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From Frederick Buechner's "Love Feast"

February 3rd, 2011

I've recently been reading a series of books by Frederick Buechner, all about a fictional itinerant-evangelist named Leo Bebb.  It's got some really beautiful, insightful stuff, and some really funny stuff.  Today, I especially enjoyed the description of how Bebb filled out his tax form for the IRS:

"He's filled out his tax form this year like he wasn't filling it out for himself but he was filling it out for Jesus.  Right down the line, that's how he's done it.  Like where it says put down your first name, he's put down the first name Jesus, and where it says last name, he's put down, 'I am the first and the last, says the Lord'...  The place where it says wages, he's put down 'The wages of sin is death.'  He's filled out that whole thing with words out of Scripture like it was Jesus filling it out, 'Render unto Caesar' and all that stuff.  He says all his income, it's going out for Jesus, so why not send it in like it was Jesus's income."

The whole thing is very tongue-in-cheek -- so it may be hard to fully appreciate the quote unless you're reading the book.  But I thought it was amusing, especially in this season of preparing to file for taxes.  How do you think the IRS would respond if I did the same thing with my taxes this year?

This entry is filed under American Politics.

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