LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF (8 OF 10)
Scripture: Exodus 20:15
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Love Your Neighbor as Yourself (8 of 10)
Series: 10 Commandments
Patrick Edwards
Exodus 20:15
Introduction
It was the last week of December when I was preparing this message. Christmas had just finished, everyone was trying to catch their breath, we were all dealing with the reality that life still goes on after a big holiday. It was also a time when I was getting inundated by various charities and organizations begging me for a year-end financial gift. It seems that just about every non-profit group had failed to meet their income goals for the year and so my phone and inbox were full of last-minute requests.
About the same time I was also finding a lot of articles in my news feed on how charitable giving was down again in 2019, a downward slide that had been happening for some years. Many of these reports were merely factual, but some dove into the 'why', offering potential and likely explanations for why fewer Americans were donating to charity. You see, according to a report from Indiana University, based on research collected with the University of Michigan, 20 million fewer households gave in 2016 than in the year 2000, and that number has only grown in the past three years. My point is that such a dramatic change isn't merely circumstantial. No, there is something larger within culture that has shifted that has produced such a fundamental change in how we think about our finances.
And that change, this study suggested, is that Americans are becoming less religious. You see, statistics indicate that persons who belong and participate in religious organizations are more likely to not just give to those organizations, but to many other secular charities as well. Of course, I don't want to let the religious off the hook either; just because you are semi-engaged in your faith doesn't mean you give financially. Just to be perfectly frank and let you see behind the curtain, only a little over 50% of households in FBC regularly contribute financia ...
Series: 10 Commandments
Patrick Edwards
Exodus 20:15
Introduction
It was the last week of December when I was preparing this message. Christmas had just finished, everyone was trying to catch their breath, we were all dealing with the reality that life still goes on after a big holiday. It was also a time when I was getting inundated by various charities and organizations begging me for a year-end financial gift. It seems that just about every non-profit group had failed to meet their income goals for the year and so my phone and inbox were full of last-minute requests.
About the same time I was also finding a lot of articles in my news feed on how charitable giving was down again in 2019, a downward slide that had been happening for some years. Many of these reports were merely factual, but some dove into the 'why', offering potential and likely explanations for why fewer Americans were donating to charity. You see, according to a report from Indiana University, based on research collected with the University of Michigan, 20 million fewer households gave in 2016 than in the year 2000, and that number has only grown in the past three years. My point is that such a dramatic change isn't merely circumstantial. No, there is something larger within culture that has shifted that has produced such a fundamental change in how we think about our finances.
And that change, this study suggested, is that Americans are becoming less religious. You see, statistics indicate that persons who belong and participate in religious organizations are more likely to not just give to those organizations, but to many other secular charities as well. Of course, I don't want to let the religious off the hook either; just because you are semi-engaged in your faith doesn't mean you give financially. Just to be perfectly frank and let you see behind the curtain, only a little over 50% of households in FBC regularly contribute financia ...
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