Question:
Dear Greg,
I
don’t agree with everything my Pastor says.
I guess that makes me a bad disciple.
He teaches that if you don’t give 10% of your gross income then you
will “sow yourself to poverty”. He
also teaches that you won’t get a financial blessing from God if you don’t
do this. I just can’t buy this.
I agree as a Christian you should bless the church with all you can give
without putting yourself in poverty.
Thanks
again,
Michael
Answer: Dear Michael,
The
comments you have made about your pastor lead me to believe that you are being
subjected to what would be, at least in this area of stewardship, sub-standard
biblical teaching.
First
of all, simply because anyone pronounces you to be a “bad disciple”—your
pastor, me, someone you hear on the radio, someone whose book you read, etc.,
does not make you a bad disciple. It
means that you need to be discriminating and discerning between biblically
faithful teaching and teaching that departs from what you understand to be the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
No
pastor or teacher has the biblical right to tell anyone that they must give 10%
of their income, and that if you don’t you will “sow yourself into
poverty”. The only thing that is
being sown in such a circumstance is bad, inadequate and misleading teaching.
You
are right not to buy into this teaching. It
is manipulative and just plain wrong. I
will send you a booklet we have on finances that includes a number of questions
about giving. Thanks for allowing
PTM to be of service.
In
Christ,