Confused @ church

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jsr1221 said:
True, but there are other ways to tithe. I can tithe with my time. My church started a giving ministry for Haiti after suffering Hurricane Matthew. That's where my tithe money has gone.. Last I checked, we are the church. Not some building. Haiti can use that money a lot more. And I'd like to think God sees to it that it gets used the right way.
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Well I cant say you did wrong with your money. So you dont care to attend a church building as such?
 
kaylagrl said:
In this instance it sounds like the missionary went overboard in asking for help. But there is nothing wrong with mentioning a need to let people know it is there. It seems many Christians have no problem putting a dollar in the offering and spending 40 at the Cracker Barrel afterward and feel no guilt whatsoever. Again,this person may have been out of line but we should be cheerful givers.
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Can't that logic be used for a greater amount, though?
 
kaylagrl said:
Well I cant say you did wrong with your money. So you dont care to attend a church building as such?
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Easter and Christmas morning services, my church goes to a local park for their very first service. That's outside of a building. Does having service in a park take away from having it in the building? Does it make it any less different? If yes, then maybe churches should just stick with having things inside for now on. If no, then maybe it really is the people that make the church, rather than what place they go to?
 
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kaylagrl said:
Can you expend on your thought?
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Should I feel guilty that I only carry a few dollars at all times? By doing so, should I feel guilty at throwing in 10 dollars, and then making a 400 dollar student loan payment , considering the fact I also make minimum wage? If a family should feel guilty going out to eat after, and spending more on a meal than what they tithed, then shouldn't I feel the same about my student loan payment?
 
jsr1221 said:
Should I feel guilty that I only carry a few dollars at all times? By doing so, should I feel guilty at throwing in 10 dollars, and then making a 400 dollar student loan payment , considering the fact I also make minimum wage? If a family should feel guilty going out to eat after, and spending more on a meal than what they tithed, then shouldn't I feel the same about my student loan payment?
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Your giving is to God..

And yes. It shows you value your education more than God. Idolatry in every sense.

Read thru the Bible. Taking offering and tithe was never suspended due to horrible leaders..
 
kaylagrl said:
The Bibles promises to bless those who give,it does not say how one will be blessed.
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By the way, doesn't that take away the meaning of giving? Doing it solely based on getting something in return? Isn't that the same as giving someone a gift simply because then she/he feels obligated to give you one in return? If you were to do something for your husband, is it because you did it out of joy and love? Or because you expect him to do something even bigger for you in return? Also, giving money to a ministry is still considered giving.
 
HisHolly said:
Your giving is to God..

And yes. It shows you value your education more than God. Idolatry in every sense.

Read thru the Bible. Taking offering and tithe was never suspended due to horrible leaders..
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So, people must also then idolize living in a house? By paying their rent or mortgage (which surely is more than 10 percent), they must be worshipping that more than God. Because their mortgage or rent is more than what they're spending on their tithes.
 
Folks want to hold onto money bc they love it and cloak it with many excuses.. God supplies and if you love Him, you don't hang on to it and say it's bc of this this and this...

We aren't to judge others and it's exactly what's done when we hold money back and say they don't deserve or need it..

God gave you that, can He not get you more? Or are you limited?
If so, perhaps it is bc your ways.. We all receive as we sow.. If it's little, what do you get? Little..
 
No it's not wrong to feel blah about it. Not at all. It only means it is not well with your soul. Something is wrong with that preaching.

I had a similar experience. Well, not me, personally. My dad. We were new Christians. We came to church as a family. My parents were going through tough times and had marriage counselling (which was our main reason for attending church for the first time). While my parents were at such an emotional state, our old pastor tried to manipulate them into giving away our family house, to donate it to the church... They were making preparations for the name transfer when pastor didn't want it transferred to the church, but to his name, cause he said it was 'easier' to manage that way. Ugh. That's when we woke up.
 
Cindy12 said:
We had a 2 hour church service today with a visiting "missions" pastor who basically gave a salesman type of service for 2 hours on funding their ministry to train new pastors to go out and serve in India and several other countries. He went on and on about it costing $3,000 to train a pastor and asked for money over 15 times during the service saying that this is what God called us to do. Honestly, we left there feeling very depressed (the whole service was sad - showing films on poor children living in the slums in India, etc) and just such a push for money, money, money. This went on for 2 hours solid. What bugs is me that I felt leaving feeling battered and just bummed out. Is this normal? I like going to church and serving (I volunteer a lot at church, have done some mission work, etc), and I love coming out of church feeling motivated and refreshed for another few days - but today was different. Is it wrong for our pastor to bring someone in to do this, or is it wrong for me to feel so blah about it?
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$3000 to train in a foreign field? It can be done here for that much for a couple of years, in house, of course. That much would feed a family for over a year in foreign fields .
 
Do not give if you are giving out of obligation or with resentment. God loves a cheerful giver and God looks upon the heart. Don't make excuses either you give or you don't give but follow the dictates of your heart. Always remember that you are not giving to man but to God when you give. If men fail to use good stewardship of the money God will judge them accordingly.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
 
jsr1221 said:
So, people must also then idolize living in a house? By paying their rent or mortgage (which surely is more than 10 percent), they must be worshipping that more than God. Because their mortgage or rent is more than what they're spending on their tithes.
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You're changing the subject to accommodate your stance.
 
Giving to get is prosperity preaching & selfish. God said He loves a cheerful giver, who gives never expecting a return.
 
If I judge by myself who is worthy or not of my giving yet agree to give much more to things outside of God, yes I'd be wrong.. You can't take need and put it with want and have a solid argument as you try.. restaurant and home? Clearly different
 
HisHolly said:
Folks want to hold onto money bc they love it and cloak it with many excuses.. God supplies and if you love Him, you don't hang on to it and say it's bc of this this and this...

We aren't to judge others and it's exactly what's done when we hold money back and say they don't deserve or need it..

God gave you that, can He not get you more? Or are you limited?
If so, perhaps it is bc your ways.. We all receive as we sow.. If it's little, what do you get? Little..
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We aren't to judge others and it's exactly what's done when we hold money back and say they don't deserve or need it..
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I disagree with this statement, as we are supposed to use discernment in all things
 
HisHolly said:
You're changing the subject to accommodate your stance.
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No. I'm simply stating your stance in a different situation. How is a student loan payment different from a rent/mortgage payment? You told me I'm idolizing education by making a student loan payment. How is a person not idolizing a living arrangement by payment rent or a mortgage? The shoe fits on both sides here.
 
Stephen63 said:
Giving to get is prosperity preaching & selfish. God said He loves a cheerful giver, who gives never expecting a return.
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Not true. People twist and want to make it true bc it's money.. and that helps them feel "holy"
Paul encouraged with these words did he not.. My God shall supply.. Why? Bc they were giving.. to give and expect is not wrong. People who lack understanding teach others that it is
 
jsr1221 said:
No. I'm simply stating your stance in a different situation. How is a student loan payment different from a rent/mortgage payment? You told me I'm idolizing education by making a student loan payment. How is a person not idolizing a living arrangement by payment rent or a mortgage? The shoe fits on both sides here.
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Given your attitude towards giving, you give what you feel is enough. Yet will not think twice about paying for school..
If God led you to that school, cool. But you still standing to be wrong with holding money back bc how you feel about "church" ..

It's your lack not mine. I simply answered a public question. All are free to disagree bc most will anyway. I'm not accountable for choices of others.
 
This instance of giving to the "visiting pastor" was on top of our regular weekly collection of tithe. I have always cheerfully given to my church for the purpose of tithing and for special functions, collections, etc. that we have, but it's hard to feel comfortable giving to a man who comes from some other place we know nothing about who is basically saying we all NEED to give to him money (over and over and over again) and make everyone feel horrible who will not. If you tithe with your church (we do), and you give separately to go on missions yourself with the church, donate, serve, etc .... I feel its enough. But this man made everyone feel that we should be donating $3000 more to his cause for him to teach people to be pastors in India. We are on a very budgeted income right now - but we tithe first. And we don't go out to eat after church. We come home and fix sandwiches every Sunday. As a matter of fact, we don't go out to eat at all. This particular service our own pastor gave us the announcements before the visiting pastor spoke. Our pastor asked us all to take an angel (or two) from the angel tree for our prison ministry program (we buy gifts for children who's parents are in prison) - and we always take 3 names of children and buy Christmas for them - he asked us to donate coats, hats and scarves for those without, and to sign up for other events we have planned. We do all that and more, but this guy coming in just irritated me with the drilling of giving him money. On the other end of the spectrum, our pastor was behind him 100%. He encouraged us to give to him as well.
 
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