I won't lie. I have missed church I don't know how many times. Yeah I feel guilty at times so I will force myself to go.My church is way too far out and my fiance's brother' s church is by our house. So normally if me and my fiance go to church , it's to his brothers church.I don't believe in a certain religion but the church is catholic.The pastor can give some really good sermons, that is if I don't fall asleep. But here is where the problem unfolds: tithes and offerings. Now I will admit I may have more money in my purse and know I need to give more but I don't . When its the last of my money I don't give none. Well on this Sunday which happened to be on Fathers Day in 2007, I gave the rest of the money I had to Jesus. Well thats what I thought. $20.00 to my name and my fiance had lost his job, I used all of my paycheck to pay the rent and put gas in the car,I am pregnant at this time , we have no food in our apartment, the gas tank needle is pursuing to the E spot, my feet hurt, my back is killing me, I am starving to death, the baby keeps kicking me in the ribs,my fiance has no money, we are on the verge of getting evicted and having nowhere to go. Yet I still show up putting a smile on my face and putting the last bit of money I have into the collection plate hoping and praying God would answer my prayer. By now I want to break down and everyone around us is happy and has a roof over their head, a little money in their pockets , gas in the car and food at home. The pastor has the nerve to say after all of this " Come on now people ! We only have $200.00 in collections! I know ya'll can do better than that . God does better for you ! Come on lets give him a $20.00,$40.00, $100 or more." Ok what happened to give what you have : a prayer , a penny , 50 cents , a dollar.Even when we went to my church pastor T.D . Jakes said " Give only what you have to spare because God really knows how much you can give. You can give $20.00, $10.00, $1.00 , some change or even a Kentucky Fried Chicken coupon will do ". But this pastor has the nerve to ask for tithes and offerings not once but a total of three times. Do you see what I see? If it looks like one and smells like one then its a rat! I was so offended by this I never went back.Now I believe that he uses the money for his self because not to long ago he bought a new house.Now his paycheck is good but its not that good enough to get that kind of house.This is what I hate about going to church sometimes. Tell me what you think.
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I'm so very sorry that this is how you've been treated. The state of the church is a mess. I'm protestant but I frequently other services as well. I've gotta say, nobody I've seen has it right. The churches who are rollin in it seem to have a problem with how to spend it correctly. At my home church, we spent hundreds of dollars to put a white plastic steeple on top of our building and a cross by the door so that we would "look more like a church". Well the church is its people, not the building it's in. Why not work to make us, the congregation, look more like a church in the way we treat others and live our lives, rather than wasting time and money on a building that will just decay with time? Shame on the pastors, ministers, and priests who teach the wealth doctrine. God knows your heart. He wants your faith and love far more than your money.
Peace and blessings,
-Liz
Reading this has made me realize how blessed I am to have found my church. The money given in the weekly offering is for the church and only the church. It pays the electric bill, fixed the organ, get a new roof to replace the leaky one, helping to keep the new contemporary service going, sponser the youth group, etcetera. And even though there is so much work that needs to be done to the building, as it's really old and on the verge of disrepair, out pastor never asks people to give more. He only asks that we give as we feel led, and he tells visitors that they needn't give at all, because they're presence is offering enough. I feel that more churches should be that way, you know?
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
Thank you for the reply and yes I do wish a lot more churches were like yours too. Now I am not saying all churches are bad, but I just hate when certain churches are in it for the nmoney and not for God.
i'm a catholic and ive always been told that we should give 10% of what we have to our church. usually in the offering basket people give several dollars and usually its nothing big.
After you gave that $20.00 did you see where God blessed?
He blessed my fiance with a job the next day and that was good enough for me.
You see God blessed you so it doesn't really matter wat the priest had to say because God did His part. He saw your heart when you gave the money and He gave your fiance a job.