Faith Promise - Tempting God

Faith Promise
Tempting God

For those of you who have not heard of the "Faith Promise" giving program, it is a program in which church members are expected to pledge to give a determined amount to some sort of need or effort that their church has taken on. These pledges are expected to be made in the sense that the pledger MUST, no matter what his or her circumstance, honor their pledge at the appolinted time of collection. At least two Bible verses are cited in the effort to justify this sort of giving... 2nd Corinthians 9:7 and Proverbs 22:9. Lets consider these verses :

2nd Corinthians 9:7
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give;
not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Proverbs 22:9
He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

At first glance, these verses do, indeed seem to support such a method of pledging. But take a closer look at them :

2nd Corinthians 9:7
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give;
not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Proverbs 22:9
He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

Unlike the Jim Bakers, the Benny Hinns, the Rod Parsleys and many "Fundamentalists" of the world would have us believe, 2nd Corinthians 9:7 is NOT at all saying that a person should give the same, exact amount at each collection time that they determined to give at the first collection time. If that were so, then the giving of that same amount would be done out of the necessity of meeting the amount that they pledged to give at the first collection time. No, dear friend, be not deceived... this verse is ONLY saying that they should give the amount that they choose, and that they should do it cheerfully.

Now, taking a look at Proverbs 22:9, we can clearly see the misinterpretation (or should I say intentional twisting?) of the verse in that it clearly states that the giver is only expected to give "of his bread", which basically means out of our abundance, or if you prefer, out of what the giver presently has. NEVER ONCE does it even hint that the giver should give each time according to what the giver may have had at the time they decided to give! If you consider the possibility that the giver may have gone through a tough time prior to collection time and simply does not now have the same amount to spare, how could that giver possibly be expected to give the same amount? They CAN'T!

So, how is the "Faith Promise" program akin to tempting God, you ask? Its quite simple, actually :

Matthew 4:6-7
And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give
his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou
dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God.

The "Faith Promise" program is basically doing the same thing that the Devil asked Jesus to do... expect God to bail us out after doing a foolish thing. Jesus knew that God could rescue him, but he also knew that God expected him to have enough common sense to know better than to put Himself into a situation that only God could save Him from. So then, shouldn't we also have enough common sense to know better than to promise to give something that we may very well not have? YES, we should know better! If we foolishly make a pledge, basing it simply on the faith that God will provide what we need to honor that pledge, this is the same thing as TEMPTING GOD... expecting Him to bail us out when it turns out that we don't have enough abundance to honor a pledge.

Comments, complaints, questions or suggestions?
Back To Articles Index Page

Free Web Hosting Since 1996. Join & Become Part of the TrainWeb's Railroad Community.