Christian Message Boards: I have a question

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Posted by TEXASGRANDMA (Member # 847) on :

My mom told me that a Church in her area is going to build a huge Church the similar to the Cathedral of Praise not quite as big but with lots of buildings including a separate Wedding Chapel separate from the statuary. I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with what the preacher is doing to get the money. He is putting pressure for the senior citizens to pledge to give 100 a month min for the next three years over and beyond their tithes and for people who work more than that. My mom is friends with several widows from that Church and they are saying they will have to find a new Church home because that cannot afford to pledge a hundred dollars over their tithes.

Is it just me, or is the Pastor over stepping abit when he uses his position to strong arm widows? [crying]

betty

Posted by SoftTouch (Member # 2316) on :

quote:
Originally posted by TEXASGRANDMA:
Is it just me, or is the Pastor over stepping abit when he uses his position to strong arm widows?

betty

Wow... it's not just you Sis, this is WRONG [Frown]

It sounds like those folks are wise to look for another Church. One that Sticks to Biblical Teaching and Principals. This is Sad [crying]

Posted by yahsway (Member # 3738) on :

I personally believe its wrong, there are sooooo many places of worship now. If they needed to add on to the existing building that might be okay in my opinon, but to ask people on fixed incomes to go over their tithes might be a bit much.

There are so many other needs that could be met with that kind of money. The church needs to start taking care of their orphans, widows, elderly, poor, there is so much more to do with money than build another building. Besides, time is short, the rapture as some see it could happen any moment, why not be about the business of building the Body of Christ instead of building another place to house them for worship. Anyway, thats my 2 cents. Love ya'll

Posted by SoftTouch (Member # 2316) on :

Amen Sister Yahsway, Amen!

Posted by helpforhomeschoolers (Member # 15) on :

Yes Amen indeed! Meet at the park and use the money to take care of the needs of the people!

Posted by cheech (Member # 4592) on :

It's definitely not you. Our church was going through the same thing...needing to build a bigger church, so they started using the step out of the boat campaign. They had several members go to the houses of the congregation to just give them info on it and to pray on it. Then we had a congregation meeting at the church to get more info about it. Then we were asked to pray about how much we could give to this campaign and we prayed right there. In no way were we forced to give any one amount nor anything more than what we could afford. We could either put on a piece of paper how much we could give that night or do it in church. It was OUR choice...not the pastor's. He made it clear it was totally up to each family if they could give or not.

This to me was a much better thing to do. Your mom's pastor is way out of line...there are people who just can't afford to give tithes and extra!

Posted by Mr Ron (Member # 4498) on :

For a while, I attended and almost joined a church here in Charleston, SC called the 'Cathedral of Praise'.

Very good church. Very powerful. It now consumes probably 100 acres of land, with many new buildings and everything one could think of.
Thousands and thousands of participating members.

The pastor is a great guy!

Most of the members seem to have plenty of money. It takes a lot of money for a church like this!

During the classes I attended taht one must take before joining, the pastor brought up that God rewards His loyal followers, and if any member comes to the church with financial needs, then they probably have not been living right. Otherwise they would not have financial needs.
(doesn't it say in scripture somewhere that you will receive up to 100 fold for every buck you give? That sure beats the lottery.)

He said the first thing they would do in such a case is investigate and see if that person or family with financial problems had been tithing!

What a great idea, I thought! This is not only a church, it is an insurance company!

I didn't join.

Great church, though!

Ronnie G

Posted by chris777 (Member # 4638) on :

Where did Jesus preach the most?

and what "temples " belong to God.

those built by the hands of men, or those built by the hand of God?

Posted by David (Member # 1) on :

quote:
Originally posted by helpforhomeschoolers:
Yes Amen indeed! Meet at the park and use the money to take care of the needs of the people!

Amen Linda! Meet at the park or find a Church that is not trying to build themself a great place. The Church is the people not the building, and when the Church (the people) are struggling, it should take care of them first. Give the money for the mega church to the widows that they are trying to fleece.

Posted by MySavingGrace (Member # 4697) on :

i definately agre not to support that pastor and that chruch. if a chruch is struggeling to pay for electircity and plubmbing and heat then thats one thing. But to build an addition is another. I can see suggesting people pay more money to help, epseically if they ahve more money. But, to tells people to pay extra and a big amount is very wrong. a chruuch should be about glorifying god and jesus and the gospel, not glorifying itself.

I mean, it even says in the bible not to build your treasures on earth but in heaven (dont know exact words but you can see my point.) And, to me, it seems that this is the reverse of that passage.

Posted by peh (Member # 4446) on :

Good response, Mr Ron

quote:
I didn't join

(Don't you hate it when someone gets so happy over something you said and you're not exactly sure why?)