The Indulgent Brian Tamaki
In the NZ Herald today there's news of a split within Destiny Church's Brisbane branch.
It is believed Pastor Stock - who has been at the Brisbane branch pulpit for about three years - withdrew from his role because a newly introduced covenant went against his beliefs, a member said.
"He decided it was time [to withdraw as pastor]. He believed the covenant was wrong. It is simple - if you know you are sinning, you don't want to be preaching from the pulpit."
The member said the covenant told members to "give it heaps" as they worked towards a $3 million project which included building a $1.3 million budget to go towards putting Bishop Tamaki on TVNZ every morning, from Monday to Friday.
The covenant also encouraged members to go without coffee, takeaways and Sky TV for up to seven months to help give more in their church tithes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10629377
The covenant spoken of is the one the made the papers some months back where '700 male members of the church swore a "covenant oath" of loyalty and obedience to Mr Tamaki' and had to buy a $300 covenant ring.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10605956
I'm not a fan of Destiny Church's theology, but I'm surprised Tamaki didn't learn from history. Selling indulgences tore the Western Christians apart as the catalyst for the Reformation. Despite the fact that building St Peter's in Rome was a noble aim, selling spiritual goods was a recipe for disaster. One of my beefs with Scientology is that to ascend spiritually you have to pay effectively limiting salvation to those with movie star size pockets. So I was surprised that Tamaki tried it on given the theology of his church which is bound by Biblical literalism and Protestant theology.
Tamaki's brazen appeal for money was cloaked in Christian phraseology which I personally find distasteful. By all means grow the church and extend buildings but please be blunt about the need for money and why and please make sure people aren't pressured into parting with money, especially if they can't afford it.
Still it seems to have rebounded on him with Pastor Stock walking away with his family and a good number of Brisbane church members. I'm impressed by Stock's behaviour particularly because not only was Destiny his spiritual home but also his livelihood and it seems he is under contract not to pastor a church for two years after leaving Destiny.
Perhaps Brian Tamaki's flock should start reading about the life and spirituality of St Francis.
It is believed Pastor Stock - who has been at the Brisbane branch pulpit for about three years - withdrew from his role because a newly introduced covenant went against his beliefs, a member said.
"He decided it was time [to withdraw as pastor]. He believed the covenant was wrong. It is simple - if you know you are sinning, you don't want to be preaching from the pulpit."
The member said the covenant told members to "give it heaps" as they worked towards a $3 million project which included building a $1.3 million budget to go towards putting Bishop Tamaki on TVNZ every morning, from Monday to Friday.
The covenant also encouraged members to go without coffee, takeaways and Sky TV for up to seven months to help give more in their church tithes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10629377
The covenant spoken of is the one the made the papers some months back where '700 male members of the church swore a "covenant oath" of loyalty and obedience to Mr Tamaki' and had to buy a $300 covenant ring.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10605956
I'm not a fan of Destiny Church's theology, but I'm surprised Tamaki didn't learn from history. Selling indulgences tore the Western Christians apart as the catalyst for the Reformation. Despite the fact that building St Peter's in Rome was a noble aim, selling spiritual goods was a recipe for disaster. One of my beefs with Scientology is that to ascend spiritually you have to pay effectively limiting salvation to those with movie star size pockets. So I was surprised that Tamaki tried it on given the theology of his church which is bound by Biblical literalism and Protestant theology.
Tamaki's brazen appeal for money was cloaked in Christian phraseology which I personally find distasteful. By all means grow the church and extend buildings but please be blunt about the need for money and why and please make sure people aren't pressured into parting with money, especially if they can't afford it.
Still it seems to have rebounded on him with Pastor Stock walking away with his family and a good number of Brisbane church members. I'm impressed by Stock's behaviour particularly because not only was Destiny his spiritual home but also his livelihood and it seems he is under contract not to pastor a church for two years after leaving Destiny.
Perhaps Brian Tamaki's flock should start reading about the life and spirituality of St Francis.