Of late, the term "optics" has floated the media airwaves.

I do not belong to a "mega-church," and personally, I feel they are antithetical to Jesus's teaching about relationships and community. But who am I to cast aspersions? Or stones.

You can read the story here.

A South Carolina pastor defended buying his wife a $200,000 Lamborghini Urus as an eighth wedding anniversary present after coming under fire for the purchase.

Pastor John Gray, the leader of Relentless Church in Greenville, S.C., came under fire for presenting his wife, Aventer, with the expensive vehicle. A video that went viral, which has since been deleted, showed the pastor surprising his wife with the keys to the luxury vehicle last week, the Charlotte Observer reported.

The pastor was criticized by social media users questioning how he could afford the car. In a Facebook Live video Thursday, Gray defended the purchase while tearing up at times.

“Pastor buys his wife this expensive car,” Gray said. “First of all it wasn’t a pastor who bought the car, it was a husband that bought the car. Get that in your spirit.”

He also addressed the speculation that he used some money from the church to pay for the Lamborghini.

“Did this man use any money from the church to do this?” Gray asked. “And the answer is no. Absolutely not. And God, take my life on this live feed if I did.”

The pastor continued that the car was bought with money he saved from his second book deal and the fourth season of his reality show “The Book of John Gray” which airs on the OWN Channel.

"My wife has pushed for my dreams and my vision and she has toiled with a man who is still trying to find himself," he said. "That carries a weight. I wanted to honor her for how she’s covered me."

Gray said he has put a deposit on the car but has not fully paid it off. In an Instagram post, his wife defended her husband.

“My hubby is a hard worker,” she wrote. “He worked his whole life and he saved to bless his wife.”

That is nothing,he is making payments.
Now if you want your eyes to be shocked ,google search the wealth of pastors.
Some of them are mega millionars

i'd like to see churches pay taxes, period.

quote:

Originally posted by recoatlift:
i'd like to see churches pay taxes, period.

Why give liberals more money?

As for the pastor, he’s gonna be held accountable according to 1 Thessalonians. I wouldn’t want to be him....

The week before this became public he offered some portion of the weekly offerings to people from the church. He said, if you need it, come get it.

After I saw the Lambo purchase, it became clear to me about why he did it.

Sweet Jesus, how much money does that guy make that he did not use church funds.

Basically media click bait story. Yeah, the guy is the pastor at a mega church. However, he has his second book deal and fourth season of a reality show - sounds like he may have earned income enough even outside of his church salary to pay for this on his own. More media BS.

I'm sure the vehicle is for church use only. Nice write off. The sob's will probably make money on this swindle. .

Never heard of the guy personally and don’t know his backstory, maybe you all do and can shed some light as to why this is a problem.
But to me it just seems like you all feel a pastor should not have expensive things.

Is there something in the Bible that says one should not be wealthy?

He says the money is from his book deal and used no church funds. If this is true and that is how he wants to spend the money I take no issue.

I happen to have a friend who is a pastor that is likely a millionaire numerous times over. Has nothing to do with his church I have been to his family’s multimillion dollar ski house on occasions. This fella is likely the greatest worker of the Lord I have ever met. Should he not have a multimillion dollar ski home?

Wife and I were discussing just this article.

Where do any teachings claim a Christian, pastor, etc say the person must be poor? The pair could be a dedicated follower of Christ who just made good investments.

Of course, in my opinion, the cur hh should probably reconsider how much they are paying the pastor...

No one is saying this pastor (or any other) should be poor.

If I were a member of his church, the next time he started calling for charitable contributions I’d probably refrain from digging too deep, though...

If the info is true, that he spent no church money on the car, in fact paid for it out of money from book deals, etc.

Then I see nothing wrong with it. His money to use how he sees fit.

Kind of like working a second job to earn enough to do something for his wife. '

If he is a dedicated pastor, then he spends a lot of time at that profession. Our pastor back in Poughkeepsie spent as much as 80 hours a week at his job/profession. I was one of the church elders and we all got to see how hard he worked. And he had no outside income, lived in the house provided by the church. It was a nice house but nothing out of the ordinary.

Matthew 19:24?

I think a pastor should give the majority of any earnings to charity. He should live a bit conservatively.

You don't know how much he contributes to the church with his own time and money.

Being generous to the church and having personal wealth are not mutually exclusive.

The idea of living modestly is all about context. You don't know what his personal wealth looks like--having a Toyota Yaris for someone living in gross proverty is abhorrently luxurious, and a Lamborghini would be silly cheap for Jeff Bezos. In comparison to a monk, we all live decadently.

I can't get behind Sigforumites criticizing others for being wealthy. Lambast people for living outside their means, or for poor financial habits, but not for fairly accumulating wealth. It stinks of liberalism when anyone criticizes another for having what others do not.

quote:

Originally posted by RAMIUS:
Matthew 19:24?

You can't buy yourself into heaven (the belief at the time was that giving alms to the poor would help get you into heaven). Even a rich man couldn't give away enough of his money to buy a spot in heaven. Instead, seeking spiritual wealth in God is the way into heaven.

It doesn't mean poor people automatically go to heaven or that rich people are barred from it. God is unconcerned with material wealth--all things in Heaven and Earth are his anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by Kenpoist:
No one is saying this pastor (or any other) should be poor.

If I were a member of his church, the next time he started calling for charitable contributions I’d probably refrain from digging too deep, though...

I certainly don't believe that a pastor should be poor.

For me, I'd be very suspicious of him using the church as a tax shelter. I don't think that's very Jesus-like...

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:

quote:

Originally posted by recoatlift:
i'd like to see churches pay taxes, period.

Why give liberals more money?

Churches are quite liberal, so it's like a self licking ice cream cone.

Let the man reward himself and whomever or whatever else he desires as a result of his non church duties. That is his right. Now if he is marketing anything as a result of his church duties ( copies or recordings of his sermons, blessed articles, etc) that is a no, any proceeds of that should go to the church. And if he is using the church's legal or taxation status as a way to get around paying taxes or funneling church monies to this or anything else like his home(s) again that is wrong. If he is making payments on the car a check of lien status on the vehicle title should clear any of that up quick.

To quote what Aeteocles said: The idea of living modestly is all about context. You don't know what his personal wealth looks like--having a Toyota Yaris for someone living in gross proverty is abhorrently luxurious, and a Lamborghini would be silly cheap for Jeff Bezos. In comparison to a monk, we all live decadently. I can't get behind Sigforumites criticizing others for being wealthy. Lambast people for living outside their means, or for poor financial habits, but not for fairly accumulating wealth.

If his sheep want to give everything to him, no problem on my end. I'd like proceeds taxed, i'd start with Rev. Al.

"If only I had back the money that me and Cathrine sent that TV preacher that was screwing the hockey players." Cuzin' Eddy

And this, folks, is why I can't stand organized religion.

I can't.

People whipping out scripture because they don't like the fact that a "pastor" bought his spouse a luxury car.