Free!

We were staying at a (sort of) motel with our grandsons. In the morning they proudly displayed to me their cup of (sort of) free donut holes, exclaiming, “Grandpa Bill, you get to eat all of the donuts you wants for free!”  I proceeded to explain that the donuts were just (sort of) free because they were included in the cost of the room, but they were too busy wiping white sugar from their faces to listen. And, anyway, they didn’t pay for their room, so I guess for da Boyz (as I call them), the donuts really were free.

That’s pretty much true about all the (sort of) free stuff in life.  Your buddy gives you tickets to the game. They cost your buddy money, but to you they really are free.  Nothing is free in the first place, right? I mean, everything cost something to someone before it became free to you.  So, I figure free things are just (sort of) free.  We should think about the cost of the free stuff. And we do.  When we get free tickets to our favorite team’s big game from our friend we offer to pay; we say thank you; we try think of ways we can repay the gift, taking them out for a meal, etc.  But, the friend says, “No, take them. I am happy for you to have them. Enjoy!”  To you they are really free!

Like churches and synagogues.  In Germany church most churches aren’t even (sort of) free.  If you want a church in which to be “married and buried” then you pay a tax of 8% to 9% of your income to support the churches.  About 60% of the nearly 81 million Germans pay a total of $13.2 billion to finance most of the churches and synagogues.  Recently, the Germans expanded their collection efforts to collect a tax on retirement income.  This year 500,000   “church members” are expected to quit the church to avoid the tax.  There is a “free church” (no tax required) movement in Germany, but the churches are much smaller.  Why doesn’t everyone just go to the “free” churches?

That’s the thing about houses of worship in the United States.  They are really free. In fact, the tax system gives incentives to support religion because we really don’t want the government involved in our religion.  Think about it though.  Are churches really free, or just (sort of) free?  Churches and synagogues exist because some people freely give some percentage of their income or assets to keep the doors open and the staff employed.  Some people give nothing because they cannot or because they figure, like the donuts, church is (sort of )free.  They are wrong.  Church is really free because salvation is really free. Everyone loves free donuts. Why don’t we love free church?