What if Preachers Never Got Paid?

[Gregory Thompson]

Would you consider being a preacher if they didn't get paid? If you are a preacher, would you quit if you could longer get paid for it?

i think they'd begin investing less time in their education and more time ministering to people before being ordained .

 

[A New Dawn]

i think they'd begin investing less time in their education and more time ministering to people before being ordained .

You seem to be differentiating between learning about the gospel and ministering. How do you see one sharing the gospel if they don't learn the gospel? Or is sharing the gospel not an important item here?

 

[drstevej]

There is also a mandate to guard the flock from false teachers. False teachers often target the untaught.

 

[A New Dawn]

I have not worked for over ten years. Everything is taken care for me. It is that I do not larour nor do I toil. I am the servent of my Father and everything is taken care of by Him.

So, someone else supports you. Now we are getting to the meat of it. If you are "the servent of [your] Father and everything is taken care of by Him", why do you suggest that others doing the Father's will not be taken care of by Him?

 

[Gregory Thompson]

You seem to be differentiating between learning about the gospel and ministering. How do you see one sharing the gospel if they don't learn the gospel? Or is sharing the gospel not an important item here?

you learn the gospel from the person who told it to you . it's really simple . i recall one who said .. i don't know but i was blind but now i see . the good news or gospel . is what Jesus Christ has done in your life . no bible required .

 

[A New Dawn]

you learn the gospel from the person who told it to you . it's really simple . i recall one who said .. i don't know but i was blind but now i see . the good news or gospel . is what Jesus Christ has done in your life . no bible required .

So the story of Jesus' life, his death and resurrection and all that, that isn't important? Just share what Christ did in your life? What about the difference that Mother Theresa made in the lives of the orphans she took care of? Does that carry the same weight? I'm just trying to see what the cut-off is here. When does "This worked for me" trump "This is what Christ did for all believers and why He is able to be the one who can do it"?

If there is no need for a Bible, why do we have one? Why would God give us a book of scripture if just sharing testimonies is good enough?

 

[Gregory Thompson]

So the story of Jesus' life, his death and resurrection and all that, that isn't important? Just share what Christ did in your life? What about the difference that Mother Theresa made in the lives of the orphans she took care of? Does that carry the same weight? I'm just trying to see what the cut-off is here. When does "This worked for me" trump "This is what Christ did for all believers and why He is able to be the one who can do it"?

If there is no need for a Bible, why do we have one? Why would God give us a book of scripture if just sharing testimonies is good enough?

just saying . the first christians didn't have it . it's "useful" as a popular passage says . but not having one is not an obstacle for God who leads us into all truth

 

[Gregory Thompson]

but this is kind of a strawman as i wasn't speaking initially of a no-bible scenario . i was speaking of a no-books from seminary that teach eisegesis scenario

 

[A New Dawn]

but this is kind of a strawman as i wasn't speaking initially of a no-bible scenario . i was speaking of a no-books from seminary that teach eisegesis scenario

You're the one who said

no bible required .

 

[A New Dawn]

just saying . the first christians didn't have it . it's "useful" as a popular passage says . but not having one is not an obstacle for God who leads us into all truth

And that is why God gifted the first Christians with the gifts of the spirit for the building up and edification of the church.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

You're the one who said

yes . but you took it to an extreme . no bible required does not mean it's not useful

 

[A New Dawn]

yes . but you took it to an extreme . no bible required does not mean it's not useful

Cool. But I didn't take it to an extreme, I just took you at your word (that is all one can do on a discussion board.)

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Cool. But I didn't take it to an extreme, I just took you at your word (that is all one can do on a discussion board.)

Indeed, this also illustrates how interpretation of passages in the bible can be varied .

thanks for the exchange . blessings .

 

[razzelflabben]

You seem to be differentiating between learning about the gospel and ministering. How do you see one sharing the gospel if they don't learn the gospel? Or is sharing the gospel not an important item here?

this might be a good place to talk about the deacons. In the early church, the deacons were the ones who made sure the physical needs of the people were met, not the pastor. The pastors job was to share the gospel, that is the spiritual needs of the people. You know, study, prayer, preaching...as such, it makes sense that Paul would teach about the importance of taking care of those dedicated to the spiritual needs of the people in that their needs would often be overlooked in exchange for the people understanding the value of the physical needs. IOW's the people are still focused more on the importance of the physical here and now, rather than the spiritual eternal...we see the same thing today. If you help someone physically, they are much more likely and willing to "thank you" for that gift then if you address a spiritual need in their lives. It seems to me that the core of the teaching of pay or not pay the pastor, boils down to an understanding of how valuable study, prayer, and preaching/teaching really are to the believer and the local group we know as the body of Christ. Those who advocate not paying seem to be of those that still consider the physical of more value than the spiritual. Just how it seems, don't shoot the messenger.

 

[razzelflabben]

you learn the gospel from the person who told it to you . it's really simple . i recall one who said .. i don't know but i was blind but now i see . the good news or gospel . is what Jesus Christ has done in your life . no bible required .

News flash...there is so much in the bible for us to learn, that all the teachers put together could not discover it all. That is why we are commanded to study, because scripture is a living word. Just saying.

 

[razzelflabben]

just saying . the first christians didn't have it . it's "useful" as a popular passage says . but not having one is not an obstacle for God who leads us into all truth

that isn't exactly true. The first christians had the OT, just as Jesus had and quoted from. In addition, they were writing the NT, something that we do not have to do, being that it is already done. That is not to dismiss the importance of personal testimony, but it is to say that scripture is vital to our spiritual health and growth, which might just be why God commands us to study it.

 

[drstevej]

III John 5:7

Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers; and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

1st Corinthians 9:6

Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?