As far as the collection goes, would it be wrong to take the money one would put in the collection plate every Sunday and give it to his unemployed mother, who is living with her daughter, which would be his sister, instead?<\/p>\n\t
What is happening is a person is trying to play one command of God off of another. It is the same problem, just in reverse of what Jesus scolded the Pharisees for doing.<\/p>\n
“He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God” — then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'”<\/em>” (Matthew 15:3-9).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Obedience to one command is not an excuse to ignore other commands. A person has an obligation to take care of his family. “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever<\/em>” (I Timothy 5:8). And he also should be supporting the work of God.<\/p>\n
Under Christianity there is no fixed percentage that must be given, rather people give as they are able. “For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have<\/em>” (II Corinthians 8:12). This is not to be taken that a Christian is spend everything he has so that there isn’t anything left to give to God, but rather it is practicality. Different families will have different levels of expenses in order to live. Contributions are based on a portion of the family’s profit. “On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come<\/em>” (I Corinthians 16:2).<\/p>\n
I suspect that this isn’t an either\/or situation. Since the mother is living with his sister, her needs are probably low. So, he probably can send some money to help her out and probably will have some funds that he can give to the Lord as well and still be able to live comfortably on the remainder. He can also help his mother out by helping her apply for whatever financial aid is available from other sources, such as the government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: As far as the collection goes, would it be wrong to take the money one would put in the collection plate every Sunday and give it to his unemployed mother, who is living with her daughter, which would be his sister, instead? Answer: What is happening is a person is trying to play one…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[157,173,550],"class_list":["post-19060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-contributions","tag-family","tag-honor-your-parents"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14376,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-not-to-give-to-the-church-because-you-gave-it-to-the-poor\/","url_meta":{"origin":19060,"position":0},"title":"Is it right not to give to the church because you gave it to the poor?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, Please help me answer this question: A friend of mine told me that as he was going to church yesterday he met someone who was sick, and he gave all that he has on him that day to the sick person. Instead of using that money to give\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89466,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wouldnt-a-prophetess-lead-services\/","url_meta":{"origin":19060,"position":1},"title":"Wouldn’t a prophetess lead services?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Women are mentioned as being prophetesses during the church age,\u00a0 such as Phillip the evangelist's daughters (Acts 21:9). Did they not lead in the worship services? Answer: When trying to understand what God wrote, you don't take portions from one part and use them to ignore other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3542,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-honoring-your-mother-and-father-mean-following-their-religious-beliefs\/","url_meta":{"origin":19060,"position":2},"title":"Does “honoring your mother and father” mean following their religious beliefs?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was just reading\u00a0the essay on your website about \"honoring your father and mother\". I have been doing some research on the meaning of the word \"honor\", and I was wondering if you could answer a question for me, or just give me your opinion? Let's say that a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43658,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-mother-thinks-im-too-young-to-get-married-must-i-obey-her\/","url_meta":{"origin":19060,"position":3},"title":"My mother thinks I’m too young to get married. Must I obey her?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, I am 21 years old, born again and spirit-filled. I'm currently in a relationship with a Christian sister, who is also born again and Spirit-filled. She is 18 years old. Though our relationship is based on the Word of God, we have the don't and the do's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fear-your-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":19060,"position":4},"title":"Fear Your Mother","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer What the world generally knows as Mother's Day is a tradition that has come down to us through many twists and turns through the centuries. We won't go into that here. As we know it now, this day is a tradition that honors our mothers for all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":799,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-honor-my-stepmother-and-accept-her\/","url_meta":{"origin":19060,"position":5},"title":"How do I honor my stepmother and accept her?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do I honor my stepmother and accept her? What are our places now in the family? I am just looking around in all sorts of places for answers, so I hope this is something that is appropriate to ask you. 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