Why do homosexuals need to clean up and get cured of AIDs before they come to church? Why don’t alcoholics, divorced people, porn addicts, gossipers need to do the same?
Christians in the United States spent $15.7 billion on new church construction alone in the six years between 1984 and 1989. Would we go on building lavishly furnished expensive church buildings if members of our own congregations were starving??
I think my question is one without a concrete answer. How much is too much to spend to be relevant where we minister? Should the church simplify in order to give more? If we as believers should do that shouldn’t the church do so as well and if so, what does that look like?
Agreed do it the way Jesus did. Of course he said you will always have the poor. And he never set up a soup kitchen, and he never clothed anyone, and I don’t remember him giving money to anyone. And he didn’t heal everyone…and…
It is hard to teach about poverty, injustice and the way of Jesus when you do it in suburbia. When will the church move from the suburbs? When will satellite campuses stop and homeless ministries start?
tony
I would ask – why does God, the provider of all and the owner of the universe, allow it?
As for the church’s response to it – maybe He allows it to see how well we respond to it? so do something, anything
Songrtr
Why are all the churches with all the money located in the suburbs when the need is in the inner city??????
tony
i think i live in a different church world than almost everyone that posts on here. do your churches – big, small, pretty, messy, relevant, no-relevant, blonde tipped, not blonde tipped, loud music, old music, no music—-
do your churches really not do this stuff on every day basis? if not, why do you go there?
I would ask the church why everyone on this blog turns an innocent question (I assume) into another church bashing episode…as if the church has been absent from all of modern history in regards to poverty and social injustice…
Will we let the succor of time we have been placed in pass without doing what we were placed here to do? Will we sit back and watch as others do, others sacrifice, others get the blessing of being Jesus to the needy? OR will we step up and help the 15 million Orphans, 50 million people with AIDS? The homeless, the hurting? Will we?
Allright, done having some fun with you all, but really. The church produced Amy Carmichael and Joni and Rich Mullins and millions of others and my father-in-law and his dad who have done these things forever, so get some perspective before you begin accusing…
I saw and smelled the contents of the cup and it was as bad as anything FF had to offer ever. Jarrod’s abilities to compartmentalize his olfactory senses are amazing. Not to mention the texture of botchulism running down one’s esophagus. Hat’s off
Why aren’t more churches getting involved in organizations that are already doing great things around the country and rallying around them, instead of starting yet another 501C3 non-profit?!
Why do people get so amped about serving when they think they’re serving Jesus “incognito” but not because they want to offer grace and mercy to another human being?
Why do we waste our time bickering about petty things (pews vs. chairs, rock worship vs. old hymns, dispensationalism vs. reformed theology) when there’s a broken and dying population right on our doorsteps?
Why haven’t we invited the poor from the streets of (Newark, Paterson, the Bronx) to take part in our worship? Why won’t we take the coats off of our backs and give them to people who really need them? (Oh wait. . . we did ;-)
How can I help others know the needs of others, and equip them to help?
Working in our church’s Benevolence Team has opened my eyes to the needs of people who look to the church for help… in the suburbs. Its not just in “the big city.” People in all income brackets are struggling with our economy, I hear of new lay offs everyday from someone. So many have become accustomed to living with SO MUCH.
I remember my experiences on a trip to Nicaragua last Spring, and even reading about your experiences Anne, and so many people in the world have so much less… but yet, I remember the joy in their faces from simple things… we (Amercians) want so much more to be happy. I had an interestined conversation with someone calling for a food… she said the government agencies’ resources are being maxed out helping to feed the middle class– and that its making it even harder to provide for those in poverty or below poverty.
It is so sad. I help as much as a I can with the skills and compassion God has given me, but when is it okay to say you’ve done (or am doing) what you can?
Why has it become a fad instead of a way of living? When can we start seeking justice, which might mean confronting systems we never thought we would, instead of seeking out charities that are helpful, yes (God bless them for that) but do not do anything to change the root cause of why there is such a large need for them?
Why is the Church so slow at waking up and responding to these issues? And I suppose I could also ask, what’s it going to take to get her to her feet and walking?
Why do so many people who post on injustice not read the New Testament? They would learn that the ideal church in Jerusalem had its factions and divisions, and really only alleviated poverty among its own members. Why don’t they hold the church of Corinth up as an example of a New Testament Church? Or Ephesus, Laodicea, Smyrna, Galatia, Colossae? Why are you so convinced the NT believers were so much more godly than the church of today?
In your disdain of injustice, would you attend church with slave owners and call them brothers? Paul did. No NT passage commands a slave owner to release his slaves; it tells him to treat them well. Would you go to church with a man who taught that from the pulpit or a Holy Spirit who inspired it to be in the Bible?
Why does it take a crisis or a holiday for the Church to step up?
brewha!
as mentioned above by someone else (tony i think???) if you guys are having such horrible church experiences (assuming that you are speaking of your local church) then why not find another church? In the past 8 yrs I’ve been attended 2 different churches and each one gave/gives a crap-load of $$$, services, assistance & love. The minute I start to see fresh flower arrangements in the foyer or ladies bathroom (unless donated) that’s the day I take a long hard look around and ask some tough questions of why is this church spending the money I tithe on flower & other asinine junk.
I really would like to question why the church up the road that have around 4K members has a real live Starbucks in the bldg fully staffed by S’buck employees on Sundays but I can’t bring myself to it. They do good & it’s really not my place to question why they siently encourage church members to drop cash on coffee instead of putting that money towards a worthy cause. I’m sure they see the “fellowship” that goes on inside S’bucks as priceless though.
oh yeah – Bruce up top – you are right. The church has done alot, more than most realize – I don’t understand how we can lump everything bad into blaming the church – unless we see it from only “our” point of view. I heard somewhere yesterday that the one politician/entertainer who has done the most for Africa is our current president (bush), yet most everyone hate his guts. We are going to always have the poor among us but that doesn’t mean the church isn’t doing anything.
My question is why haven?t more Christians, through their faith, allowed deeds to become common place in their life. Feeding the homeless, offering a hand, offering an ear, offering our time, offering something, offering anything, offering. Deeds that flow from the marinating of their faith into their daily lives? Also, can we truly have faith without deeds becoming a natural byproduct of our faith?
Chris
why do we bail out wall street and increasingly it seems like the auto industry before doing something about poverty?
Why would Jesus choose to redeem a bunch of selfish, prideful pions like us?
Bradley R.
BRICE…Read the first 2 chapters of Ruth and indeed you will see God’s “Soup Kitchen.” Farmers were to leave certain sections of the field for the poor to glean. Our pastor calls it God’s welfare system. There are more scenarios throughout scripture.
Also, in the words of Andy Stanley and Dave Ramsey combined…every time you make ten one dollar bills, give one to God, one to savings, and spend the rest. If EVERY Christian practiced that, we could make a HUGE impact in the whole world for the homeless. We wouldn’t have to rely on a government bail out because those guys would come to us instead of the government. Just my 2 cents.
Why is it okay to build mega-churches and spend money on state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment when there are hurting people in your church “family” that you don’t even know, let alone the hurting people beyond your mega-church doors who could benefit from a different way of spending parishioner’s tithes.
Gosh, it’s so hard to ask this without sounding harsh and judgmental. I don’t mean to be judgmental. Though I obviously have a strong opinion about church spending.
Why is having coffee or flowers bad? People drink coffee. I guess my thought on that is whether or not they are going to go across the street to get the coffee (before church) or whether they come on church campus to get the coffee. I think fellowship can happen just about anywhere and most times I think it’s not so much about the $$ but about the common ground feeling of a coffee shop.
I think sometimes we can focus so much on why a church spends money on certain things, that we forget the big picture of what the church is doing. Couldn’t a church give money to missions & have flowers in the bathroom? Couldn’t there be coffee served on campus for sunday services & the church gives to the poor in the community?
Who’s reaching who? Who’s covering up the heart of the call with “works?” Show me the heart and not only the goods and I’ll show you the man. Have you ever thrown up a “High Five” only to be left hanging? Extended a hand to shake and gotten just a look? Made a phone call, left a message, and got no response? I think that many who call themselves Christians hide behind painted smiles and are scared to love just as the ones in the corridors of life. Or is it that we do not know the true meaning of a living sacrifice? Can I leave some parts of me dead so that I don’t have to feel uncomfortable reaching out to others? It’s just so unnatural for me…(last two lines were excuses others use behind the hand of charity). Are we bleeding out nakedly as the True Sacrifice are all we just mere “followers?”
Anne, I challenge you to listen to a song that I am sure you can listen to on Youtube by Jason Upton called “Lullaby For A Petrified Society.” If you read your comments, I would love your comments on what was written and the song by Jason Upton. Blessings
tony
New question I would ask is…how do all of the sayers above (including myself here) who advocate missions, shelters, feeding the poor, etc., deal with this one?
“Trash litters Nigeria’s cities. Electricity is sporadic at best. There is no clean water. Medical and educational services are limited. Basic infrastructure is severely lacking. These are not conditions that should plague one of the richest oil states in the world. But money intended for local projects often fails to reach its intended destination because of widespread corruption.” from CNN
@ tony – I am no expert…but we (people on the mission field) put our head down and work. My husband and I have concluded that we are responsible for us and through prayer, surrender and obedience we have to believe that what we are doing is making a difference [regardless of what others choose to do or not do].
For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, “You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.” (Deut 15:11, NASB)
It’s easy for us (a non-Jewish culture) to take this partial quote and lose the context, but Jesus audience would have most definitely caught His allusion.
Anne, I’m with ya on this. Look forward to the conversation.
Again, what is poor? By who’s standards? And what’s a need? My wife was about to contribute to a Christmas charity getting presents for kids. “Poor” kids had written little cards with gift ideas on them.
The first one caught her eye. “I want an iPod touch.”
Yeah, me too. She moved on. To wells for Africa.
Steph S.
Casting Crowns summed it up SO well… “If we are the BODY…”.
And so I ask, if we are the body (of Christ) what does that entail? (I do, in fact, believe that we are the body of Christ.) How can we be the hands and feet of Jesus?
Also, should there be ‘balance’, between how much of ourselves we give and the part of us (finances, time, etc.) we keep on reserve?
Not sure if this makes any sense… just thoughts in my head. :)
tony
kristiapplesauce – i agree and i know God smiles each time you feed, minister, and comfort. That’s about as Biblical as it gets.
my mind was wandering to a different place – more like the thought of Christians being more of a rain producer. moving even deeper into the culture and literaly taking over the govt. with Godly people. we pray for that at home all the time, why not there – or anywhere there is murder by starvation orchestrated by the govt. in charge?
btw – this is actually happening in several places in the world as we speak )but it’s just rich Christians involved in funding it that are willing to lay thier fortunes, and their lives, on the line so i’m sure it will go nowhere)
Yvonne
Why is it so easy for me to go to Africa and be a “short term” christian, but so hard to reach out to that person who lives right close by, who is poor, physically or mentally handicapped, of a different race… and to keep on helping again and again… long term?
Stephen Douglas
Why is it I am more concerned how my posted question will impress people instead of spending the time, energy and resources needed to care for those nobody sees on the fringes of society?
tony
“So if youre tired of the
Same old story
Turn some pages” REO Speedwagon
Comments
67 responses to “if you could ask any question…”
Why are the highlighting the scriptures they want to live by and ignoring the scriptures they don’t want to live by.
Why do homosexuals need to clean up and get cured of AIDs before they come to church? Why don’t alcoholics, divorced people, porn addicts, gossipers need to do the same?
What if each church adopted a homeless person? What if each church took just ONE homeless person under their wing?
Christians in the United States spent $15.7 billion on new church construction alone in the six years between 1984 and 1989. Would we go on building lavishly furnished expensive church buildings if members of our own congregations were starving??
When was the last time you hung out with a poor person? No, I am not talking about throwing money at them. I am talking about entering their world.
Who is your neighbor?
why do we go half way around the world to have poverty immersion experiences when people in our cities are homeless and hopeless.
What’s up with Christians and apathy? Do we really turn a blind-eye to those in need around us?
Why do we focus on poverty and injustice right now like it is a new pair of uggs?
Why doesn’t the church truly ministry how Jesus ministered?
*minister
I think my question is one without a concrete answer. How much is too much to spend to be relevant where we minister? Should the church simplify in order to give more? If we as believers should do that shouldn’t the church do so as well and if so, what does that look like?
Agreed do it the way Jesus did. Of course he said you will always have the poor. And he never set up a soup kitchen, and he never clothed anyone, and I don’t remember him giving money to anyone. And he didn’t heal everyone…and…
why are there still homeless people on our streets when so many Christians have spare bedrooms?
It is hard to teach about poverty, injustice and the way of Jesus when you do it in suburbia. When will the church move from the suburbs? When will satellite campuses stop and homeless ministries start?
I would ask – why does God, the provider of all and the owner of the universe, allow it?
As for the church’s response to it – maybe He allows it to see how well we respond to it? so do something, anything
Why are all the churches with all the money located in the suburbs when the need is in the inner city??????
i think i live in a different church world than almost everyone that posts on here. do your churches – big, small, pretty, messy, relevant, no-relevant, blonde tipped, not blonde tipped, loud music, old music, no music—-
do your churches really not do this stuff on every day basis? if not, why do you go there?
I would ask the church why everyone on this blog turns an innocent question (I assume) into another church bashing episode…as if the church has been absent from all of modern history in regards to poverty and social injustice…
Why isn’t the church fulfilling the Great Commission? Or Acts 1:8?
Will we let the succor of time we have been placed in pass without doing what we were placed here to do? Will we sit back and watch as others do, others sacrifice, others get the blessing of being Jesus to the needy? OR will we step up and help the 15 million Orphans, 50 million people with AIDS? The homeless, the hurting? Will we?
House the 15 million orphans or save the 3 to 4 billion going to hell? WWJD? Of course He would do it all…or would He?
Allright, done having some fun with you all, but really. The church produced Amy Carmichael and Joni and Rich Mullins and millions of others and my father-in-law and his dad who have done these things forever, so get some perspective before you begin accusing…
I saw and smelled the contents of the cup and it was as bad as anything FF had to offer ever. Jarrod’s abilities to compartmentalize his olfactory senses are amazing. Not to mention the texture of botchulism running down one’s esophagus. Hat’s off
crap wrong post… hee hee.
Why aren’t more churches getting involved in organizations that are already doing great things around the country and rallying around them, instead of starting yet another 501C3 non-profit?!
Why do people get angry about this question?
And…
Why do people get so amped about serving when they think they’re serving Jesus “incognito” but not because they want to offer grace and mercy to another human being?
Why do some people care more about what others wear to church, the kind of music and other superficial things than poverty and injustice?
Why do we think it’s ok to be racist and still call ourselves Christian?
Why do we think it’s ok if people are poor and subjected to injustice if they “bring it on themselves?” (according to our judgment).
I could go on … and I probably will at some point.
Thanks for asking.
Why do we waste our time bickering about petty things (pews vs. chairs, rock worship vs. old hymns, dispensationalism vs. reformed theology) when there’s a broken and dying population right on our doorsteps?
Why haven’t we invited the poor from the streets of (Newark, Paterson, the Bronx) to take part in our worship? Why won’t we take the coats off of our backs and give them to people who really need them? (Oh wait. . . we did ;-)
I would ask …
What is love?
or
What are you afraid of?
Do you truly believe in ALL of what the Bible says, or do you have selective obedience?
Why doesn’t the modern “church” look like the picture of the CHURCH in the N.T.?????
Why do churches decrease the missions and outreach budgets, but give the pastors huge raises? Should we be increasing the outreach budgets?
what do you dream about?
and if you don’t dream … what is it that’s keeping you awake at night?
What is poverty? Is is about how much stuff we have, or don’t have, or is that just our materialistic mindset talking again?
Why do we spend billions of dollars on American church facilities when people are starving?
What can I do to help?
What is stopping me from helping?
How can I help others know the needs of others, and equip them to help?
Working in our church’s Benevolence Team has opened my eyes to the needs of people who look to the church for help… in the suburbs. Its not just in “the big city.” People in all income brackets are struggling with our economy, I hear of new lay offs everyday from someone. So many have become accustomed to living with SO MUCH.
I remember my experiences on a trip to Nicaragua last Spring, and even reading about your experiences Anne, and so many people in the world have so much less… but yet, I remember the joy in their faces from simple things… we (Amercians) want so much more to be happy. I had an interestined conversation with someone calling for a food… she said the government agencies’ resources are being maxed out helping to feed the middle class– and that its making it even harder to provide for those in poverty or below poverty.
It is so sad. I help as much as a I can with the skills and compassion God has given me, but when is it okay to say you’ve done (or am doing) what you can?
Why has it become a fad instead of a way of living? When can we start seeking justice, which might mean confronting systems we never thought we would, instead of seeking out charities that are helpful, yes (God bless them for that) but do not do anything to change the root cause of why there is such a large need for them?
Why is the Church so slow at waking up and responding to these issues? And I suppose I could also ask, what’s it going to take to get her to her feet and walking?
Why do so many people who post on injustice not read the New Testament? They would learn that the ideal church in Jerusalem had its factions and divisions, and really only alleviated poverty among its own members. Why don’t they hold the church of Corinth up as an example of a New Testament Church? Or Ephesus, Laodicea, Smyrna, Galatia, Colossae? Why are you so convinced the NT believers were so much more godly than the church of today?
In your disdain of injustice, would you attend church with slave owners and call them brothers? Paul did. No NT passage commands a slave owner to release his slaves; it tells him to treat them well. Would you go to church with a man who taught that from the pulpit or a Holy Spirit who inspired it to be in the Bible?
Why does it take a crisis or a holiday for the Church to step up?
as mentioned above by someone else (tony i think???) if you guys are having such horrible church experiences (assuming that you are speaking of your local church) then why not find another church? In the past 8 yrs I’ve been attended 2 different churches and each one gave/gives a crap-load of $$$, services, assistance & love. The minute I start to see fresh flower arrangements in the foyer or ladies bathroom (unless donated) that’s the day I take a long hard look around and ask some tough questions of why is this church spending the money I tithe on flower & other asinine junk.
I really would like to question why the church up the road that have around 4K members has a real live Starbucks in the bldg fully staffed by S’buck employees on Sundays but I can’t bring myself to it. They do good & it’s really not my place to question why they siently encourage church members to drop cash on coffee instead of putting that money towards a worthy cause. I’m sure they see the “fellowship” that goes on inside S’bucks as priceless though.
oh yeah – Bruce up top – you are right. The church has done alot, more than most realize – I don’t understand how we can lump everything bad into blaming the church – unless we see it from only “our” point of view. I heard somewhere yesterday that the one politician/entertainer who has done the most for Africa is our current president (bush), yet most everyone hate his guts. We are going to always have the poor among us but that doesn’t mean the church isn’t doing anything.
Lastly – When is Jesus going to return?
Why are people poor? I mean, really. And why did Jesus say that we would always have the poor?
Why does it all come down to money and excuses?
My question is why haven?t more Christians, through their faith, allowed deeds to become common place in their life. Feeding the homeless, offering a hand, offering an ear, offering our time, offering something, offering anything, offering. Deeds that flow from the marinating of their faith into their daily lives? Also, can we truly have faith without deeds becoming a natural byproduct of our faith?
why do we bail out wall street and increasingly it seems like the auto industry before doing something about poverty?
Why would Jesus choose to redeem a bunch of selfish, prideful pions like us?
BRICE…Read the first 2 chapters of Ruth and indeed you will see God’s “Soup Kitchen.” Farmers were to leave certain sections of the field for the poor to glean. Our pastor calls it God’s welfare system. There are more scenarios throughout scripture.
Also, in the words of Andy Stanley and Dave Ramsey combined…every time you make ten one dollar bills, give one to God, one to savings, and spend the rest. If EVERY Christian practiced that, we could make a HUGE impact in the whole world for the homeless. We wouldn’t have to rely on a government bail out because those guys would come to us instead of the government. Just my 2 cents.
Why is it okay to build mega-churches and spend money on state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment when there are hurting people in your church “family” that you don’t even know, let alone the hurting people beyond your mega-church doors who could benefit from a different way of spending parishioner’s tithes.
Gosh, it’s so hard to ask this without sounding harsh and judgmental. I don’t mean to be judgmental. Though I obviously have a strong opinion about church spending.
What are churches still the most racially segregated place on earth?
@brewha!
Why is having coffee or flowers bad? People drink coffee. I guess my thought on that is whether or not they are going to go across the street to get the coffee (before church) or whether they come on church campus to get the coffee. I think fellowship can happen just about anywhere and most times I think it’s not so much about the $$ but about the common ground feeling of a coffee shop.
I think sometimes we can focus so much on why a church spends money on certain things, that we forget the big picture of what the church is doing. Couldn’t a church give money to missions & have flowers in the bathroom? Couldn’t there be coffee served on campus for sunday services & the church gives to the poor in the community?
I think both are doable! : )
How much is enough?
Who’s reaching who? Who’s covering up the heart of the call with “works?” Show me the heart and not only the goods and I’ll show you the man. Have you ever thrown up a “High Five” only to be left hanging? Extended a hand to shake and gotten just a look? Made a phone call, left a message, and got no response? I think that many who call themselves Christians hide behind painted smiles and are scared to love just as the ones in the corridors of life. Or is it that we do not know the true meaning of a living sacrifice? Can I leave some parts of me dead so that I don’t have to feel uncomfortable reaching out to others? It’s just so unnatural for me…(last two lines were excuses others use behind the hand of charity). Are we bleeding out nakedly as the True Sacrifice are all we just mere “followers?”
Anne, I challenge you to listen to a song that I am sure you can listen to on Youtube by Jason Upton called “Lullaby For A Petrified Society.” If you read your comments, I would love your comments on what was written and the song by Jason Upton. Blessings
New question I would ask is…how do all of the sayers above (including myself here) who advocate missions, shelters, feeding the poor, etc., deal with this one?
“Trash litters Nigeria’s cities. Electricity is sporadic at best. There is no clean water. Medical and educational services are limited. Basic infrastructure is severely lacking. These are not conditions that should plague one of the richest oil states in the world. But money intended for local projects often fails to reach its intended destination because of widespread corruption.” from CNN
@ tony – I am no expert…but we (people on the mission field) put our head down and work. My husband and I have concluded that we are responsible for us and through prayer, surrender and obedience we have to believe that what we are doing is making a difference [regardless of what others choose to do or not do].
How much do we really need?
When did love start requiring an income?
@Jeff Goins – Jesus’ statement is an OT quote:
For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, “You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.” (Deut 15:11, NASB)
It’s easy for us (a non-Jewish culture) to take this partial quote and lose the context, but Jesus audience would have most definitely caught His allusion.
Anne, I’m with ya on this. Look forward to the conversation.
Again, what is poor? By who’s standards? And what’s a need? My wife was about to contribute to a Christmas charity getting presents for kids. “Poor” kids had written little cards with gift ideas on them.
The first one caught her eye. “I want an iPod touch.”
Yeah, me too. She moved on. To wells for Africa.
Casting Crowns summed it up SO well… “If we are the BODY…”.
And so I ask, if we are the body (of Christ) what does that entail? (I do, in fact, believe that we are the body of Christ.) How can we be the hands and feet of Jesus?
Also, should there be ‘balance’, between how much of ourselves we give and the part of us (finances, time, etc.) we keep on reserve?
Not sure if this makes any sense… just thoughts in my head. :)
kristiapplesauce – i agree and i know God smiles each time you feed, minister, and comfort. That’s about as Biblical as it gets.
my mind was wandering to a different place – more like the thought of Christians being more of a rain producer. moving even deeper into the culture and literaly taking over the govt. with Godly people. we pray for that at home all the time, why not there – or anywhere there is murder by starvation orchestrated by the govt. in charge?
btw – this is actually happening in several places in the world as we speak )but it’s just rich Christians involved in funding it that are willing to lay thier fortunes, and their lives, on the line so i’m sure it will go nowhere)
Why is it so easy for me to go to Africa and be a “short term” christian, but so hard to reach out to that person who lives right close by, who is poor, physically or mentally handicapped, of a different race… and to keep on helping again and again… long term?
Why is it I am more concerned how my posted question will impress people instead of spending the time, energy and resources needed to care for those nobody sees on the fringes of society?
“So if youre tired of the
Same old story
Turn some pages” REO Speedwagon
@Stephen Douglas!!! Yay. I love it. I think you are going to change the world.
WWJD?