Comments on: The Church & Money: Plasma TV or Feed the Poor?

By: Randy Brock

Randy Brock — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:51:27 +0000

Paul, this is the most inciteful comment of all. Don’t they care about the poor! Everybody wants to draw the line for someone else. Jesus warned us to be careful about that.

By: AJ

AJ — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:42:23 +0000

The point is, His disciples did not understand the purpose behind this woman’s action, that’s why they asked “To what purpose is this waste?” then Jesus help them understand” Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me” For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial”
The irony in This is that even this good deed was not for Him to enjoy but to prepare Him for His burial.

By: LateComer

LateComer — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 02:42:14 +0000

I’m late to the blog, but I’ll just say: Give generously, anonymously, if possible. The debate over tithing, obedience and before or after tax is moot, even to the point of being annoying. You don’t have to debate this if you just give of time, money, and talents. If you give sacrificially then you don’t even have to debate first fruits. You’ll be well beyond that beginner’s step. We should always be careful who or what organization we donate money, too, though. Money can do harm if it’s in the wrong hands. Sometimes people ask for money when it would not solve their underlying issues, only delay them or make them worse. We are to be good stewards. With that said, I think the individual and small house churches can accomplish much more without the overhead. A house church is far more efficiently run and welcoming than a traditional church. (Try it.) My church is practically empty 70% of the time … it just sits empty. That’s a lot of space sitting empty, expensive, expensive space that we’ve not even paid the bill on yet. Where’s Jesus in all that? I’ll tell you — nowhere.

By: BGDadof6

BGDadof6 — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:46:05 +0000

Poor little orphan child, you can sit at the coffee bar and enjoy the plasmas…but we do not have additional funds to feed you and your little friends. You see, the senior pastor and the 6 associate pastord have to be paid and we haven’t finished paying for all the nice things you see around here. But, let me pray for you. Now run along and be a good little boy or girl!
Sad – it appears that the creature comforts are more important. If you’re able – listen to Matt Friedeman on afr.com. A comment he made was that we are tithing to ourselves…for the new building, for the new flooring, etc. The cost to convert 1 new believer in Africa is a little over $19k. In America, it is over $1M. Why is that? Oh, the coffee bar, the plasma tv’s, the glossy brochures, the 6 figure salaries…all in the name of Christ.
Thanks for letting me speak my mind (if anyone reads it) – I could go on with so much more.

By: BGDadof6

BGDadof6 — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:19:01 +0000

Tony Dean, you have hit the mark and I could not have said it better myself.

By: sd

sd — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:40:34 +0000

I have looked over this discussion with a fair bit of interest. I think their is too much black and white on the issue and a bit of commen sense could go a long way. In as much as a churchs job is to teach it is to serve- God and his people (all his people, not just those in the church) It is not necessary to have the latest gadgets to teach you only have to look at a public school to see that the job can get done fairly well on a tight budget. Realistically do you really think it is morally correct to see people in your community struggling without hope and put beutification in front of that as a priority?? Sometimes the poor people in your community will teach you more than any preacher delivering a message in front of a church. After all Jesus didnt spend all his time in Church he was out with the people doing his thing. Do as Jesus did And does I say.

By: Glen

Glen — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 20:55:00 +0000

Just stumbled upon this blod and want to quickly share what my chruch does. We had our grand opening for our new building recently and inside included 3 brand spaking new 42″ plasma (unfortunately they got stolen a few days later – I pity the soul who stole from God). Our church is involved with a lot of community projects and on several occasions have won awards from our state government. Simply put our attitude is to constantly bless others and God returns his favour on us. I’ve given in times of need and in times of prospering and you can never out give God. We have to face the fact that technology is a part of life and we have to use it to appeal to the new generation. We need to be God centered…not religious.

By: Nick Truscott

Nick Truscott — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 23:31:29 +0000

I just found this article and it was hugely encouraging for me. Maadi Community Church here in Cairo has a wide range of significant development projects among the sudanese refugee and displaced peoples community. We recently developed our first fundraising / awareness brochure – HQ design and production and there were several criticisms about cost / quality / why are we doing it? etc – and I confess that some of those comments hurt. As part of my day to day job I REALLY feel that what I am doing is glorifying God; but congregations are funny things aren’t they!

By: Anthony Ingram

Anthony Ingram — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 14:29:09 +0000

Jesus said “the poor you will have with you always”. Some people are poor because they choose to be – they prefer to live off of others rather than to work. The Bible addresses this category of “poor” with “if a man will not work, neither should he eat”. Now then – there are the true poor – those who have been so beaten down by circumstances or events that the ONLY way for them to rise up from the ashes is with some significant help — the key here is that they are WILLING to rise up and learn to stand on their own feet.
Sometimes it is hard to discern between the two groups — so there may be times that the church’s charity may be taken advantage of. This does not mean that we should stop giving – not does it mean that every penny we have should go to feed or clothe or house the poor.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:32:05 +0000

:O our preist just brought $16,000 worth of plasma screen TV’s for our chrurch. im from australia, and where we live, WE are the ones effected by the drought. we’re having to kill hundreds of animals…and some farmers around here have even committed suicide, things are so bad.
Not to mention bushfires! i live in a state, where at the moment, bushfires have nearly taken over! people have died.
Should the preist…right now be spending so much on TV’s? NO! geesh. its annoying.
ha um. yeah…i just thought this related to the topic :D so i’d tell you.
- alex.