>> People tithe and sacrifice to their church for a promise of rewards in the afterlife.

> This is a fundamental misunderstanding of tithing and I’m not going to get into that at the moment...

I'll explain some from a fairly classic Protestant perspective. This was literally what started the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther was horrified that the Church was essentially attempting to sell salvation via indulgences. He pointed out that the Bible teaches that salvation is completely free because Christ already paid for all our sins with his blood.

I agree with Luther and I tithe out of pure gratitude. I think the Church belongs to Jesus and so do I because he's kind and gracious.

All the money in the world can't buy my salvation, or even the smallest part of it. It's worthless to God, who made heaven and earth and all that is in them.