Hi Jeff,<\/p>\n
Is right to borrow money for the sake of contributing to building a worship hall for the church? We are encouraged by our minister, as individual brethren, to do so since it is an important project of the church.<\/p>\n\t
The Bible teaches that being in debt is not a sin, but it is something that is to be avoided.<\/p>\n
When you borrow money, you are taking a risk. If you can’t make the payments, you are going to lose something significant. “If you have nothing with which to pay, why should he take your bed from under you?<\/em>” (Proverbs 22:27). It might be one thing if an individual decides on his own that the risk is worth it, but it is an entirely different matter when someone is asking you to take on the risks while avoiding all risks himself.<\/p>\n When you borrow money, even when you can make the payments, you are limiting your future options. You can decide to pause a payment so you can fix the roof this month. In a true sense, you become a slave to the person you borrow from. “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave<\/em>” (Proverbs 22:7).<\/p>\n There is also the simple fact that while I may think I can make the payments, my future is not guaranteed. “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away<\/em>” (James 4:13-14). What happens if someone loses their job or dies before his debt is paid off?<\/p>\n In reality, the preacher is asking those who can least afford more debt to take on more. “He who oppresses the poor to make more for himself or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty<\/em>” (Proverbs 22:16).<\/p>\n Set up a building fund. Put a portion of the contributions into it that the church doesn’t immediately need for its expenses. If some volunteer to add additional funds in, then wonderful! And when the church has enough to pay its expenses for a new meeting place, then it can happily do so without debt.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hi Jeff, Is right to borrow money for the sake of contributing to building a worship hall for the church? We are encouraged by our minister, as individual brethren, to do so since it is an important project of the church. Answer: The Bible teaches that being in debt is not a sin, but…<\/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_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[154],"class_list":["post-53984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church-funds"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43246,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-let-a-denominational-group-borrow-our-baptistery\/","url_meta":{"origin":53984,"position":0},"title":"Should we let a denominational group borrow our baptistery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, Mr. Hamilton, I hope this finds you well. Every morning on my way to work I listen to your sermons. I greatly appreciate the work you have put into your program, as I have learned so much listening to them over the last couple of years. I belong\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":39265,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-borrow-your-material\/","url_meta":{"origin":53984,"position":1},"title":"Can I borrow your material?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Brother Hamilton, I hope this note finds you well. I am a minister and also serve as an elder in the church. I really appreciate your web page very much as it is very encouraging to me. Thank you for your efforts. I have a question. Are you OK\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":2057,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-kinds-of-debt-are-permissible\/","url_meta":{"origin":53984,"position":2},"title":"What kinds of debt are permissible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In order to have my household in order for His glory, I understand we should not be in debt. What debt is permissible? House mortgage? College loans? Is there a biblical plan to reduce debt, whether credit card or other items? Answer: Firms go out their way to offer\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":7616,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-co-sign-a-loan-for-a-church-building\/","url_meta":{"origin":53984,"position":3},"title":"Should I co-sign a loan for a church building?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 21, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a member of a fundamental Bible-teaching church and firmly believe in the \"literal\" Word of the Bible. But I find myself in a difficult situation.\u00a0\u00a0We are building a new Church building.\u00a0\u00a0The building project was kicked off using traditional construction bank financing. We had enough assets and membership\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":18688,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-you-borrow-the-lesson-the-three-chairs-from-bruce-wilkinsons-book\/","url_meta":{"origin":53984,"position":4},"title":"Did you borrow the lesson “The Three Chairs” from Bruce Wilkinson’s book?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I saw \"The Three Chairs\" as copyrighted information on your web site.\u00a0This information is copyrighted by Bruce Wilkinson for many years now.\u00a0\u00a0The Three Chairs\u00a0book is on Amazon.com, if you are interested.\u00a0 Whoever is posting this information as copyrighted by La Vista Church of Christ is giving the appearance that\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":3763,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/avoiding-debt\/","url_meta":{"origin":53984,"position":5},"title":"Avoiding Debt","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: I Timothy 6:6-12 Firms go out of their way to offer me credit, For which, I might say, I am deeply indebted! \u2013 Doris O\u2019Brien \u2013 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A large industry has developed in the past hundred years or so \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It has existed for centuries, but it was commonly frowned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}