My wife and I have been working out some problems, but there’s one problem we can’t agree on… money.  My wife believes if you have money, spend it.  I try to manage and balance my money; she tells me that I’m worshiping money.  Is it wrong to manage finances?

Sincerely,
Counting My Pennies

Dear Counting My Pennies,

It is possible to spend too much, and it is possible to save too much.  Saving money is not a bad thing, but falling in love with money and hoarding it is.  God tells us that Christians should be good stewards of whatever He gives us… and that includes money (1 Pet 4:10).  Jesus gives the parable of the talents and uses the example of men saving and investing as a positive example (Matt 25:14-30).  The Proverbs mention the industrious ant as an example of preparing and saving (Pr 6:6-8).  If we are careful and smart with money, that makes God happy… unless we begin to worship that money.

Greed (Pr 1:19), covetousness (Col 3:5), and the love of money (1 Tim 6:10) are always sins.  It is a good thing to save for the future as long as we are content with whatever the Lord has given us (Heb 13:5).

     Will someone explain to me how if Adam and Eve were the first humans, how Cain could marry a woman who lived in Nod?  Genesis made it very clear that Adam and Eve are not the parents of her.

Please answer.  If I find your answer, I will be back to your site.

Sincerely,
Skeptical

Dear Skeptical,

Eve is the mother of all living (Gen 3:20).  In the beginning, there were only Adam and Eve.  Adam and Eve had multiple children (Gen 5:3-4).  In the genealogies of Genesis 5, none of the daughters are named – only the sons.  This is because Jewish genealogies (and Genesis is a Jewish book) follow the male lineage – we never know the dates or names of the daughters that are born.  Cain was Adam’s firstborn son (Gen 4:1).  When Cain went to find a wife, the only logical person he could marry would be his sister.  Therefore, Cain’s wife was also his sister (Gen 4:17).

It is morally repugnant in today’s society for someone to marry his sister, but it wasn’t that way in the beginning.  In the beginning, they had no other choice.  God told the family of Adam to “go forth and multiply” (Gen 1:28).  When Adam’s sons and daughters intermarried, they fulfilled God’s command.  God didn’t prohibit close intermarriage until almost 2,500 years after Adam and Eve (Lev 18:9-17).  As far as her living in Nod, the Bible never says Cain’s wife was from Nod (Gen. 4:16-17) – it simply says that Cain moved to Nod.  He may very well have married her before going there.

Why do we, believers, sometimes act like Pharisees?

Sincerely,
Un-Phar

Dear Un-Phar,

There are lots of reasons that people can behave Pharisaically.  The Pharisees chose their traditions over the Bible (Mk 7:8), and the Pharisees also cared more about appearances than they did about genuinely serving God (Matt 23:25-26).  Sadly, there are still people like that in the church today.  The key is to not be that way yourself.

     First of all, we are loving Christians who tithe and give our offerings, and God has blessed us dearly.

However, there is a family who are friends with our family, and we love them.  Yet, they are constantly taking advantage of our niceness and Christian faith because they are always asking for things, especially money, and they know we will try to help them… $40 here, $60 there, $100 here, another $40 there, another $80 there.  Many times it is twice a month or once a month.  This has been occurring over and over and over for the past three to four years.  Although they never pay us back, we continue to help them out because this is the Christian thing to do.  However, there is a time for all things!  It is just getting out of hand!  Will God be upset with us if we slowly and kindly stop giving them money and start putting these resources to better use?  Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,
Give Me A Break

Dear Give Me A Break,

The Bible tells us that it is a good thing to give and help others who are in need (Acts 20:35, Matt 19:21).  However, the Bible also has some strict rules regarding those who are unwilling to work and are always looking for handouts.  2 Thess 3:10 says that if a man won’t work, neither let him eat.  There is a point where giving to someone can actually hinder them from being productive and enable entitlement behavior.

Furthermore, the Bible tells us to be good stewards of what we have (1 Cor 4:2).  How you budget and spend your money needs to be generous and wise.  It sounds like you feel that you are being generous, but you are no longer being wise in your financial dealings.

A note to our readers: we’ve received a lot of requests for video tutorials addressing common questions.  Here is one explaining the differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Happy studying!

- The AYP Team

     Are there any scriptures that instruct us on fellowshipping with other Christians (i.e. where to fellowship, what to do when we fellowship)?  I’ve been meeting with a group of Christians here and there, and it seems all we do is eat, talk about random things, and go home.  I have yet to see a Bible opened at one of the fellowships; we don’t even speak about God and His Word.  If someone walked in on our fellowship, they would think we’re just a bunch of friends sitting around and having a good ol’ time.  I want to bring this up before the group.  Any suggestions?

Sincerely,
A Different Kind Of Hungry

Dear A Different Kind Of Hungry,

The Bible talks a lot about fellowship but not in the way we often use the word today.  The word ‘fellowship’ means ‘the share which one has in anything, participation’.  In short, the word fellowship doesn’t have anything to do with social gatherings; it is about partnership and sharing in a common goal.  The Greek word for fellowship is sometimes translated ‘communion’ (2 Cor 13:14) or ‘contribution’ (Rom 15:26) because when we share in a common work or contribute to a common work, we are in fellowship.

The church must be in fellowship with one another constantly.  We must work together for a common purpose at all times.  However, that doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not you socialize… in the case of Php 1:3-5, Paul said he had fellowship with the Philippian church because they financially supported him even though he was in a distant land.

Now that we know what fellowship is and isn’t, let’s talk about this group getting together.  There isn’t anything wrong with Christians just spending time together for fun and social enjoyment.  However, if you are getting together for the purpose of studying and spiritual growth, it sounds like this group isn’t meeting those goals.