Why I've not donated to the Narrow Path....advice requested

[AaronBDisney]

I've written a email to Steve Gregg on Facebook - I don't think he's gotten it yet, though I wrote it about a month ago. Anyhow, it was intended to be private but the content is not anything that needs to be private. Below is a copy of that email. I'd like to know if I'm doing right or not. Any advice or comments from Steve or anyone else would be appreciated.....here it is.......

Hey, bro.
I know this is not something you harp on or even worry about, but it's been on my mind.

I listen to much of your show and have heard several lectures of your and have still never contributed to your ministry. I doubt you even noticed or care that much one way or the other, considering what you say on the subject. But I'd like you to know why.

There are two reasons. One is financial. I am barely making it week to week as it is now. We have one vehicle and it's a '91 Toyota. We aren't wealthy, but we do give to the Kingdom work (at church, to an orphanage and to missions mainly).

The main reason I don't give to your ministry is that my wife and I are divided about your ministry. For some reason, partial-preterism really seems quite taboo to alot of people. My pastor referred to it as a "dangerous heresy" and warned me to avoid any teaching or thinking in that direction.

I don't make much of a big deal about it, but my wife credits you (or should I say DIScredits you) for leading me astray (so to speak) into partial preterism. It's by far not the most important aspect of my Christian study, but it is something that I do believe to be true.

Thus, my wife and I don't agree on the importance of sending money your way at this time. As time goes on, if I can make her see that we'd not be giving to a 'heretical cause' this may change. However, to keep relative peace in my home and avoid unneccessary trial involving money and Biblical beliefs, my support of your ministry is limited (for now) to fervent prayer for your ministry, which I offer to God every day.

Just felt like I should write and let you know this.
God bless you, brother

[Homer]

Aaron,

My 2 cents, I think you are acting wisely.

God bless, Homer

[AaronBDisney]

Thank you, Homer. It's killing me not to be able to give at least ten or fifteen bucks a month to such a great cause and I pray that one day that will be something I can do. I've learned so much from Steve's hard work and from this forum. I believe very much in what Steve is doing and I'm not just saying I pray for the Narrow Path each day, I really do!

See, my wife is a great Christian woman and she loves the Lord with all her heart, but digging into the Bible and critically studying it is not her strong suit. My pastor is also a very good man and by calling that doctrine heresy, he wasn't trying to pick a fight with me, he was (as best as he knew how) trying to protect me from what he perceived to be dangerous territory. He's not a dumb man either, he's just entrenched into a system that the whole Christian world is drowning in and afraid to look beyond it. I've tried to discuss it with my wife before and she just gets confused by it (probably a testimony to my poor skills of explanation) and just trusts that my pastor is right. It's hard to blame her too much for that.

I think relationship and peace is the more important thing to pursue if there must be a choice between peace and arguing for correct doctrine. I'm just glad to get to pray for the Narrow Path and I pray that God will provide what I would wish to able to.....AND MORE!!!

[steve]

Aaron,

I agree with Homer that you are doing the right thing. The money that you and your family have available to support ministries with should be directed to ministries that you both feel great about. The Lord provides here, so don't be worried about it. "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." (2 Cor.8:12).

[AaronBDisney]

Thanks Steve. I listen to your show all the time these days and every time I hear you say "If you'd like to help keep us on the air......" I'm thinking 'I'd give anything to do that!' Though admittedly, if my wife and I were in agreement, my donation would barely be a drop in the bucket anyhow.
God bless you, brother Steve. I'll keep praying, God can do more than my pathetic wallet can anyway!

[Ian]

Steve, I am in a similar position to Aaron and have felt periodically guilty about it. You have given me so much and I am so full of admiration and respect for you (with perhaps a tinge of envy at your intelligence and eloquence, though it`s held within bounds I think!)

I bit off more than I could chew moving here to Switzerland and have not had the "breaks" to alter my current situation, namely be 75% financially beholden to my wife (she is not particularly distressed by this, by the way, but feels more sorry for me, if I`m honest). Because of that beholdenness, I am less the "master" of what money I do earn than I might otherwise be.

My wife is a devoutish Catholic in all the senses that you and I understand it. She says her prayers to Mary before turning out the light at night, and that is sacred ground that would rock our marriage to the core if I were to challenge it again. I have hinted at my disapproval before and it didn`t go down well. I don`t blame her for this because I didn`t think this way when we first married; it`s me who`s made the paradigm shift. Does the Lord really want another failed marriage on those grounds? She is moderately pleased that I now attend church again (a fairly high Anglican Church that is not far removed liturgically from what she`s used to), but is as against excessive religiosity (as she sees it) as she is against the opposite. In a nutshell, you`re too extreme for her. I know "extreme" is a label you would not be afraid of. Some people can carry that off better than others. You can.

See what you started Aaron!

[steve]

Ian,

I certainly don't want anyone to feel guilty about not supporting this ministry. I also do very much appreciate those of you who do support us financially. There are other means of "support" equally essential as financial support—one of which is your verbal encouragement. Thanks for your support in that currency!

[steve7150]

See, my wife is a great Christian woman and she loves the Lord with all her heart, but digging into the Bible and critically studying it is not her strong suit. My pastor is also a very good man and by calling that doctrine heresy, he wasn't trying to pick a fight with me, he was (as best as he knew how) trying to protect me from what he perceived to be dangerous territory. He's not a dumb man either, he's just entrenched into a system that the whole Christian world is drowning in and afraid to look beyond it. I've tried to discuss it with my wife before and she just gets confused by it (probably a testimony to my poor skills of explanation) and just trusts that my pastor is right. It's hard to blame her too much for that.






If you are a partial preterist and she is a futurist the crux still is that either way Jesus is Lord and he will return to judge the world, the difference is in the last few years leading up to this event. It seems almost immaterial to me how one views these things because in the end the final result is virtually the same. You are willing to contribute to the church she likes , it seems only reasonable that considering the above and considering that your feelings should matter as much as hers that she can be a big enough person to compromise and appreciate considering the above, that eschatology is really a minor issue.
I know it's easier to avoid strife but perhaps if you emphasize your common ground and that for 1700 years the predominent eschatological view in the church was "historicist" and that it is important to you to contribute even a small amount to Steve Gregg's ministry , perhaps she might be a bit more sympathetic.
I'm assuming you brought this up because it bothers you and avoiding the issue has not given you peace about it so i would as calmly as possible persue a dialogue.

[Ian]

Amen Steve7150.
If Steve G has aligned himself with a "dangerous heresy" what should be done with him? If this were going on in Calvin`s time would the pastor have him burnt at the stake with damp slow-burning green wood? Why can`t Christians be softer with each other? This doctrinalism is one thing that puts non-christians off and I can`t say I blame them.