on the internet: christians and giving
When believers don’t believe in giving - Slate Magazine.
An interesting piece from a neutral perspective. Why do twenty percent of Christians not give at all?
Of course, these stats will always beg the question of “How do they define a ‘Christian,’ anyways?,” but this kind of makes us look bad.
I heard that Americans now give less than Americans during the Great Depression did. Perhaps Christians today are just products of their culture. This is bad, but slightly more understandable.
Thoughts, anyone?
January 8th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
People could be greedy. But I would also say that some just don’t trust anybody other than themselves with their money. There are plenty of cases of famous pastors just spending huge amounts of money frivolously for their own personal benefit. I would say it possible that people could make the (incorrect) connection that all pastors are like that, and the pastors would not use the money better than the donors.
January 8th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
I think that in my own life, I’ve been most tempted to not give when I feel like I don’t have enough money to do so. It’s not so much greed as it is a lack of faith.
My pastor back at home once told a story about a guy who found out that the money he had been giving to his church had been misused by the pastor. When asked if he regretted giving all of that money to the church, he replied: “I didn’t give it to the church, I gave it to God.”
Not that you needed to hear that, PCEevee…I just thought it was a cool story to share, and a reminder that when we give, we really do give to God. It’s so easy to lose sight of that.