That is quite daring to click on this page! Let me put your mind at ease: I don't need any of your
money; the work I do here is provided free, as God has given me the time and
ability to work on it. It is a distinct privilege to be able to do this. However, giving is a Biblical principle,
and, if you are not attending a local church that you support, then you
can go to my links page and support one of their ministries. For a believer who is growing, this is important.
Let me give you a few rules of thumb:
- Do not give to a ministry
which asks unbelievers for money (especially evangelists who pass the
plate and expect money from believers and unbelievers alike).
- Do not give to a ministry
which expects to skim a certain percentage of your salary off the top
(if your church literally bills you for 10% of your salary, quietly leave and never go back).
- Do not give to a ministry
which finds itself in dire need or desperate straits once or twice a
year. Obviously, ministries need money to function, and some will
(thankfully) die out without money. A ministry should provide you
an opportunity to give, but they should not appeal to your emotion or
put any other sort of psychological pressure on you to give. The
church that I go to collects a weekly offering once on Sundays, but not
the rest of the week (teaching is offered 4 times a week).
Never is there any begging, cajoling, or long messages given on
giving. Our pastor quotes a passage or two and the hat is passed,
and that is it. No one is made to feel inferior and no one is
deprived of any spiritual service on the basis of giving. I think
this is a good example for other ministries.
- Do not give if
you don't have the money to give. Your family should never suffer
because you give; you should not run up credit card bills in order to
give; you should not act financially in an irresponsible manner in
order to give. Your financial irresponsibility compromises your
Christian witness.
- Do not give if you feel that churches and religious organizations
are scams or if you have any other personal reason not to give.
Giving is an outgrowth of spiritual growth, it is not the means toward
spiritual growth.
- Only give when you are filled with the Spirit; name your sins to God before you give a dime to anyone or anything.
Now, I do need some help:
Just in case you have read down this far. I am coming across on the
average one minor mistake per verse so I do need a proofreader. The
typical mistakes are, indicating that there is a definite article, when
there is not one; or leaving off the 3rd person masculine
singular suffix, or representing a perfect tense and an imperfect
tense. Quite franky, I just get bored with proofreading, so I rarely
do it. I need someone who has a small understanding of Hebrew,
possesses Owen's Analytical Guide to the Old Testament,
who will simply go through the Hebrew, word by word, and make certain
that I have the correct words and the correct morphology. It is
thankless and almost mindless work, as you would simply compare the
Strong's numbers to those given in the KJV+ (in, for instance, e-sword)
to what I have; and compare the morphology found in Owen to what I
list. I would prefer to be accurate in these areas, and have made
every attempt to be; however, now and again I am not.
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