Osbert

Here are six important statements about wealth from the Bible:

Matthew 6:19
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Money.

Matthew 19:21
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Phil 2:3
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Acts 2:44-45
All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

Don't hear many sermons about these Bible instructions...
Why are tens of thousands of children dying of starvation every day on this planet? Why wouldn't God spread his blessings evenly among all his children?

I don't know a great deal about the wealth of American Churches but I am sure they don't do too bad.

"The Vatican's treasure of solid gold has been estimated by the United Nations World Magazine to amount to several billion dollars. A large bulk of this is stored in gold ingots with the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, while banks in England and Switzerland hold the rest. But this is just a small portion of the wealth of the Vatican, which in the U.S. alone, is greater than that of the five wealthiest giant corporations of the country. When to that is added all the real estate, property, stocks and shares abroad, then the staggering accumulation of the wealth of the Catholic church becomes so formidable as to defy any rational assessment."

AthenaAwakened

Old Joke:

Two trustees from two different churches meet on a street corner and start a conversation. The topic soon turns to exactly what the respective churches do with the offerings.

T1 - Well, we draw a big circle and then we put all the money in a big basket and throw it up in the air. All the money that falls outside the cirlce, we use to do god's work and all the money inside the circle, we keep.

T2-Well we do pretty much the same thing. We have a big basket and we toss the money in the air. And whatever God can catch, he can keep.

Peace

Osbert

May be old, I had never heard it before...Very funny.

Pastor's Nightmare

Conservative Christian churches only donate 6-7% of their net collection to charitable causes(things, which promote human development).

They must draw a pretty big circle.

atonal chaotic

Money given to God eventually winds up in the paychecks of the guys who screwed the televangelist's new yacht together.