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Thread: Using NT ministers as examples

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    Using NT ministers as examples

    Cardinal TT said the following that I found interesting, in the now closed thread on the $54m jet :

    There was a time when some wof said if Paul understood faith like we know today he would not have suffered everything he went through...which is baloney
    I find that statement by some Word of Faith minister to be quite honest. Basically the person admits that he or she isn't going to use Paul's thinking, his priorities, his life as an example and that their own thinking or priorities are different. It could amount to creating a cookie cutter theology out of selected passages from the Bible where succeeding with certain principles involving God's blessings ought to catapult one's life out of every problem or limitation that Paul or the other apostles experienced. Or at least what the WoF minister sees as problems or limitations, for instance a lack of personal wealth, comfort, convenience.

    I think it's a much better idea to try to figure out what their thinking and priorities were and why. They had the power. In the absolute sense we have more resources since there are many more Christians today. Some ministers get their hands on a lot of resources and the result looks grand. But what would happen if the power that the thinking and priorities of the original apostles produced had been coupled with the resources that Christians today have ? Maybe we ought to try to figure out what that would look like instead of going all starry eyed over what some ministry with a $100M annual budget can accomplish along with the trickle of power that they have to begin with.

  2. #2
    I think you have to modulate what Paul went through with a person's particular calling in God. IOW there there are the extract able general principles PLUS the particular purpose for that person: mission-pioneer, kingdom-funder...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan david View Post
    I think you have to modulate what Paul went through with a person's particular calling in God. IOW there there are the extract able general principles PLUS the particular purpose for that person: mission-pioneer, kingdom-funder...
    With persecution you are clearly right. There are no promises concerning liberty from persecution. Then the level of persecution varies enormously depending on the circumstances, the where and the when. So there is no reason for everyone to expect persecution levels similar to what Paul experienced.

    How Paul and the other apostles acquired and spent funds in times of peace and plenty is a completely different topic. Should we define all the apostles and every minister in the New Testament as having such a "special calling" that even that doesn't relate to how things should be done today ? There is no way that you can justify that.

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    I would put stewardship as a high priority regarding financial aspects. There is going to always be a variance in policies and procedures.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan david View Post
    I would put stewardship as a high priority regarding financial aspects. There is going to always be a variance in policies and procedures.
    The policies and procedures should make sense in relation to examples in the Bible then. We have John the Baptist who was pretty much an ascetic and Jesus who let rich people invite him to banquets where he ate and drank to his heart's content. Neither one spent ministry funds on luxuries. Where is the example of that ? Or is it "anything goes" as long as the money technically wasn't stolen ?

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