Agreed. As Christians, we are under a Biblical mandate to give offerings to the church, the first fruits of our labors. Sure it pays the pastors and keeps the lights on, but the money is used for missions and outreach to those not saved and for benevolence. Saying not to give to your church is ridiculous and selfish and to deny all God has given us.
Um, the church isn't God. Handing out money to a pastor is not a guarantee it's being used properly. If my church shut down without a peep during the plandemic, and their priorities are building a new facility or sending money out of the country (as far as we can tell), when we've got members losing their homes because of medical bills or businesses closing, or vets who need help, recovering addicts, pregnant girls who need to get to a safe situation to raise their kids or put them up for adoption, etc, then I'm putting my money to stabilize our community first. If the church isn't listening then I have a hard time believing it's doing God's work.
Handing over money blindly doesn't absolve any of us of our responsibility of stewardship. Just like handing it over to the government, who replaced charitable works of churches, absolves is of anything.
I remember the movie Stigmata, where the guy in there says "the kingdom of God is inside you, and not contained within walls of stone" or something to that effect.
If we don't tithe to the church they won't be able to keep the doors open. Not saying don't help in other ways but this isn't the right way
Agreed. As Christians, we are under a Biblical mandate to give offerings to the church, the first fruits of our labors. Sure it pays the pastors and keeps the lights on, but the money is used for missions and outreach to those not saved and for benevolence. Saying not to give to your church is ridiculous and selfish and to deny all God has given us.
Um, the church isn't God. Handing out money to a pastor is not a guarantee it's being used properly. If my church shut down without a peep during the plandemic, and their priorities are building a new facility or sending money out of the country (as far as we can tell), when we've got members losing their homes because of medical bills or businesses closing, or vets who need help, recovering addicts, pregnant girls who need to get to a safe situation to raise their kids or put them up for adoption, etc, then I'm putting my money to stabilize our community first. If the church isn't listening then I have a hard time believing it's doing God's work.
Handing over money blindly doesn't absolve any of us of our responsibility of stewardship. Just like handing it over to the government, who replaced charitable works of churches, absolves is of anything.
I remember the movie Stigmata, where the guy in there says "the kingdom of God is inside you, and not contained within walls of stone" or something to that effect.
Whoa whoa whoa there. The ten percent was for the church AND ITS WORKS, right? They don't need all of it just to keep their doors open.
Also, the flock has a say in which ones should keep their doors open, too.
If the buildings are crazy expensive and the pastor is extravagant, while the surrounding people in need are not being helped, I'd change my giving.