Church Rejects Donation from Lottery Winner

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"ORANGE PARK, FL – After Robert Powell hit the Florida Lottery jackpot last month and took home more than $6 million, he thought of his church.

And he offered to drop his tithe, around $600,000, in the collection plate of First Baptist Orange Park.

But the church and Pastor David Tarkington politely declined and told Powell they will not accept the lottery winnings."

firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=116301&catid=15&GID=WMAmGCQI3vz6rtbfKlq97+DNDNHLKYU0cLrO+wQNI6Q=&provider=email
 
I have to admit though - it was gutsy of the pastor to reject the donation.
 
This money could have met a critical need in the local church and perhaps helped someone in trouble. His reaction was, IMHO, Pharisaical.
 
a_priori said:
"ORANGE PARK, FL – After Robert Powell hit the Florida Lottery jackpot last month and took home more than $6 million, he thought of his church.

And he offered to drop his tithe, around $600,000, in the collection plate of First Baptist Orange Park.

But the church and Pastor David Tarkington politely declined and told Powell they will not accept the lottery winnings."

firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=116301&catid=15&GID=WMAmGCQI3vz6rtbfKlq97+DNDNHLKYU0cLrO+wQNI6Q=&provider=email
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Bravo to the winner for remembering his stewardship of all that the Lord has given. It is too often that greed and dollar signs cloud our duty. :clapping:
 
a_priori said:
This money could have met a critical need in the local church and perhaps helped someone in trouble. His reaction was, IMHO, Pharisaical.
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there is nothing to stop the donor from giving the money directly to the organizatin which will address other needs of the community. the pastor is 100% right to refuse the donation if his denom considers gambling morally wrong. to do otherwise would make his teaching hypocritical.
 
Why would anyone consider the lottery wrong? Makes no sense to me. A person who works hard for his money should be allowed to spend a little on gambling if that is what he enjoys. However, it would become a sin if it began affecting his daily life, and prevented him from properly caring for himself or his family.

Furthermore, I think it is silly of the pastor not to accept that donation. He could have used that money to help a lot of people who have very little. He may view the lottery as sinful, but it’s not like he is condoning the “sin” by accepting a donation. For all he knows, 10% of his weekly collection may be money won through gambling, and he still accepts that. It isn’t important where the money comes from, as long as it is used for the greater good. You can’t refuse money because of the sin of others. For all I know, the money in my wallet may have been stolen at one point but you don’t see me throwing it away.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
Why would anyone consider the lottery wrong? Makes no sense to me. A person who works hard for his money should be allowed to spend a little on gambling if that is what he enjoys. However, it would become a sin if it began affecting his daily life, and prevented him from properly caring for himself or his family.

Furthermore, I think it is silly of the pastor not to accept that donation. He could have used that money to help a lot of people who have very little. He may view the lottery as sinful, but it’s not like he is condoning the “sin” by accepting a donation. For all he knows, 10% of his weekly collection may be money won through gambling, and he still accepts that. It isn’t important where the money comes from, as long as it is used for the greater good. You can’t refuse money because of the sin of others. For all I know, the money in my wallet may have been stolen at one point but you don’t see me throwing it away.
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Based on your reasoning, let’s say that a guy is a hitman and is paid $100,000 to kill someone. He decides to donate $10,000 to church. The pastor knows where the money came from. Should he take it? Let’s say, a drug dealer is donating 10% of his profits to his local church. Again the pastor knows it was drug money. Should he take it? The pastor would be condoning what Baptist think is sinful if he took the money. It would be like him saying. “What you did was sinful, but since it will help so many people out, it is ok.”
 
I agree with Puzzleannie, post #6; the pastor has to decline the money if the denomination believes gambling is a sin, although I bet it was a really hard moral decision for him to make. And he may be having to deal with some irate parishioners who would have been less courageous!

The winner could still support his church by donating anonymously to their mission work or charity the church supports.
 
Based on your reasoning, let’s say that a guy is a hitman and is paid $100,000 to kill someone. He decides to donate $10,000 to church. The pastor knows where the money came from. Should he take it? Let’s say, a drug dealer is donating 10% of his profits to his local church. Again the pastor knows it was drug money. Should he take it? The pastor would be condoning what Baptist think is sinful if he took the money. It would be like him saying. “What you did was sinful, but since it will help so many people out, it is ok.”
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I see your point but I wasn’t talking about anything as serious as murder. I was talking about venial sins, although I didn’t explain myself well in my previous post. You are correct in saying that it would be wrong to accept blood or drug money knowingly.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
I see your point but I wasn’t talking about anything as serious as murder. I was talking about venial sins, although I didn’t explain myself well in my previous post. You are correct in saying that it would be wrong to accept blood or drug money knowingly.
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Point is Baptists don’t consider gambling to be merely a venial or minor sin - they consider it to be something very serious indeed. So by their lights taking money won by gambling would indeed be almost if not actually on the same level as taking drug money or money earned through prostitution. And so the Pastor, according to his moral code, was quite correct to refuse.
 
CHRISTINE77 said:
Does the Catholic Church consider gambling to be a sin?:confused:
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For Catholics gambling is like drinking alcohol - it can be done on an occasional basis with no harm or sin resulting (Catholics are famous for their bingo in the church halls, apparently, though it’s not the custom here in Oz).

Of course on the other hand it can become an addiction, which is quite possibly sinful and certainly results in great moral evils (money needed for essentials being gambled away etc).
 
Bravo to the Pastor I say. There is nothing wrong with what he did. As there was nothing wrong with winning the 6 million.

IMHO
 
I’m going to flip the order these quotes appeared to answer the question
Dempsey1919 said:
Why would anyone consider the lottery wrong? Makes no sense to me. …

Furthermore, I think it is silly of the pastor not to accept that donation.
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This is why it’s not silly:
puzzleannie said:
the pastor is 100% right to refuse the donation if his denom considers gambling morally wrong. to do otherwise would make his teaching hypocritical.
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It is not the point that you think it silly or that it is not the right thing to do with the money. The point is - if the pastor (be it right, wrong, or indifferent) believes that gambling is wrong, it would be totally hypocritical for him to accept the money - regardless of how much good it could do.

This would be the same as a Catholic priest turning down money that was earned by abortion doctors through performing abortions. Sure, it could be millions of dollars a parish could receive, but it would be totally inappropriate for him to accept the money because of where it came from, regardless of how much good it would do.

Hope that makes sense.

~Liza
 
Lee_M said:
Based on your reasoning, let’s say that a guy is a hitman and is paid $100,000 to kill someone. He decides to donate $10,000 to church. The pastor knows where the money came from. Should he take it? Let’s say, a drug dealer is donating 10% of his profits to his local church. Again the pastor knows it was drug money. Should he take it? The pastor would be condoning what Baptist think is sinful if he took the money. It would be like him saying. “What you did was sinful, but since it will help so many people out, it is ok.”
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Yes, your point is good, but where do we draw the line? Does the box boy at the grocery store refuse his paycheck because a drug dealer bought a loaf a bread with his ill-gotten gains? By extension, the box boy is accepting the ill-gotten money.
 
Lee_M said:
Based on your reasoning, let’s say that a guy is a hitman and is paid $100,000 to kill someone. He decides to donate $10,000 to church. The pastor knows where the money came from. Should he take it? Let’s say, a drug dealer is donating 10% of his profits to his local church. Again the pastor knows it was drug money. Should he take it? The pastor would be condoning what Baptist think is sinful if he took the money. It would be like him saying. “What you did was sinful, but since it will help so many people out, it is ok.”
Click to expand...
You’re 100% right 👍

It’s not like the Pastor kicked the guy out his church for spending a buck on a lotto ticket – but he was more than just right for not accepting the $$, he stands as an example for all clergymen.

That member of his congregation should pray for engaging in the very minor sin of gambling. God is not angry over the guy spending a buck on a lotto ticket, but gambling ruins lives of many people. I know I had a family member who had a serious problem with it.

It frankly disturbs me that we even have state sponsored gambling and the wave of new casino’s throughout the country. How could a Pastor have taken this money? It would just defy everything.
 
a_priori said:
"ORANGE PARK, FL – After Robert Powell hit the Florida Lottery jackpot last month and took home more than $6 million, he thought of his church.

And he offered to drop his tithe, around $600,000, in the collection plate of First Baptist Orange Park.

But the church and Pastor David Tarkington politely declined and told Powell they will not accept the lottery winnings."

firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=116301&catid=15&GID=WMAmGCQI3vz6rtbfKlq97+DNDNHLKYU0cLrO+wQNI6Q=&provider=email
Click to expand...
I don’t know the manner Mr. Powell put his money in the collection plate, and neither that i would judge him nor the pastor. Jesus told us that whatever given by your right hand, must not be known by your left hand. If the money was given at the return of (voluntarily or not) being fame to Mr. Powell, then there must be something logical by the rejection. Perhaps, Mr. Powell should gave the money to the pastor privately, or perhaps just transfered it secretly to the church.
 
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