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Fifty-one years ago, in 1949, Dan Robbins invented the paint-by-numbers system, which eventually enjoyed $80 million in sales in its peak year of 1954.

Robbins admitted he stole the idea from a reputable source.

"I had heard that da Vinci used diagrams and numbered them when he was instructing his students in painting," Robbins said in an interview." I thought, why not do numbered patterns for paintings that people can finish?"

In an interesting coincidence, 1949 was also the year that saw the birth of modern evangelicalism. Thanks in part to extensive coverage by the Los Angeles Times, Billy Graham exploded on the national scene.

In contrast to the paint-by-number phenomenon, which lasted only a decade, evangelicalism has continued to boom, in part because it fostered a similar program, something I like to call "discipleship by numbers."

The paint-by-numbers idea was simple: a subject (a landscape, kitten, flowers) is outlined, and each area of the outline is given a number, which corresponds with a color. The painter merely dips the brush into the appropriate color, let's say #7, and fills in every area marked #7. Before you know it, a full picture emerges.

Discipleship by numbers works similarly. You try to figure out what numbers go with which corresponding activity and then shoot for that number.

Even in the age of grace—when giving "generously,""out of our abundance, quot;"with the measure that we've been given" is the new "law"M

--it is still a lot easier simply to divide income by ten and give that amount. And this is one reason the tithe remains such an important feature for evangelicals.

Liberal and mainline preachers, by contrast, tell us to "give generously," and, at least in my experience, are hesitant to even suggest a percentage lest they be accused of legalism.

Evangelical preachers start with "give generously," but usually don't feel they've done their job until they've offered a specific guideline: 10 percent. They're less concerned about legalism than cheating God out of his due. As a result, as an evangelical, I know each year exactly how far I've exceeded or fallen short in giving.

Just because there is no biblical guideline for praying--"pray without ceasing" is hardly a fair guideline—doesn't mean we haven't tried to create one. In mainline circles, I've been encouraged to pray " regularly," maybe even daily—though the devotionals one finds at the back of mainline church buildings usually require about two minutes a day. In some church circles, prayer is so vaguely defined that you'd think to breathe is to pray.

Leonardo da Vinci may get dubious credit for paint-by-numbers, but the pedigree of discipleship-by-numbers is even more prestigious: it begins with the Bible.

The Bible is a book of numbers—it even has a book so called—and seems to revel in calculating discipleship, beginning in Exodus.

"Six days a week are set apart for your daily duties and regular work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God" (20:8).

None of this going-with-the-flow stuff; no working-or-praying-as-the-Spirit-moves theology. Work six days; rest one day.

The same is true of giving. Tithing is not just a guideline. God gets riled when we don't meet the numbers:

"You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. You are under a curse."

That's the thing about discipleship by numbers: it's pretty clear when we're cheating God, or ourselves. Lest we imagine this as merely an Old Testament dispensation, we only have to look at that notorious numbers-cruncher, Jesus.

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June 12 2000, Vol. 44, No. 7