Do you think it's wrong for churches to build such nice churches and to have pastors that are rich?

Question

Sorry, I spun this off of someone else's question. I am an Agnostic Atheist. It really bothers me when these organizations could give that extra money helping the hungry or other people who have problems in the world. Why doesn't the church view this as a sin?

I say Agnostic Atheist, because I lean more toward Atheism since I don't believe we have enough knowledge to say. There are so many reasons why we cannot prove/disprove God exists. For all we know, aliens may have created us. Or a big Flying Spaghetti Monster may be our God. Nobody knows for sure. With several religions to choose from, how can you be sure (or even think) you are right. I don't think God (if he so exists) would punish me for this.

Answer 1

no...thats part of the con. how do you expect it to work? they squeeze money out of gullable people and ....what.....NOT spend it?
hell no, theyre gonna spend spend spend.

theres a church by where i eat lunch that has golden bars keeping all people out. the interior is finely taken car of and th interior is full of gold. you cant expect con artists NOT to spend the money thats how the con works!

Answer 2

Sorry, you can't be an atheist and an agnostic.
(see Dictionary.com for both words)

As to your question.

I do not believe in paid clergy. They should hold a job just like every body else. My church does not have paid clergy. Everyone works who takes care of the congregation and all the congregation helps in one capacity or other.

As far as the building - it is the house of God.
How should it be?

I'm actually a little torn on this. I do not think anyone should go hungry for a building. Yet it is built for God and should be nice.

My church has some very nice buildings. They do take care of peoples needs as well. I have received help, when I was in need. I am not aware of what they do for the rest of the world, but I know they do contribute. They don't brag about it so it's hard to know what all is done and it is frequently individuals who help anyway. You could say it's what we are taught to do.

I don't think that if it meant people going hungry that my church would build a building.

Often people go hungry in other countries because their government or terrorists intercept the aid that was sent to them.

And here in the US there should be no one going hungry, we have food stamps and organizations that give food to any one in need.

I think if children go hungry here, either their parents are too proud, or they sell what they have to get drugs, or they are just to lazy to get help. There's no excuse for going hungry in the US.

As far as how do you know for sure about God.

I started off just knowing that there was a God and Jesus Christ.
I knew this at three years of age.
Just no doubt in my mind.
Can't help you there.

As far as deciding which church taught the right teachings, I searched this out for a long time as a teen, then quit.The churches I went to couldn't or wouldn't answer my questions.
And for a teen I had some duzies.

Then a year later some missionaries showed up on my front porch and answered all my questions and I knew their church was the right one.

Not believing in anything at all.
I wouldn't know what to tell you.

If you believe a little. You search and study and pray and you'll feel the answers in your heart.




Do something nice for a stranger today. And tell them to pass it forward.
Good life to you.

Answer 3

Agnostic atheist?
Me thinks you are confused.
You cannot be both.
One denies the existence of a God, the other believes in the possibility of a supreme power but isn't sure if it's a God.
Either you think there might be, or deny it altogether.

As for your Q...
The churches are built by decision of the members. paid for by the church itself.
Wealthy pastors?
Only the ones on TV. Many pastors make only a meager salary and must have a full time job outside the church. Often with the spouse working, too.
If, by this hard work and effort they happen to make money...
why should it bother you? They earned it.

Before you concern yourself with the charitable act of a church, when was the last time you donated money or food or helped out the community somehow?

Answer 4

Churches are not the only places. Take for example 'El Aqsa Mosque' in Jerusalem. Did you know that the dome on the outside is covered with 21 carat pure gold paid by the Late king of Jordain, and inside pure Persian rugs, very high quality, expensive rugs! in a country where people are starving and living in camps, yet they found the money to embellish those buildings with pure gold! Not to mention the Kaaba, or many other places of worship for Muslims, Jews, etc etc.
What do you think is that is a sin to you as well?

To answer you, no it is not a sin. All through time, people from many different faith, not just the Churches, build beautiful places in respect and love to the one they believe in. They call these places House of the Lord, or God, a place to come to pray and come close to the Almighty.

Answer 5

A person who believes in God would want to build an attractive building in which to serve God. It would not be appropriate to worship in a dumpy looking place - nor would it attract many congregants.
As far as pastors being wealthy, I have no comment, as I do not know them to be either wealthy or poor. I have no clue what an average pastor earns.
I would hope that most churches give generously to the poor and needy and do not simply hoard all their money for building funds only. Do you have some evidence that this kind of behavior is going on?

Answer 6

As a Christian Pastor please allow me to offer perhaps a different opinion than you are accustomed to.
I have a tendency to think that our Church's should look as nice as any other building in the immediate area. It is after all a House of God.
As far as a rich Pastor goes that is one that I have a problem with.
I am blessed with a good job which allows me to support my family and still do certain things. For that reason I have never taken a penny from the Church.
If I were to be hired, as in paid, I would request a salary of 40,000
dollars, paid hospital coverage, and a retirement plan.

Answer 7

Many Churches use a lot of the incoming money for missions work and to help those in need... I agree that there are some churches that are greedy and abuse the money that people donate but not all are that way...

Don't make blanket judgements about something you don't understand. You don't have the financial records of every church in the world... You can't know what every church does with their money...

Just because some churches don't have integrity with their donations doesn't mean every church is that way...

Besides... who said it was a bad thing for churches and church staff to get rich... they aren't working for free!

Answer 8

No! But then... does that preclude you from worshiping - or is that the reason you somehow justify Atheism? Does that mean you don't believe that Jesus Christ never lived... or died for your sins?
Your Atheism is make-believe! It's just something you've decided is your philosophy, nothing else! You have no educated reasoning for this view of yours... it's a cop-out for a lack of knowledge. You're antagonistic at best, and no hope exists for you, and so you believe that everyone else is blinded by "religion".
Oh well... you're certainly free to "think" whatever you want! (Even without any concrete proof!)

Answer 9

I'm a Christian and it really bothers me when the church uses money for itself only, too. that was never what giving was intended to be. there is nothing wrong with being rich, but money should be used to glorify God by helping 'the least of these' (matt. 25: 31-46), not to glorify ourselves by buying nice stuff to make ourselves look good! as for it being a sin, well, i think Jesus makes it pretty clear in those verses what happens when we don't love (and by extention, care for) others who need it. just because the church doesn't print it up in bold letters, "this is a sin", doesn't mean it isn't.

Answer 10

You have to remember, a church is a House of God. It should be built to the Glory of God, not of man. And I agree, some of them are built to please man more than God. As for the Preachers wealth, our little church has to hire a bi-vocational pastor. That is one that can bring us the word three times a week and has another job. Our church spends a lot of money on missions, helping feed and clothe the poor.

Answer 11

It's an abomination! Last year locally there was a terrible tornado. Many people lost everything. I read the other day that it cost 8 million dollars to rebuild one of the churches. Now God will be sure to hear their prayers.