Note: Thank you to Ben Warren because his reviews are incredibly helpful to me. I'm sure you all feel the same way about him. Just in case you don't know about his website, here it is: http://aio-thechangingtimes.blogspot.com/
Lately, I've been a little busy and haven't been keeping up with Odyssey like I normally do. Well, last Saturday, when I got up and had breakfast, I decided that I was gonna listen to this new Odyssey episode. I dragged my stereo into the bathroom, plugged my iPod touch into it, started playing the new episode off the website, and took a shower. This was a good way to start off a Saturday.
The story starts off at Whit's End.
 |
| No way. Didn't see that coming. |
Barrett comes into the shop and we find out that he skipped out on his offering because he wanted a video game or something. His reasoning behind it was "the church isn't gonna suffer because it's only three dollars".
 |
| I've been there before. Now I feel awkward... |
Speaking honestly, I have often skipped out on tithing because I wanted some clothes or shoes so I know where Barrett is coming from. But Barrett takes this reasoning a step further by saying that he's gonna stop tithing altogether. Matthew, who just finished making a Room of Consequence program, wants to teach Barrett the error of his ways so he sends him on a ROC adventure.
Matthew's program told Barrett that if he didn't tithe, the church would crumble and society would quickly plunge into a dystopian world.
Barrett is irritated by this message so Connie tries to patch things up and whips up her own ROC program. (Writing a computer program is that easy? Why is Connie still working at Whit's End? She should go into computer science or programing! Be Eugene's teaching assistant!) Connie's program paints the story of an underprivileged boy who was almost sent to Bible camp but couldn't because Barrett didn't give his pathetic three dollars! Barrett wasn't a fan of this program and just as he's about to angrily storm out, Whit swoops in and calms everyone down. He makes a third program and Barrett goes on another adventure. Whit's program tells the simple story of Barrett becoming a stingy jerk because he refuses to give out his money.
I like this episode because the writers are really getting back to the old school Odyssey episodes that tackle simple morals and biblical truths. That pleases me. Of course, there were a few things that we're a bit troubling.
Odyssey reviewer extraordinaire Ben Warren (my spirit animal) points out that all the programs were good reasons to tithe but there should have been a program that talked about the number 1 reason for why we tithe. We tithe out of obedience to Jesus. To quote BTV: Obedience, "Obedience is a result of trust, born of the hope that the person we trust is the best person to be obeyed..." And in John 14:15, Jesus says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments".
To the writer's credit, Whit tells Barrett that the main reason why we tithe is out of obedience to God. My question (and Ben Warren's question) is why didn't Whit's program talk about that instead of turning Barrett into a Scrooge-esque figure?
In my opinion, tithing is a difficult subject to tackle and the writers did a decent job of covering it. It was a good reminder to me to give my money more frequently to church. I'm still listening, Odyssey. Your episodes and lessons (as imperfect as they sometimes are) still apply to my daily life and are a blessing.
