paid to practice

[ValleyGal]

Is it ethical for a Christian to practice their spiritual gifts in a for-profit business, or is that misusing their God-given gifts? If a person can exercise their spiritual gifts for-pay, how much is the limit on what they should be charging?

 

[ErezY]

Is it ethical for a Christian to practice their spiritual gifts in a for-profit business, or is that misusing their God-given gifts? If a person can exercise their spiritual gifts for-pay, how much is the limit on what they should be charging?

In America I'd say they do not have a limit. As profit is king. Everytime someone comments on the inequity of capitalism the usual response is 'we have to make profit'. As if that is a God given right.

I find profit driven religion hypocritical. Paul said he refused pay. I find no other Godlly pattern that indicates a 'pay-for-service' pattern. The priests were supposed to be taken care of by the community. Food and all. Each is supposed to give what God has freely given them. I believe profit is not a Godly concept. At least not the way we understand it in western societies.

 

[blackribbon]

Depends on what you mean. I believe my gift is "serving" and I am a nurse. I am actually getting paid for my expertise and my skills but I get to serve people as a scope of my job.

I believe that churches should pay their church leaders if they expect a certain amount of time to be available to the church.

If you mean paying people to pray for you...well, I might have a hard time with that one. Maybe if it is a task given to an otherwise godly invalid person (like a seriously physically handicapped person or an elderly homebound person) as a means to earn a living. I'd have to think about that.

 

[ValleyGal]

If you get paid to help, a doctor gets paid to heal, a pastor gets paid to shepherd, worship artists get paid to lead worship, then why would it bother you so much if someone gets paid to pray? I don't mean just regular prayer throughout the day....I'm thinking healing prayer, like the Christian version of Healing Touch or Therapeutic Touch, but rather than "channeling universal energies" or whatever they do, it is laying on hands and being the vessel of God's touch through prayer. In the secular world, people get paid to do Reiki, for example, so is it unethical to get paid for healing prayer?

 

[keith99]

Seems to me that if one believes in God one believes all your abilities are a gift from that God.

Separating those gifts into spiritual and others seems like word games to me.

 

[orangeness365]

Paul didn't accept money, but he basically said that he would have had the right to. Afterall, what he was doing was a full time job.

1 Timothy 5:17-18
17Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching. 18For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain." And, "The laborer is worthy of his wages."

 

[blackribbon]

If you get paid to help, a doctor gets paid to heal, a pastor gets paid to shepherd, worship artists get paid to lead worship, then why would it bother you so much if someone gets paid to pray? I don't mean just regular prayer throughout the day....I'm thinking healing prayer, like the Christian version of Healing Touch or Therapeutic Touch, but rather than "channeling universal energies" or whatever they do, it is laying on hands and being the vessel of God's touch through prayer. In the secular world, people get paid to do Reiki, for example, so is it unethical to get paid for healing prayer?

Because no one has a special line to God. God can heal through anyone. To pay someone for "healing prayer" is giving the credit to the person and not the God doing it. I'd say that it probably falls under charlatan if someone is claiming that they have a special talent for healing via prayer. God doesn't work that way.

And like I said, I am not being paid for "healing touch" but rather the ability to recognize if someone's health status is starting to change and to know which side effects to be watching for each medication I put in their bodies. I spent a lot of years in school and taken a big licensing exam to prove that I am competent for my job. The patient care techs often are just as good at healing touch...maybe better than some of the nurses.

 

[WindStaff]

If you get paid to help, a doctor gets paid to heal, a pastor gets paid to shepherd, worship artists get paid to lead worship, then why would it bother you so much if someone gets paid to pray? I don't mean just regular prayer throughout the day....I'm thinking healing prayer, like the Christian version of Healing Touch or Therapeutic Touch, but rather than "channeling universal energies" or whatever they do, it is laying on hands and being the vessel of God's touch through prayer. In the secular world, people get paid to do Reiki, for example, so is it unethical to get paid for healing prayer?

Bluntly put,
NO
God wouldn't accept prayers on those conditions of any value.

 

[Jade Margery]

Find me a person with actual spiritual gifts trying to turn a profit on them, and I'll give you an estimate.

 

[Inkachu]

Is it ethical for a Christian to practice their spiritual gifts in a for-profit business, or is that misusing their God-given gifts? If a person can exercise their spiritual gifts for-pay, how much is the limit on what they should be charging?

I think this varies by individual, BUT I think a person should never ask for more than a reasonable "cost of living" charge for any service they're providing in the name of Christian ministry. For instance, if I'm going to travel to a town and sing in front of an audience, I would ask for a donation to cover my travel cost, hotel, meals, etc. Ideally, I'd pay for those myself and do it for free. IMHO God didn't charge you for your talent; you have no right to charge others to be blessed by what God gave you freely. I understand that a person has to eat and have shelter and stuff, of course. But if you ever start seeing your gifts as a means to get wealthy and comfortable, OR you start denying sharing your gift because you won't get paid, you've lost the true meaning of what you're doing.

 

[Autumnleaf]

The limit is the extent of God's providence.

 

[Joykins]

Is it ethical for a Christian to practice their spiritual gifts in a for-profit business, or is that misusing their God-given gifts? If a person can exercise their spiritual gifts for-pay, how much is the limit on what they should be charging?

Let's say you have a gift for teaching. Does this mean you should not pursue teaching as a profession? Or that you should in addition, say, teach Sunday school as a volunteer? I see a place for both.

Reminds me of Frost

But yield who will to their separation,
My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For heaven and the future’s sakes.

 

[LOVEthroughINTELLECT]

One's spiritual life should be constant.

I do not know of an "ON" and "OFF" switch for spiritual life.

I do not see any reason to switch one's spiritual life to "OFF" when one is selling something for profit.

 

[Nithavela]

I see you have used your spiritual gift of resurrecting a dead thread.

 

[Paradoxum]

I'd think proving faith healing would be a god start, before talking about profit.

 

[joshua 1 9]

Is it ethical for a Christian to practice their spiritual gifts in a for-profit business, or is that misusing their God-given gifts? If a person can exercise their spiritual gifts for-pay, how much is the limit on what they should be charging?

"Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!" Acts 8:20 The spiritual gifts can not be bought or sold. That said lots of doctors and nurses have the gift of healing. That maybe a reason why they choose their profession. Still we pay the price of holiness and purity to receive what God has for us, not money.

We read in 1Timothy5:18 "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain," and "The worker deserves his wages." Paul said: "If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ." 1 Cor9:1 "Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account." Phil 4:7

 

[SteveB28]

"Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!" Acts 8:20 The spiritual gifts can not be bought or sold. That said lots of doctors and nurses have the gift of healing. That maybe a reason why they choose their profession. Still we pay the price of holiness and purity to receive what God has for us, not money.

We read in 1Timothy5:18 "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain," and "The worker deserves his wages." Paul said: "If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ." 1 Cor9:1

What is this "gift" nonsense?

Medical professionals TRAINED, for years in most cases, to achieve their skill levels.

No one "gave" them anything in that regard.

 

[joshua 1 9]

What is this "gift" nonsense?

The Gifts of the Spirit are not nonsense but only a christian would know about the work of the Holy Spirit in and though us. Actually we are just a vessel according to the liturgy "The Gifts of God for the People of God". That means the gifts are given to the people of God through the people of God. There is no money involved in that.

AS I have told you many, many, many times. Religion and Science goes hand in hand or wing in wing. You can not fly with one wing you need both wings. People get paid for their science and their training and their skills but you can not buy or sell the gifts of God. They are freely given and freely received.

This was actually one of my dad's favorite stories. He had a favorite TV program that he wanted to watch and the TV was not working. So he called a TV repair man to fix the TV. They use to have Tubes at the drug store and you could fix the TV yourself but he was busy and wanted to see his program. The repair man replaced the burned out tube and handed him a bill for $10 plus the cost of the tube. My dad threw a fit, WHAT $10 just to fix a TV? The guy answered you do not understand, I had to go to school for 9 months to learn how to fix TV's. My dad said I want to college, medical school did my internship and residency. He spend 12 years to study to be a doctor. The next day he went to the office and raised the cost of house calls from $5 to $10. So he could afford to pay the TV repair man while he was taking care of his patients.

 

[SteveB28]

The Gifts of the Spirit are not nonsense but only a christian would know about the work of the Holy Spirit in and though us. Actually we are just a vessel according to the liturgy "The Gifts of God for the People of God". That means the gifts are given to the people of God through the people of God. There is no money involved in that.

AS I have told you many, many, many times. Religion and Science goes hand in hand or wing in wing. You can not fly with one wing you need both wings. People get paid for their science and their training and their skills but you can not buy or sell the gifts of God. They are freely given and freely received.

This was actually one of my dad's favorite stories. He had a favorite TV program that he wanted to watch and the TV was not working. So he called a TV repair man to fix the TV. They use to have Tubes at the drug store and you could fix the TV yourself but he was busy and wanted to see his program. The repair man replaced the burned out tube and handed him a bill for $10 plus the cost of the tube. My dad threw a fit, WHAT $10 just to fix a TV? The guy answered you do not understand, I had to go to school for 9 months to learn how to fix TV's. My dad said I want to college, medical school did my internship and residency. He spend 12 years to study to be a doctor. The next day he went to the office and raised the cost of house calls from $5 to $10. So he could afford to pay the TV repair man while he was taking care of his patients.

And, apart from the recognition of the specific training that each of those men underwent, the rest of your statement is an unfounded claim.

Until a person undergoes TRAINING, they can't be a doctor, or a tv repair man. No one 'gives' them those abilities.......they learn them!

 

[joshua 1 9]

Until a person undergoes TRAINING, they can't be a doctor, or a tv repair man. No one 'gives' them those abilities.......they learn them!

Yes they have to be willing to work hard. Someone has to pay. My dad got a free ride though college and medical school. He was surprised when the Army offered to pay for his medical school and he took advantage of that. He took them up on their offer. IT was a good deal for the government because they got their money back from him many times over in the taxes that he paid over the years.