Subject: selling raffle tickets |
Bible Note: Dear pbp, the church of which I'm a member (First Baptist Church in a good-sized Arkansas city) does not engage in any such activities as selling raffle tickets whatever, and if it did, I would be strongly opposed to it. I would neither buy them nor sell them nor in any way promote the enterprise. In my view, the preferred way to dispose of the donated quilt would be to give it away to a needy person or family. And the way to raise money in a church is not by the employment of a raffle-ticket scheme or other questionable gimmick, but by the free-will offerings of its members. I see no harm whatever in your expressing your intense concern and honest misgiving about this activity to your pastor and other leaders of the church you attend. Participation in raffling is to play a game of chance with the hope and expectation of material gain. It is not giving but gambling. It is not good fiscal stewardship within the body of Christ. Moreover, for the parishioners who may be tempted to gamble, I see this practice as being a potential stumbling block in a brother's way. The church is never to follow the ways of the world but of Christ. --Hank |