CIVIL RELIGIOUS DISCUSSION: General Religious Discussion...

[JettaKnight]

At my local (protestant) church level, we struggle with questions like "Do we keep funding the missionaries we currently support, or get the roof fixed?"

-rvb

There's a nice church for sale on Wallen Rd. that has a good roof...

 

[foszoe]

I always allow for the possibility something artistic or ornate can inspire a greater good in individuals. It is not as simple as a zero-sum game. God created us to worship Him in all of our senses that means things that Inspire sight touch hearing all of these things. If someone sees the loving tenderness in an image of Mary as she looks towards her son who is undergoing Agony on a cross and that inspires someone to be kind or gentle or loving to another human being who is suffering then who can judge the value monetarily of such an action?

 

[BugI02]

Bringing glory to God through ornate decoration is not repulsive to God. He commanded the use precious metals and fine linen for his 45-foot tall "tent in the desert." But yet, of course we are to take care of the poor. It's more difficult to be reverent in an office park suite; that creates a barrier between God and I. Is that sacrifice for funding for the poor worth it if it does not help bring people to God? The difficult part, for us mere mortals, is finding that balance.

The disciples had similar concerns once.....

Matthew 26
6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you,[a] but you will not always have me.

If the works of antiquity, which are so valuable now, were given as offerings to God by the artist or his patron; who should dare to take offerings from the altar?

 

[foszoe]

Do you believe that humankind is designated by God to be stewards over creation?

For me, its simple, for you perhaps not.

Humankind has a priestly role in creation to take what God gives and offer it back to God. God then magnifies this Gift using it for his glory.

The most obvious is God gives us wheat and grapes, we make bread and wine and offer it back to God who returns it to us as His Body and His Blood which, by receiving, we are to personify in the world. If forms the basic weekly cycle of the Christian life.

If the works of antiquity, which are so valuable now, were given as offerings to God by the artist or his patron; who should dare to take offerings from the altar?

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Revealed: Trump wanted to build a mega-church

 

[T.Lex]

NM

 

[Jludo]

Revealed: Trump wanted to build a mega-church

I bet a big point of contention was going to be which would be bigger, the trump letters on the side of the building or the cross.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Remember when the media went nuts over that study that showed religious children are less generous and more mean? It's been retracted "due to a coding error"

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...eligious-upbringing-promote-generosity-or-not

 

[T.Lex]

Interesting. Now citation to that paper can be a kind of litmus test. Any article or journal citing to it probably has a not-so-hidden agenda.

[Stupid math.]

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Whistleblower claims that LDS Church stockpiled $100 billion in charitable donations, dodged taxes

 

[BugI02]

Whistleblower claims that LDS Church stockpiled $100 billion in charitable donations, dodged taxes

“In a declaration signed under penalty of perjury, Nielsen urges the IRS to strip the nonprofit of its tax-exempt status and alleges that Ensign could owe billions in taxes,” The Post reports. “He is seeking a reward from the IRS, which offers whistleblowers a cut of unpaid taxes that it recovers.”

Wasn't aware that charities have to spend every penny they are given and not accumulate reserves. Looks like a lot of them will be in trouble. Whistlesucker seems to be confusing 'charitable' and 'tax exempt'

There are some classes of organizations that automatically are treated as tax exempt under 501(c)(3), without the need to file Form 1023:
Churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches. A convention or association of churches generally refers to the organizational structure of congregational churches.

Edit: yawn

 

[HoughMade]

I bet a big point of contention was going to be which would be bigger, the trump letters on the side of the building or the cross.

Paula White? I wouldn’t count on a cross at all.

 

[HoughMade]

Wasn't aware that charities have to spend every penny they are given and not accumulate reserves. Looks like a lot of them will be in trouble. Whistlesucker seems to be confusing 'charitable' and 'tax exempt'



Edit: yawn

I agree on both points. It is prudent to save money for both charitable organizations and persons. What do we all think happened to charitable contributions when the recession hit in late 2007? Many charities either went under, or came close. Heck, many local governments did go under or came close because when people lost jobs, they didn’t pay taxes. Because they budgeted to spend everything they had and more, assuming growth would never end, when revenues took a downturn- it was panic time.

The LDS church saving and investing is in accordance with its teachings.

...and I have no use for people who turn on the people who employed and trusted them.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Bill would require 'In God We Trust' posted in every Indiana classroom

Senate Bill 131 - National motto in schools - Indiana General Assembly, 2020 Session

 

[HoughMade]

Bill would require 'In God We Trust' posted in every Indiana classroom

Senate Bill 131 - National motto in schools - Indiana General Assembly, 2020 Session

Insane.

 

[BugI02]

Bill would require 'In God We Trust' posted in every Indiana classroom

Senate Bill 131 - National motto in schools - Indiana General Assembly, 2020 Session

Well, it doesn't specify which god

 

[Cameramonkey]

Insane.

Agreed. I consider myself religious, but this is just wrong.

How about we meet in the middle. "you" dont make our schools post this, and we all just allow everyone to express themselves religiously as they see fit? So no more "you cant read your bible during study hour", No banning of organic religious student groups on campus, etc. ?

 

[Jludo]

Agreed. I consider myself religious, but this is just wrong.

How about we meet in the middle. "you" dont make our schools post this, and we all just allow everyone to express themselves religiously as they see fit? So no more "you cant read your bible during study hour", No banning of organic religious student groups on campus, etc. ?

You can't read a bible during study hour?
Also I may have just been running with a tough crowd but I'm not sure how many 'organic' religious study groups are going to spring up in a school. As a matter of fact I never saw kids making the effort to form any sort of study group on their own.
I only ever remember the ****ed parts and ****ed up stories from others about anytime the community saw fit to group all us church kids together for anything. Jesus was asleep at the wheel for my generations church camps.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I ask my friends that post things around the theme of “putting Jesus back in our schools” and whatnot and I ask them: Having seen what so many self professed school teachers post online, the language that they use, the coarseness of their dialog, why would you want to turn any sort of religious activity over to those people? I’m all for slapping down the stupid “it might offend someone” BS but we’re long past the days where we can assume the average school teacher would make a good surrogate Sunday school teacher.

 

[Jludo]

Honestly how many youth pastors aren't just a little bit off as well?