Results 1 - 6 of 6
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Results from: Notes Author: rdarden1 Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | The dark knight batman like Jesus minist | John | rdarden1 | 206169 | ||
If we cant use the things of this world to try to influence them to Christ, whether it be by using parallels or quotes which could lead to conversations with people who normally shy away from us because we are Christians then we are no better than the religeous leaders who believed that you havd to be part of temple worship to be right with God. I know that there was not any direct attempt at including spiritual insight in to this movie by the directors but there is no reason why we cant use something that millions are seeing to apply spiritual truths in the scriptures. After all Jesus said that the pagans and tax collectors are entering before the religeous. Why not use it as a segway to get a little bit deeper into a friends heart who loves Batman but is indifferent towards Christ. Jesus many times used parables and situations of his time to get people to think outside the box. We should be willing to do the same. | ||||||
2 | May we claim rewards for tithing? | Mal 3:10 | rdarden1 | 205620 | ||
Thank you Tim for reminding me of the others who have the right heart in this matter. Perhaps being a part of a big church for so long has jaded me. I will persist to bring about changes in my church. | ||||||
3 | May we claim rewards for tithing? | Mal 3:10 | rdarden1 | 205618 | ||
Thank you. If I suggested that the main purpose of the church is to take care of the needy than I mispoke. I understand that is not its goal but believe that it is the main purpose for tithing. This is not based on an accountability though. It is based on a freewill offring such as Abraham made to Melchizadek or Jacob made to God. (Little did he know he obligated the gift to become a law with his descendants.) I am far from being able to give such as Barnabus did in Acts but have made changes lately to keep my gift from being a matter of obligation. While not all leaders accept donations I would like to see more leaders accept according to their needs and not to sustain ther lifestyle. We are far from the first century model in sacrificial giving and I pray that I can resist the habit of turning my gift of giving into an obligation and not have anything to help those around me. Thank you for your response and may we always be as the scriptures say. "As iron sharpens iron so one man (or woman) sharpens another. |
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4 | May we claim rewards for tithing? | Mal 3:10 | rdarden1 | 205617 | ||
I thnk we're on the same page. While the churches efforts are to be applied to the needy among us, I very rarely see as much funds being used for those purposes than to get larger buildings, better bands and singers, higher power evangelists and so on. The issue is more about the missuese of funds than the willingness to give. We are to give sacrificially when the need is there but churches today have come up with more ways to spend the money given than what was originally intended. In order to pay for these "porkbarrel" religeous programs, scriptures are used out of context to enforce why we should give to them. Instead of giving to my congregation, my wife and I make sure we take care of her elderly parents, use funds towards the children classes we teach, and will freely give to the person on the street corner. I do not doubt for a minute where our hearts are in this matter but it would seem that many do not give to the need around them because they gave to the church. It has become an excuse not to help and be involved in our neighborhoods. In a certain churhc I used to be a part of my wife and I gave well above 10 percent each week and then another 20 times our weekly pledge in a summer month in order to "reach out to the owrld" only to find that the money lined the pockets of greedy leaders in affiliated churches. I would have been happy to see it go for our own church to meet needs there but that was not the case. Now we make sure what we give is done out of willingness and faith according to how God has blessed us. Our giving is a freewill offering and not accountable to any church financial officer. | ||||||
5 | May we claim rewards for tithing? | Mal 3:10 | rdarden1 | 205575 | ||
Upon closer examination of Malachi 3:10 on testing GOd with our tithes we should understand that tithes was also a vow Jacob made to God in his journey before meeting with Esau. This vow applies to all descendants of Jacob, which Christians are not. Christians are followers and descendants through faith in Christ who is in the order of Melchizadek. We are not bound by Jacobs vow. Whatever we give should be out of faith. I am possitive that the Spirit of God would work more powerfully through his believers if we would give according to the needs we see around us rather than the local buildng fund of our church. When there are special needs like sending off teams to foreign lands than we should be willing to give generously but not to fund lighting and A/C or even salaries. I have seen many ministers who preach according to what the "stockholders" in the church say. If the ministers are not paid by the church except for basic needs then they are not beholden to the big givers opinions. | ||||||
6 | "their" faith | Mark | rdarden1 | 205502 | ||
Thank you, this is also what I believe based on that premis. Yet, I have heard so many ministers preach that the faith of the friends is what Jesus referred to as a way of saying we need to hold each other up, be right and left hands for each other. In explaining this point they will say the paralytic had low self esteem and was dragged along by his friends faith. | ||||||