I bought a nice new Bible today that was priced at $49.97, and, when I paid for it at the register, the final cost was $49.97. Ends up Florida has a clause excepting Bibles from sales tax. Think anyone could interpret that as a non-separation of church and state?
I’m personally pretty happy to be from Oregon, where we don’t have sales tax at all…
Chicago has something like 10% sales tax on everything-so be grateful.
Oh- and SECOND.
Grew up in Oregon (age 4 to 9). Sales tax was a harsh lesson for later in life.
The real crime here is that Bibles cost 50 bucks. Did you get the gold plated, pope used edition or something?
Yes, liberals. And they’d be wrong. Congress didn’t make your state’s sales tax laws.
The Anti-Christian Lawyers Union will find out about this, have no fear.
I’m from Alabama and the one toofers tax evything.
Is the exemption limited to Bibles and/or other religious writings, or are the criteria at least facially neutral?
Xrlq,
Dunno.
Chase,
Don’t be silly; the pope doesn’t use a Bible.
Geez Frank- $50? I got a really nice one at an auction for $4. Doesn’t even seem to be prayed out or anything. Still works good. But, it’s kinda old… have they added any new stuff?
Seriously, Frank. Buy yourself a nice, cheap Bible and save the $50 for a video game or something. I know you Catholics have extra books like “Tobit” and all that, but dang!
Personally, I stick to less expensive off-brand Bible knock-offs. For example, the Bible I currently use (or “Byble”) doesn’t have the books of Genesis, Revelations, or any of the gospels besides Mark. However, I do have several equally suitable books entitled Preface, Things I Swear Will Happen for I am a Wrathful God, and The Amazing Adventures of Jesus and Friends. Plus, I have a bonus book called “the Koran”, thrown in there for no extra charge. And it comes with a coupon for 20% off the forthcoming “Bible II: Return of the Jedi”.
Well what does the pope use then?
Chris,
I’m sorry to say that your version has infringed upon the intellectual property rights of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Their version is called The Bible Two: Book of Mormon (First Blood)
My Bible cost me about $3.50, brand new, never-been-prayed-from. My secret?
No New Testament.
Couldn’t like steal one from a motel room? No one would miss it or anything.
Did someone just recommend stealing a Bible?
Seriously, what kind of Bible did you buy that you paid $50 for? I’ve seen some kind of weird leather-skinned one (think they maimed an Israeli calf or something…) for like $125, that was weird.
Bibles are free online!
Doesn’t FLorida also have a law that you have to be 21 to buy the Koran? And I hear if you carry it out in a bag, you have to have a concealed weapons permit…
-Brian
Frank, can’t your church provide you with one? Or did you need a special version or language or something?
The Chainik Hocker –
Hi – if I ante up the other $46.47, can I get you to read the rest of the story? 😉
Thank you for alerting us. You shall die less painfully during the purges.
I thought the Bibles from motel rooms weren’t owned by the motel, but deposited there by the Gideon people.
Frank wanted a new Bible, a good one for studying, and he wanted a nice one with a nice cover. it’s leather bound, and it’s a Thompson Chain Reference Bible, and i’m incredibly envious. it’s just got a whole lot of Bible study resources incorporated, with fantastic crossreferences, study tools, commentary, maps, etc.
i’ve never paid less than $30 for a Bible, so this nice a Bible for $50 wasn’t anything abnormal.
I dunno Frank…doesn’t sound like a Catholic Bible to me…does it have Tobit?
I think Gideons are pleased if you take the bible with you – providing you are going to read it, and not use it to stop the car rolling! And if you do take it and read it, don’t forget to drop them some money to allow someone else the opportunity.
Thanks for enlightening us, SarahK. But, I agree with DixieDarlin. It doesn’t sound much like a Catholic Bible.
The only Bible I’d pay $50 for is one of those paraphrased ones. Those are neat.
Frank (ans SarahK):
Dude: BibleSoft! If you really want a complete concordance feature, there’s nothing like digital! You can even see how many times “the” is used, and where.
Seriously, it comes in various levels, and has add ons, plus multiple versions, so you can see lay outs side-by side between translations. Don’t forget things like the entire set of Spurgeon sermons, and all sorts of other commentaries.
Thompson Chain Reference Bible is an excellent study bible, and that’s not a bad price for it. The Dicksen New Analytical Study Bible is also an excellent study bible and is around the same price.
PS. I think Sarahk and FrankJ are starting off their new lives together with the right ‘tools’ Good luck kids!
Speaking of Tobit, what ever happend to the sunday scripture post?
Born in Cali, moved to Oregon at 6 and lived here since.
Not only do I not have to pay sales tax but if you show your Oregon ID in another state…your exempt!
woo-hoo! god bless my oregon!
I’ve never paid less than 49.00 for a Thompson Chain Reference Bible. I’m surprised the price hasn’t gone up more. I’m from Oregon too and I’d rather pay sales tax than go back there to live (I think I’ll just call it my “privelidge of living in a red state” tax).
Frank had to quit the Tobit posts while Sarahk is under the same roof so that the lightening sent from above doesn’t have to be so precisely aimed!
Curse Oregon and their sales-tax exemptions! It only fosters the continuing economic tyranny over the Red county of Clark across the River! Give us an income tax exemption and maybe we’ll talk.
AWESOME Frank!
I didn’t know that there were smart fun people in OR who actually read good stuff on the web. I thought you all hung out at the du stie. lmao! I live north of the river…no state income tax and shop in Portland! WOO HOO!
Heidi-
Thanx, but no. I’ve read the New Testament, and I prefer the Old. More action sequences.
😛
i’ve gotta agree about the action in the OT. Judges is one of the most interesting books.
Dixie, we looked for a Catholic one. they had a few, but none that weren’t hardback. Frank decided that since he doesn’t ever use the additional books anyway and has a Catholic Bible already, he could go with a gasp Protestant one. i sure hope he’s not going straight to hell for that.
Does it have good pictures?
Please tell me how you decided on this Bible. Who recommended it? What were the deciding points?
Thanks
Solo Scriptura!
It’s a good thing. It really warms my heart to see that Frank is studying the Word of God on his own instead of just believing what the church tells him. (at least I hope that’s his purpose) This is further proof that Frank is not only a devout monkey-hater, but is also quite intelligent.
Hey, Frank, thought you’d want the scoop on IowaHawk‘s new parody.
It’s brilliant, as always.
Well that should mean that if I worship women then my Penthouse should be tax free too in Florida?
Does your Bible study guides provide the GPS coordinates for each event described? Might come in handy if you’re doing field research.
Fifty dollars… wow. At that point you should have just sprung for the $70 Super Delux Edition. It even comes with vouchers for two free devine favors! Use them to calm seas, turn water into wine, or smite thine enimies with a plauge/natural disaster of your choice, such as as fire and brimstone, or rain of monkeys. Now THAT would be bargain at twice the price!!
is easy to find.
brimstone, that is.
I was going to say that if you had a Catholic Bible already, why you needed another one… but then I remembered I have 5 bibles at home. One is a huge Catholic study bible, one is a weird (to me) Protestant bible my Dad got for being a groomsman (has his name on it and everything… but it was a Catholic wedding. Say what?), one is a kiddie KJV (the only thing kiddie about it is the pictures. It’s got all that good ole OT filth in there), one is an Oxford study bible, and one is a flimsy American Catholic bible (looks like it was printed on tissue paper). I paid only for the study bible, and yeah, it was probably about $50. None are hardcover, though a few have leather covers…
…fine Corinthian leather, that is.
Anyway, don’t let any of those odd Protestant ideas slip in your head, like snake-handling and unfermented grape juice for a (symbolic) Communion service.
well, the passage that is twisted, distorted, and generally ripped kicking and screaming from its context to support snake-handling is also present in the Catholic Bible, so maybe you should watch out yourself. As far as communion goes, the wine they used most likely wasn’t fermented, and, in any case, “Do this in rememberance of me” would seem to indicate a symbolic sacrament. And since Jesus died once and for all as a sufficient atoning sacrifice, he is obviously not being sacrificed afresh in each mass in order to impart new grace to the recipient.
Sola fide,
Tim
Since no one else bothered to actually address the issue you asked about, the separation of church and state, I will tackle this one.
In general, all religions and all their activities and such are exempt from all taxes, be it income, property, sales, etc. The reason for this is precisely the separation of church and state. While it might seem at first that this means the gummint is subsidising religion and therefore is becoming entangled with religion, in fact the opposite is true.
Taxation only with representation is (supposedly) one of the cardinal cornerstones of our government. When the gummint is taking your money, then in theory that gives you some power over the gummint to direct how that money is spent. By taxing you, the gummint is empowering you, giving you legal standing to sue the gummint (as well as voting power, power to serve on local boards and commissions, etc.). So if the gummint took money from the church (or put a sales tax on Bibles, for instance), then the church would have a legal leg to stand on when it comes to defining how that money is used.
By NOT taxing the church, the gummint ensures the separation of church and state.
Ironic, eh?
no tax in a blue state!!!!???? surely you jest. I got my bible free with my honda, I keep my registration in there.
PS: I am also from Oregon and it rules! Republicans should move here!
Gullyborg, Unfortunately the Republicans are fed up with the freaky hippie crap and are moving out! We should never have let all those Californians in back in the late 80’s! Although I thought my move to Arizona was “temporary”, I’m not going back!
NO NO NO NO!!! Every year, the libs here win by only 1-2%. Just a few more Republicans, combined with just a few of the hippies fleeing to Canada, and Oregon will turn into a right wing bastion!
WESTWARD, HO!
Yes, YES! Back to Oregon. I was born and raised in Portland until the summer after I turned ten when we moved to Kansas. I’ve only been back once in the eight years since. It’s ironic, though, that there’s no sales tax AND you can get concealed/carry permits there. AND YOU CAN’T HERE!? This is supposed to be, like, Red State Central. It’s such a load of malarky.
Can we neutralize the hippies in Portland and Eugene or something? That’s where most of them are. I didn’t realize how conservative most of the state was until my mom told me about 2 or 3 years ago when I became politically active. I like this comic shop I saw last time I went and you guys have LARS LARSON. I mean c’mon, man. I want to go back just to scare and piss off the leftists.
Tim,
Yeah, that whole “This is my body . . . This is my blood,” thing. Our Lord and Savior is such a kidder.
Let’s don’t go off on a Catholic-bashing romp. It diminishes the tone of the whole thread.
Thanks mucho!
VKI
Oregon may have no sales tax but their property taxes more than make up for it. Our home in Arizona is 3 times the size of our Portland home and the property tax is the same amount. Ouch.
Chainik Hocker – you are right – Genesis alone has enough strife and scandal to keep me amazed. I wont even get started on song of solomon…
Sarahk – my husband has many many bibles, and they all have great reference material in them. i think that is one of the coolest tings, all those maps, etc. unfortunately for me, they are in greek, hebrew and latin so i just kind of look at the pretty pictures like an illiterate fool.
Frank, for a study Bible, it’s even more important to get a Catholic version. Any non-Cathoic Bible study will express non-Catholic ideas about the Real Presence, “works righteousnesss” etc. It’s hard to find a good Catholic study resource other than the Catechism. I haven’t gotten one to my satisfaction either, but watch out for the snares in the protestant ones!
but Oregon can’t raise taxes any higher without voter approval on a ballot measure–so our tax burden can only stay the same or drop while other states can raise and raise and raise.
We need you in EUGENE. If we can up the conservative population in Eugene alone by about 5,000 active voters, this whole state will go red and the hippies will find themselves run out of town.
Eugene? (or YEWgene as we Portlanders say it). Oh man, I’d have to pull my Birkenstocks out of retirement. And I’d probably have to bring my own soap since I don’t think they carry it there. Yikes.
not only do we have soap in our stores, but do to the filthy hippies not buying their fare share, there is an abundant supply at bargain prices.
I stopped using non-Catholic bibles when one bit me. Just because I missed one little syllable.
one bit, tobit?
Next thing you know, you’ll be getting a copy of Vines Dictionary and a decent concordance.
And I say no taxes on God’s word. Unless we send em to Caesar.
That’s what Jesus said, anyhow.
Heh, I live in Portland and would love for more dirty hippies to flee to Canada or elsewhere.
I was already amused to hear that a nutty lefty ex-gf of mine is planning on moving to Chicago, but it cracks me up even more to find out they have one of the highest sales tax rates in the US.
I thought the First Amendment outlawed the Bible.
67th! I thought I’d better post because 66 is two-thirds of the Beast… and I didn’t know which two-thirds.