MONEY: TITHING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES

Recent Articles:
GOODBYE TO 2008 THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS DEBT: “HUTANG EMAS BOLEH DIBAYAR?†YOUR GREATEST INVESTMENT MONEY: SCARY INVESTING OBAMA: ONE MOMENT IN TIME MONEY: WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT TO GOD MONEY: TITHING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES AFTERSHOCKS SUDDEN BUT NOT UNEXPECTED
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We connected immediately. Strangers no more. At a business lunch in a hotel of all places. We discovered we had been at the same school and shared the same teachers, probably classrooms too. The “really?” element rapidly dissolved into warm smiles and enthusiastic exchanges. “Did you know?, Had you heard?” punctuated our animated exchanges about expired principals, retired teachers and other colourful characters that dotted our journey together in our old school. We put aside “business” for a whole half-hour and luxuriated nostalgically in the black hole of the past. Then we came back to earth... with a thud and went back to talking dollars and cents again. Sigh.
It’s been like that this in the financial sector the past week. Volatility reigned. The wheels of the market spun their twisted threads of angst almost daily. Up and down. Fear and greed, currency and gold, stocks and bonds, profit and loss, inflation and recession, rumour and news all flowed and ebbed each day. A friend of mine wrote to say he sold all his stocks way before the 1987 crash in obedience to God and had not been back into the market since. “It’s all fear, lies and greed there.” He said the Lord told him never to venture into such things again. He even included property and long term bonds in his exclusion clause. Is that biblical, I wondered? Or is it just a view made personal for him by the Lord? Is money the heart of the matter (and therefore always evil) or is money a matter of the heart in which case greed and fear are the real problems?
When Warren Buffet stepped in with $5 billion to buy a stake in Goldman Sachs last month he articulated the mantra of his success when asked why he was investing when everyone else was fleeing. “Be fearful when market is greedy” he said and everyone nodded, “but be greedy when the market is fearful” he added, and everyone bowed in awe of him. What does the bible say? Today we begin the series on MONEY. The first thing to understand is the non-negotiable area of tithing and giving and it’s a great place to start. Over the next few weeks we shall look at matters ranging from God’s perspective of money in earning, saving, investing, borrowing and lending and in leaving legacies. Nothing beats the bible: it’s the best place for wisdom on money. That’s our God!
Ps Philip Lyn
Skyline: 2008 Year of the Sabbath
We connected immediately. Strangers no more. At a business lunch in a hotel of all places. We discovered we had been at the same school and shared the same teachers, probably classrooms too. The “really?” element rapidly dissolved into warm smiles and enthusiastic exchanges. “Did you know?, Had you heard?” punctuated our animated exchanges about expired principals, retired teachers and other colourful characters that dotted our journey together in our old school. We put aside “business” for a whole half-hour and luxuriated nostalgically in the black hole of the past. Then we came back to earth... with a thud and went back to talking dollars and cents again. Sigh.
It’s been like that this in the financial sector the past week. Volatility reigned. The wheels of the market spun their twisted threads of angst almost daily. Up and down. Fear and greed, currency and gold, stocks and bonds, profit and loss, inflation and recession, rumour and news all flowed and ebbed each day. A friend of mine wrote to say he sold all his stocks way before the 1987 crash in obedience to God and had not been back into the market since. “It’s all fear, lies and greed there.” He said the Lord told him never to venture into such things again. He even included property and long term bonds in his exclusion clause. Is that biblical, I wondered? Or is it just a view made personal for him by the Lord? Is money the heart of the matter (and therefore always evil) or is money a matter of the heart in which case greed and fear are the real problems?
When Warren Buffet stepped in with $5 billion to buy a stake in Goldman Sachs last month he articulated the mantra of his success when asked why he was investing when everyone else was fleeing. “Be fearful when market is greedy” he said and everyone nodded, “but be greedy when the market is fearful” he added, and everyone bowed in awe of him. What does the bible say? Today we begin the series on MONEY. The first thing to understand is the non-negotiable area of tithing and giving and it’s a great place to start. Over the next few weeks we shall look at matters ranging from God’s perspective of money in earning, saving, investing, borrowing and lending and in leaving legacies. Nothing beats the bible: it’s the best place for wisdom on money. That’s our God!
Ps Philip Lyn
Skyline: 2008 Year of the Sabbath
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