Church Rejects Donation from Lottery Winner

Thus Saith...uh...?

While I have heard of this kind of thing happening before and I respect the churches position and the Pastors right to refuse the money I will say that I have never seen anyone demonstrate from the Word of God any biblical reason or justification for that position. Anybody know of one? I'd like to know it if it exists and I'd also like to see a clear prohibition to gambling. My heart tells me it is wrong but I have never heard anyone preach/teach a sound biblical message on that subject. Any of you scholars care to comment?

Waiting to be instructed:godisgood: Greg Perry Sr.

(I'm of the opinion that the church should accept the money and put it to the RIGHT use...as long as there are no "strings" attached. Money is a tool..an inanimate object for USE. It is the LOVE of money that is wrong.)
IMHO !

 

This pastor is not very smart.

 

I

That's because the Bible says we are to give in secret, i.e., our left hand mustn't know what our right hand is doing, and the donor identifying himself as well as the amount and where it came from is unscriptural.

I think the onus here falls more on the giver than the receiver. Of course the church in general has received millions of donations of this kind which it isn't privy to because the givers haven't disclosed any details, so they cannot be blamed for receiving "blood money" (for want of a better term).

 

That isn't why he refused it, it's because it's lottery money.
The funny thing is, everyone knows if you win, and when that much money is donated to your church, then everyone in it knows who gave it.
Theres no way of keeping anything lottery a secret. And if you did plan on giving a large sum to the church then you'd want to talk with the pastor first to see how he'd like to handle this situation. Which is probaly how the rest of the congregation found out about the $600,000. I really doubt this man went to chrch stood up and announced to everyone that he was giving it to them, in that case the verse you sited would apply.

 

Gambling is a sin and God doesn't need that kind of money.

 

What does the Bible Say?

"Blessed".....No disrespect intended but....that almost sounds a bit like superstition or "tradition". Can you...or anybody else show us what the BIBLE actually says about this? How many missionaries could be supported,Bibles printed,hungry folks fed,etc.,etc., with $600,000 given by ANYBODY with a willing heart? If we are going to "pass judgement" on this man and refuse the money he willingly offers(that he is free to spend as he wishes)then WHAT BIBLE REASON do we give for it? That is the ONLY thing that really matters.

Just digging for the truth,:godisgood: Greg Perry Sr.

 

There are many verses in the Bible about being good stewards, and IMO, gambling is not being a good steward.

They 'cast lots' (gambled) in the Bible and it was always for a bad reason.

As every man hath received the gift, [even so] minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
1Peter 4:10

 

not always bad...


Lev. 16:
8Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering.


Josh. 18:
6You shall therefore survey the land in seven parts and bring the survey here to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.


8Then the men arose to go away; and Joshua charged those who went to survey the land, saying, "Go, walk through the land, survey it, and come back to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh." 9So the men went, passed through the land, and wrote the survey in a book in seven parts by cities; and they came to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh. 10Then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD, and there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions.



1 chr. 24:
31These also cast lots just as their brothers the sons of Aaron did, in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites. The chief fathers did just as their younger brethren.


1chr. 25:
8And they cast lots for their duty, the small as well as the great, the teacher with the student.

1 chr. 26:
13And they cast lots for each gate, the small as well as the great, according to their father’s house. 14The lot for the East Gate fell to Shelemiah. Then they cast lots for his son Zechariah, a wise counselor, and his lot came out for the North Gate; 15to Obed-Edom the South Gate, and to his sons the £storehouse. 16To Shuppim and Hosah the lot came out for the West Gate, with the Shallecheth Gate on the ascending highway—watchman opposite watchman.


Neh. 10:
34We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at the appointed times year by year, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God as it is written in the Law.


Neh. 11:
1Now the leaders of the people dwelt at Jerusalem; the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine-tenths were to dwell in other cities. 2And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem.

Jonah 1:
7And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

Acts 1:
24And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen, 25That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. 26And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

 

Lottery money is "easy money" not money earned by honest, hardworking means. The lottery is a stumblingblock to many people, who eventually become addicted to the games, much to the detriment of their homes, jobs, and friends.

I personally wouldn't want money taken from lottery winnings for our church because I believe gambling is evil and God will not bless it. To me, it would be like stealing from someone else in order to put the money in the offering plate, or selling drugs to help the church. God would be more honored if the church member used his time and money in a wiser manner.

And, although I understand someone can win the lottery by just playing a small, inexpensive game, I still believe sin is sin. Winning the lottery by playing a dollar is not a "small" sin. It's sin, period.

 

The last post nailed it. It would cause discussion & rumours in the church.

He should have kept his mouth shut, and dropped it in 20 or 40 bucks or so extra at a time, added onto his regular tithes.

Unless that congregation engages in the ugly practice of keeping track of tithes by different folks, so they can claim it on their income tax, nobody would have been the wiser.

 

The way I see it is that if God allows a Christian to win the lottery, that would mean He had no problem with playing the lottery. I used to play the lottery and finally gave up since I could never get even one number right. I decided that for some reason unknown to me God didn't want me to win it or to give my tithe from it to my church, and He apparently doesn't want me to be out of debt. I'm apparently meant to be head over heels in debt with medical bills I can't afford to pay.

 

What kind of money does God need?

 

I agree with this. I admire the pastor for taking this stand.

Gambling and state sponsored gambling (lotteries) bring many into gambling addictions and make the poor poorer. I can't find the sources now, but I've read articles on how these lotteries attract the wage earners in the working and lower middle classes, who hope to win something. So they spend 10, 20, 30 dollars a week buying lottery tickets, with almost zero chance of winning. Lotteries are hurting the people in these echalons the most because they need money the most and so are willing to risk buying tickets.

I despise lotteries - everytime I go into a 7-11 where people are buying tickets, it's hard for me not to say anything. I realize these people are accountable for their actions, but it's wrong for the state to sponsor gambling! Btw, I am not mad at the people buying the tickets - I'm mad at the state and the people/agencies that put this in place!

 

Investments in the stock market can be "easy money," too.

 

I do not buy lottery tickets and don't want anyone to think I do. But it is not stealing if a person wins. People willingly spend that money on tickets, no one takes it from them.
And to further what stefanM said, stock market is the samething, someone looses and someone wins, it's someone else's money your getting. Easy money, not hard earned worked for money.

 

I don't do the stock market either.

 

I really disagree with this reasoning! God often allows us to do things that are wrong and we may even seem to benefit from them.

 

I applaud the Pastor, but from moderators and many others on here, it has to be a "habitual" sin, to count. Unless its "habitual" it is not sin at all, according to some. So, why not take it, for I doubt if he will win the lottery again soon............... Boy, strange how doctrine will turn around and bite you isn't it??

BBob,

 

Oh, goodness no! Don't tithe lottery winnings!
Do what Abraham did, and go in and slaughter a region of people and take their livestock and valuables, and tithe that!