Welfare, charity with strings attached, and giving as worship
One host argues the government playing God with redistribution removes personal accountability and the chance to know where your money goes; the other agrees money should follow God-given passion. They warn against dragging people to Jesus through charity ('we've given you something, now you owe me') and against Christian fundraising that promises spiritual payoffs for donations. The landing: God doesn't need your money — giving is a discipline and an act of worship, and compelled giving should stay in your pocket.
More on Giving
-
Complaint-line follow-up: tithing, blessing, and the prosperity gospel
- Does faithfulness in giving guarantee material blessing, and does suffering imply unfaithfulness?
Ben reads his own complaint-line text challenging the prior show's tithe conversation: if giving brings blessing (Malachi's 'test me in this'), how should blessing be understood when faithful givers still lack basic needs, and does suffering imply unfaithfulness?
From No. 530 · Know Self Control
-
Dear LFTP: the $8 spaghetti sauce in the grocery line
- Should I feel guilty for not covering the stranger's grocery bill when I could barely afford my own?
Boova (speaker-2, who reads the letter on-air) reads a Dear LFTP letter: at a grocery store, a young woman with an $8 jar of spaghetti sauce used the last of her food-stamp card,…
From No. 522 · Biking with Billy Shatner
-
Only thirteen percent of evangelicals tithe
- What percentage of evangelicals actually tithe?
- Does a day set apart as holy still matter beyond legalism?
A giving study ("The Generosity Factor" finds only 13% of evangelicals tithe, half give less than 1% of income, and the median church giver gives about $800 a year.
-
Practical kingdom actions: check-ins, restraint, and giving
- Should churches keep meeting in person during the pandemic?
Asked what the kingdom of Christ should be doing, a host gives three recommendations: make phone calls to isolated and immunocompromised people (even just dropping things on the…
From No. 398 · Thus It Begins…COVID