Can One Defy The 3abn Board & Get Away With It?, Linda, Tommy, Danny, & Brandy Options

[mozart]

It is clear to me that God does not want some workers in a ministry to suffer from want while others have more than they need. And I am all for ministers getting paid enough. Yet there are a few points that discussions about wages don't often touch:
That quote goes on to describe how Hiram of Tyre demanded high wages for his services in building the temple, like he customarily did, and got what he demanded. The Israelites were working on the temple out of love for the cause of God, but after seeing what Hiram got they decided to ask for that too, and they got their request. That resulted in a loss of a spirit of self-sacrifice which then led at least some into apostasy.

What I'm saying is that there are significant spiritual consequences involved in basing our remuneration practices on what the world considers fair and just.

I believe we also have a quote that says that the work will be finished in greater sacrifice than it started with, though I can't find it at the moment. The idea of any sort of sacrifice kind of bugged me for awhile, since regardless of how much I gave I never seemed to sacrifice, as far as I could tell. That is, until we got rid of lots of stuff after accepting a call to go overseas.

Perhaps we wouldn't be discussing any of this today if Danny had kept the spirit of self-sacrifice burning brightly in his own heart.

I do not know how someone decides who gets to live a more prosperous life than another. No business pays a laborer the same as an executive. It would be nice however if, especially in the case of a not-for-profit ministry, that everyone get paid on a type of totally balanced scale according to the job they do. The pay should be a literal % consistent to the scale. Like the highest paying position would be limited to exactly 100% above the lowest paid position and the lowest paid position would be no less than 10% of the highest paid position. It would probably take me a while to explain that but I think some of you will get the gist of what I am getting at and I'm sure some of you, much smarter than me, will find flaws in my method of thinking but I'm just trying to make a point and this is just an example.

It is a given that some jobs in life just pay more than others. Some people in life are more generous than others. Some are very selfish and believe in the "me first" mentality. That is their choice. I believe that everyone who is able to work should work for a living and those who are blessed with more should give more. There is only so much that one man needs. The rest is excess. I believe a selfish person's excess is robbing a starving child of a meal to eat and a clean bed to sleep in. That I have always found to be one of life's greatest heartaches. It's a mystery of conscience.

Personally, I am 59yrs.old. I have been permanently disabled since 1990. I was homeless, living in my van for almost 2yrs. before I received any Social Security benefits. Since then I have lived on between $400 and $500 dollars a month depending on how generous Social Security feels that year. I am not on any other government assistance nor do I hope to be. I am in pain every day of my life, sometimes unbearable, but I thank God for His mercy upon me to get me through one more day.
I have continually sponsored, at minimum, 3 Reach, Int'l. children consistently since 1999. I faithfully pay my tithe and give offerings. I manage to save a little when I can to give to 3abn and other ministries. I gave $1000., from that savings, to buy a 3abn cable station in India about 5yrs. ago. I'm not sure if that ever got done because I was never able to verify it. I live in a very modest 2-bd. home that is nice, clean, comfortable and paid for. I have an 89 S-10 pickup truck and a 1990 Dodge Stratus, both, Praise the Lord are in good running condition with good tires on them. I must admit gasoline is getting harder to pay for and the heating bills this winter made things sparse but God is always good and there would be no way I could live a decent life with out HIS multiplying graces which I try to never take for granted.
I am not a university scholar or a rich doctor but I'm blessed beyond measure. I've never held a high office in the church nor do I plan to unless God has other plans. I am a sinner and I am loved by a great forgiver. I will be forever grateful for God's love and care and provision and for His multiplying the little I do have so that I can help those much less fortunate than myself. I have never been one who is in need for a lot of material things but what I do have I would consider nice and decent. Now, I don't tell you this to get your praises or your pity. I tell you this to show you how little one can live on and have a decent life if they are good stewards of what God gives them. I don't say this to lift myself up but just to give you the best example I know of in detail and that is my own life..

I personally don't think Danny lives large. He could do with less, but it's not outrageous and I don't see reason for condemnation on that subject, however, that in no way eludes to the possibility that he pays a fair wage to everyone else. I also don't think it is nessessary to work on the Sabbath and suggest that those required to do this work should work for free. If he wants to do a rally, he should do it during the week so his employees don't have to work on Sabbath. Otherwise, I realise there are a few exceptions. There is always the "ox in the ditch", but the "oitd" is not a planned situation. More serious effort needs to be made so that adventist all over do not have to work at adventist establishments on Sabbath. What they do outside of that is between them and God. I believe adventist establishments need to hold up the beliefs of the faith. We know there are exceptions where people's health and well-being are concerned so that's not an issue. (off topic a bit so let's open another thread if we want to just discuss this one issue further. ; ) thanks)


This post has been edited by mozart: Apr 8 2007, 04:58 PM

[YogusBearus]

Mozart, your sweet spirit and straight talk was as special Easter blessing to me. You have been my Eagles Wings today. God bless you.

-Yogi

I must admit gasoline is getting harder to pay for and the heating bills this winter made things sparse but God is always good and there would be no way I could live a decent life with out HIS multiplying graces which I try to never take for granted.
I am not a university scholar or a rich doctor but I'm blessed beyond measure. I've never held a high office in the church nor do I plan to unless God has other plans. I am a sinner and I am loved by a great forgiver. I will be forever grateful for God's love and care and provision and for His multiplying the little I do have so that I can help those much less fortunate than myself. I have never been one who is in need for a lot of material things but what I do have I would consider nice and decent. Now, I don't tell you this to get your praises or your pity. I tell you this to show you how little one can live on and have a decent life if they are good stewards of what God gives them. I don't say this to lift myself up but just to give you the best example I know of in detail and that is my own life..

This post has been edited by YogusBearus: Apr 8 2007, 05:35 PM

[Snoopy]

Personally, I am 59yrs.old. I have been permanently disabled since 1990. I was homeless, living in my van for almost 2yrs. before I received any Social Security benefits. Since then I have lived on between $400 and $500 dollars a month depending on how generous Social Security feels that year. I am not on any other government assistance nor do I hope to be. I am in pain every day of my life, sometimes unbearable, but I thank God for His mercy upon me to get me through one more day.
I have continually sponsored, at minimum, 3 Reach, Int'l. children consistently since 1999. I faithfully pay my tithe and give offerings. I manage to save a little when I can to give to 3abn and other ministries. I gave $1000., from that savings, to buy a 3abn cable station in India about 5yrs. ago. I'm not sure if that ever got done because I was never able to verify it. I live in a very modest 2-bd. home that is nice, clean, comfortable and paid for. I have an 89 S-10 pickup truck and a 1990 Dodge Stratus, both, Praise the Lord are in good running condition with good tires on them. I must admit gasoline is getting harder to pay for and the heating bills this winter made things sparse but God is always good and there would be no way I could live a decent life with out HIS multiplying graces which I try to never take for granted.
I am not a university scholar or a rich doctor but I'm blessed beyond measure. I've never held a high office in the church nor do I plan to unless God has other plans. I am a sinner and I am loved by a great forgiver. I will be forever grateful for God's love and care and provision and for His multiplying the little I do have so that I can help those much less fortunate than myself. I have never been one who is in need for a lot of material things but what I do have I would consider nice and decent. Now, I don't tell you this to get your praises or your pity. I tell you this to show you how little one can live on and have a decent life if they are good stewards of what God gives them. I don't say this to lift myself up but just to give you the best example I know of in detail and that is my own life..

Oh my. That is quite an inspirational story, mozart. Thank you for sharing it and for your genuineness and sincerity! BTW, are you a musician? Just curious about your screen name. Of course, I'm not trying to pry, if it's personal or an identifier... I'm a Schroeder fan, myself...!!



This post has been edited by Snoopy: Apr 8 2007, 08:10 PM

[mozart]

Oh my. That is quite an inspirational story, mozart. Thank you for sharing it and for your genuineness and sincerity! BTW, are you a musician? Just curious about your screen name. Of course, I'm not trying to pry, if it's personal or an identifier...

no actually i am not. i played drums in school and i worked in the music business most of my working life. i picked the name because while i was registering at BlackSDA i thought about that Sandra Bullock movie "The Net" and the mysterious internet id of "mozart's ghost". i didn't want to use ghost in my id so i just picked mozart. so much for my mystery. thanks for your reply

[PeacefulBe]

no actually i am not. i played drums in school and i worked in the music business most of my working life. i picked the name because while i was registering at BlackSDA i thought about that Sandra Bullock movie "The Net" and the mysterious internet id of "mozart's ghost". i didn't want to use ghost in my id so i just picked mozart. so much for my mystery. thanks for your reply

mozart,
Thank you for sharing your story and for sharing the reason for your name. I saw that one but didn't remember the mozart's ghost part.

PB

[Carmel]

I tell you this to show you how little one can live on and have a decent life if they are good stewards of what God gives them. I don't say this to lift myself up but just to give you the best example I know of in detail and that is my own life..

Mozart, you are an inspiration to me, God bless you!


Carmel