Pastors and Lamborghinis

[RaymondG]

Until a person gets married and has a family, he or she cannot comment.

What do you mean?

I have a wife.....And there is nothing she could ask me for that I would not give her......if I am able to.... nothing.

Those who are married would understand this......I suspect that this is along the lines of what he meant.

And I believe, although most women would not ask for such a gift, they would desire a husband that feels as I stated.....

 

[Dansiph]

I have a wife.....And there is nothing she could ask me for that I would not give her......if I am able to.... nothing.

Those who are married would understand this......I suspect that this is along the lines of what he meant.

And I believe, although most women would not ask for such a gift, they would desire a husband that feels as I stated.....

I truly hope that is not the case with me. I want to put God first always

 

[Hazelelponi]

I have a wife.....And there is nothing she could ask me for that I would not give her......if I am able to.... nothing.

Those who are married would understand this......I suspect that this is along the lines of what he meant.

And I believe, although most women would not ask for such a gift, they would desire a husband that feels as I stated.....

I would certainly expect my husband to tell me no.

There is nothing wrong with telling your wife no sometimes, provided your kind and explain why.

If your wife has a hundred pair of shoes and wants to buy pair 101 you get to say no, I think that money should go elsewhere..

If your wife says I want to buy a Lamborghini you get to say "No. I'm a pastor and have a flock so we should demonstrate self control in the face of temptation. But there is nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of our labors within reason, why don't I see if I can't arrange you to drive a Lamborghini around a race track a few times to fun, and then we go out to eat afterwards"

I fully expect my husband to guide or correct my thinking when it's warranted. He is my Pastor too.. I don't expect him to be mean, (which he's never been) but I don't expect him to be my personal Santa.

 

[Toro]

I truly hope that is not the case with me. I want to put God first always

How are you fit to say this man feels any differently?

IF God has not convicted someone and they make a choice to please their wife, they are not choosing their wife over God.... they are simply choosing to make their wife happy.


It is only if one is convicted by the Spirit to do one thing and their wife another that they put their wife above God if they choose to please her over the conviction of the Spirit.

We are not called to poverty any more than we are called to prosperity. God has use and purpose for us all.

If one is convicted not to purchase a soda and they do they are FAR worse off in the eyes of God than a man that spends 2 million on a car that is NOT convicted by the Spirit to not spend it.

The one buying the soda is in disobedience to the Spirit... while the other simply made a choice of free will... WITHOUT being disobedient.

It is NOT about what we would do with the money... any more than it is fair for others to tell us what to do with our money.... or to judge us by what we choose to do with our money.

It is about obedience, if there is no conviction from the Spirit to which only this man and God knows......his obedience and disobedience is between him and God. Not for us to look at him and judge him as a lesser Christian than ourselves.

To do that is to be as a Pharisee.... saying "God I thank you that I am not like these people....."

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

you're attempting to deflect from the point...that's fine. that reference was in response to you saying you don't like being told what to do by church folk.

as far as this guy's purchase, it has been explained enough by myself and others here. it's an issue of setting a good example as a leader of the flock.

It provided an interesting discussion though, and that what this forum is all about. I can see that you and others have explained your position admirably well and made your points so clear that one would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to understand them!

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Or a space shuttle!

What! To take the gospel where no man has gone before!!!

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I truly hope that is not the case with me. I want to put God first always

You wait until you get married, and then say that to your wife! You might have to spend the night in the kennel with the dog!

 

[RaymondG]

This is the curse of being rich. You can never give enough. In a fake scenario i just read, the one million given a year (to the poor) was not enough because he gave himself 40k for a car he wanted...

Same would go with family......if you have 100mill and give them 1 mill.....they would look down on you and say you could have given a lot more.

Lesson: aim to please God and not man.....You can never totally please man..... You can work hard and get paid for it.....but you better not use too much of it on yourself.

We must think hard before deciding to make a lot of money........before deciding to go from the one doing the talking...to the one being talked about....

I would not advise anyone to be rich.....it comes with a price..... fortunately I am willing to pay this price so that many here wont have to. No need to thank me....Im doing it out of love only.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I would certainly expect my husband to tell me no.

There is nothing wrong with telling your wife no sometimes, provided your kind and explain why.

If your wife has a hundred pair of shoes and wants to buy pair 101 you get to say no, I think that money should go elsewhere..

If your wife says I want to buy a Lamborghini you get to say "No. I'm a pastor and have a flock so we should demonstrate self control in the face of temptation. But there is nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of our labors within reason, why don't I see if I can't arrange you to drive a Lamborghini around a race track a few times to fun, and then we go out to eat afterwards"

I fully expect my husband to guide or correct my thinking when it's warranted. He is my Pastor too.. I don't expect him to be mean, (which he's never been) but I don't expect him to be my personal Santa.

I remember when I gave up school teaching and took a significant drop in salary to work for the Ministry of Justice, one week our budget was pretty tight. I was building up a collection of DVDs, which I would buy from the bargain bin at our local Walmart equivalent in this country. I stood looking wistfully at the bin of DVDs when we were shopping at the weekend, and my wife came over and said "No!" That was it. No arguments. I pressed the "Yes Dear!" button.

 

[Toro]

You wait until you get married, and then say that to your wife! You might have to spend the night in the kennel with the dog!

Not if she is a God fearing Christian..... then she will understand that it is when God comes second in anything is when there is disaster.

The creator is always more important than the creation. Even above a wife or husband.

And yes, I'm married.

 

[BNR32FAN]

If you don't see those verses in Luke as a rebuke then I can't help you.

As for the log in my eye, I'm not sitting speaking from the lap of luxury, nor am I speaking against wealth - wealth is not a sin.

The Bible makes certain demands upon us as Christians, and one is self control, the other is to be living examples of Christ.

Christ could have stayed with the wealthy Pharisees, certainly everyone expected the Messiah to sit with the scholars of the faith and those of means on a regular basis but instead He chose the sinners, the lowly, the average Joe and gave a message of hope for our salvation.

Look in the Bible for how we aren't to be lover's of money, and how we are supposed to act as Christians, our behavior, and how we are to place nothing in this world before God.

The optics are this man who calls himself a man of God prizes material things when he spends 200,000 on a car. It doesn't show the Messiah to anyone. It shows to the world how being wealthy and having material things is "cool", its not showing the Messiah.

It most certainly doesn't show that he's read in the Bible what an elder and Pastor need to be, let alone fulfills those qualifications.

I simply see it as a man who is blessed to be able to buy a Lamborghini for his wife.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Not if she is a God fearing Christian..... then she will understand that it is when God comes second in anything is when there is disaster.

The creator is always more i.portant than the creation.

And yes, I'm married.

I think the best way is for husband and wife to agree together that THEY will put God first. It is not a matter of putting God first before your wife, because in His eyes you are "one flesh". In this way, one will not dominate the other and use God as a nail to hang one's hat on.

A husband may tell his wife, "God told me that we have to shift to [wherever] and because I put God first, I will have to go whether you go or not." But if God has not told his wife as well, he might just be using God to do what he wants. But if during prayer and discussion, both husband and wife get the same message about moving house, and perhaps it is going somewhere with a colder climate and leaving their comfortable church and friends, then because God has told them both that He wants them to move, this is where they are putting God first over and above what they might have wanted to do - stay where their comfortable church is and where their friends are.

I once got an invitation to go and speak at a conference in Nigeria (a very long way from New Zealand). My wife was not happy about that prospect. She said that would worry herself to death all the time I would have been away. I knew that God did not want me to go to Nigeria, even though speaking at that conference would have been a great blessing to those people. But in reality, if I did go, God would not go with me because I would have caused my wife needless worry. Therefore, for me, putting God first was to stay home and not go to Nigeria.

 

[RaymondG]

It depends on how much you love others as yourself..........

I desire that every "poor" person in the world be lifted to the abilities of this pastor.....that they all one day will be able to buy their wives a lambo.... And I find no fault in what the pastor did... This is how I would like to be treated whether I were rich or poor. (assuming this desire and prayer for the poor will lift them out of poverty while their needs are met in the mean time)

Do you believe it better that one, instead, desire that the rich never by lambos and that instead of seeing the poor out of poverty, I see the rich using lambo money to help them live day by day, dependent on the lambo money of the rich?

 

[RaymondG]

I truly hope that is not the case with me. I want to put God first always

There is nothing wrong with this and I like it. May you have the desires of your heart.

And may the lambo seeking women, have the desires of there heart as well.

I see no connection with the car we drive and our spirituality. Some drive expensive cars to appear rich to others.....Some drive beat up cars to appear more holy to others.... There are some who drive what they desire to drive with no thought of others......

 

[Dansiph]

How are you fit to say this man feels any differently?

IF God has not convicted someone and they make a choice to please their wife, they are not choosing their wife over God.... they are simply choosing to make their wife happy.


It is only if one is convicted by the Spirit to do one thing and their wife another that they put their wife above God if they choose to please her over the conviction of the Spirit.

We are not called to poverty any more than we are called to prosperity. God has use and purpose for us all.

If one is convicted not to purchase a soda and they do they are FAR worse off in the eyes of God than a man that spends 2 million on a car that is NOT convicted by the Spirit to not spend it.

The one buying the soda is in disobedience to the Spirit... while the other simply made a choice of free will... WITHOUT being disobedient.

It is NOT about what we would do with the money... any more than it is fair for others to tell us what to do with our money.... or to judge us by what we choose to do with our money.

It is about obedience, if there is no conviction from the Spirit to which only this man and God knows......his obedience and disobedience is between him and God. Not for us to look at him and judge him as a lesser Christian than ourselves.

To do that is to be as a Pharisee.... saying "God I thank you that I am not like these people....."

I didn't say he or anyone was a lesser Christian. I said it was a silly thing to buy.

I've been told twice that it's different if you've got a wife. I disagree based on the other strong relationships I have such as having a twin.

This started because the Pastor in the arcticle (and two forum members) seemed to be saying that their wife comes first to which I asked, aren't we a Christian first?

 

[Dave L]

I desire that every "poor" person in the world be lifted to the abilities of this pastor.....that they all one day will be able to buy their wives a lambo.... And I find no fault in what the pastor did... This is how I would like to be treated whether I were rich or poor. (assuming this desire and prayer for the poor will lift them out of poverty while their needs are met in the mean time)

Do you believe it better that one, instead, desire that the rich never by lambos and that instead of seeing the poor out of poverty, I see the rich using lambo money to help them live day by day, dependent on the lambo money of the rich?

Love does not put luxury first over the needy.

 

[RaymondG]

I would certainly expect my husband to tell me no.

There is nothing wrong with telling your wife no sometimes, provided your kind and explain why.

If your wife has a hundred pair of shoes and wants to buy pair 101 you get to say no, I think that money should go elsewhere..

If your wife says I want to buy a Lamborghini you get to say "No. I'm a pastor and have a flock so we should demonstrate self control in the face of temptation. But there is nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of our labors within reason, why don't I see if I can't arrange you to drive a Lamborghini around a race track a few times to fun, and then we go out to eat afterwards"

I fully expect my husband to guide or correct my thinking when it's warranted. He is my Pastor too.. I don't expect him to be mean, (which he's never been) but I don't expect him to be my personal Santa.

The only time i would tell her no, is if she ask me to curse God and die. I would not shy away from buying a object just because of price or criticism of others if I have the funds to get what she desires.

But I see no wrong in you desiring a husband that will tell you no. I would like you too, to have the desire of your heart.....just like The wife of the pastor in the OP.

 

[Toro]

I think the best way is for husband and wife to agree together that THEY will put God first. It is not a matter of putting God first before your wife, because in His eyes you are "one flesh". In this way, one will not dominate the other and use God as a nail to hang one's hat on.

A husband may tell his wife, "God told me that we have to shift to [wherever] and because I put God first, I will have to go whether you go or not." But if God has not told his wife as well, he might just be using God to do what he wants. But if during prayer and discussion, both husband and wife get the same message about moving house, and perhaps it is going somewhere with a colder climate and leaving their comfortable church and friends, then because God has told them both that He wants them to move, this is where they are putting God first over and above what they might have wanted to do - stay where their comfortable church is and where their friends are.

I once got an invitation to go and speak at a conference in Nigeria (a very long way from New Zealand). My wife was not happy about that prospect. She said that would worry herself to death all the time I would have been away. I knew that God did not want me to go to Nigeria, even though speaking at that conference would have been a great blessing to those people. But in reality, if I did go, God would not go with me because I would have caused my wife needless worry. Therefore, for me, putting God first was to stay home and not go to Nigeria.

Yes they are to be in agreement... however there is no question that God should always be first... regardless of agreement.

IF one is called to go one way by God and the wife disagrees, IF he puts his wife first and does not go the husband is in direct disobedience to God. He is guilty just as Adam of choosing wife (Eve) over obedience to God.

The husband and wife are of one flesh, yes... but does Jesus not warn of the importance of obedience by even stating that if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out? Does He not also warn that if your hand causes you to sin (disobey) to cut it off?

God comes first even above our spouse....

Does the wife have a voice? Absolutely, but no voice, be it husband or wife has more importance than that of the direction of God. To follow Eve over direction from God is to fall

 

[RaymondG]

Love does not put luxury first over the needy.

Love does not desire the needy to remain in neediness.

 

[Dave L]

Love does not desire the needy to remain in neediness.

Love put's people's needs above luxury.