Avarice and Glutony is also a sin

[peky]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/joel-osteen-being-gay-is-a-sin-fox-news_n_1471247.html?ir=Gay+Voices&ref=topbar

The Minister's wife says at some point: "Jesus got mad with the  temple merchants because they were using the gospels to gain."  Where does she think the monies to buy the rock she sport in her finger come from.


Even in my small neck of the woods; I see one of the local pastor loading a brand new Escalalde with a lot of groceries. I complement it on it, but he said: "oh no, it is not mine, it belongs to the church." The guy lives in my neighborhood, one child. So later on I see him unloading the groceries in his driveway, and I am thinking: "Oh, he is just storing them there temporarily, they belong to the church."

I see a lot of avarice and gluttony in all this preachers; and you know what, it does not bother me if they want to be gluttons and avaricious, but the  thing that grinds my gears,is that they are hypocrites, always hiding in the scriptures, while preaching hate against LGBT folks.

[ToriJo]

I always thought the problem Jesus had at the temple with the merchants wasn't as much that people were making a profit, but that they were essentially cheating people and taking advantage of people to make a profit.  When I read the gospels, I get the idea that Jesus really wasn't focused on what type of economy the world should have - he had different concerns, like how people were treated.  Did the poor peasant who came to offer a sacrifice for his sins and to worship God get taken advantage of?  Did someone set up some sort of additional barrier between him and his worship?

As for pastors driving nice cars and all that, I haven't seen that at the churches I've attended, although I'm sure plenty of churches do stuff like that.  That said, I think I have a nice car - and I don't know God cares any less how I live my life than how a pastor lives theirs.  But I'd agree it is bad leadership for a pastor to have great excess.  I certainly wouldn't feel good if I was a pastor if I was taking people's hard earned money that they want to give to God and then taking it and using it to live in luxury, since it wasn't money I earned.  On the other hand, could I earn any money for myself (as a non-pastor) if God didn't give me gifts and abilities?  I don't know, but it's certainly an interesting question...

Joel Osteen...well, he's probably not someone I would seek out for spiritual insight.  I often wonder who Jesus would hang around with today.  I suspect not Joel Osteen.  But I wouldn't be worthy of that either, certainly.

Sorry for the rambly post.  There's some interesting thoughts in your post, and also the implications in your post.  Joel Osteen is certainly mistaken.  But the more important question that your post stirred in me: What makes me different?  Certainly I'm not spouting the anti-gay hate that Joel is spouting.  But at the end of the day, is what I'm doing with my time and money right?  I truly couldn't answer that yet.

[Annah]

While I do believe Gluttony is a sin, I do not believe having a nice car or a nice home as a sin.

It's a pet peeve of mine when people just should assume that Pastors should be driving around in used 1990 Ford Focus and coupon shopping at Walmart.

I believe Gluttony is a sin where one consumes to the point of willingfully neglecting others around them and consuming in excess beyond the limits of what a normal person should have.

Most pastors have to go through 8 years of College. College for us is not free and it almost always more expensive than other professions because many of the schools are private schools (not many State run Seminaries). Pastors do deserve to have a lifetsyle based upon their profession. We spend as much time in college and graduate school as a Medical Doctor. We also have to go through residence training too....except we don't get paid at all for residence training...we have to pay them.

Now, I am not saying we should adopt a Joel Olsteen model either and have 600,000 dollar homes and 8 cars . But I am not going to freak out if a Pastor has a BMW.

Pastors aren't suppose to sacrifice their own finances to support the church (unless you took the vow of Poverty as a Roman Catholic). A church is designed as a community focused building of fellowship to worship God and to provide help to the world. The Pastor has a budget. The food pantry gets a budget. The Soup Kitchen has a budget. Etc. Now, if the Pastor had two brand new BMWs but cannot afford to send money to a homeless shelter then yes, I would be pissed. But if a church supports the community then more power to them.

[justmeinoz]

As an Atheist now, I really don't care how the churches spend their money.  I do however object to them not paying taxes like the rest of us.