Tax $$$s To SDA Chruch

[Gregory Matthews]

See:

https://atoday.org/names-of-adventist-entities-that-received-ppp-funds-released/

The sum total of tax dollars given to SDA organizations ranges from $22,550,000  to $47,350,000!

 

[Dr. Shane]

American Adventists seem much more reluctant to take money from the government than Adventists in other countries.  When God provides, I see no reason the church should not use what God has provided.  Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem with funds from the pagan king Artaxerxes.  About that, Ellen White wrote, "The donors may have no faith in Christ, no aquaintance with His word; but their gifts are not on this account to be refused." (PK, p634) 

In Mexico, the government owns all the churches.  So after we build a church, we give it to the government.  This is done so that it becomes government property and the government protects it.  A church I built was given to the government when it only had a concrete floor.  After the government became the legal owner, it shipped in a truckload of ceramic tile and paid the church members to install it.  I can only imagine the reaction of many American Adventists if such a thing was practiced in the US.  Yet God continues to use that church, and many others in Mexico, to carry His end-time message.  

[pierrepaul]

1 hour ago, Shane said:

American Adventists seem much more reluctant to take money from the government than Adventists in other countries.

I think this probably has something to do with the 19th century fear over a "Sunday Law", which according to most SDA interpretations I've heard, the "Sunday Law" has to be (a) in the USA; and (b) must be enacted and enforced at the federal level of government.

For a 19th century movement that grew out of the Second Great Awakening, such a parochial US-centric focus may have made sense. The fact that many SDAs today still cling to this interpretation is a testimony to the inertia of religious tradition. We see this is all religious movements where a number of practices and traditions continue long after they have ceased to have any usefulness or relevance.