Guilt Money

My family and I were driving to Greenville this morning and stopped at a red light at a major 4 way intersection that was being occupied by a church group looking for hand-outs. I'm not sure what the cause was or even what church they were representing, but I did read "church" on one of their buckets. Does anyone appreciate these opportunities to give? Because if people are looking for an opportunity to give some money, but haven't found the time or avenue to act out this desire, then this form of panhandling might have it's purpose. But I would think people with this desire would be in the minority. So is this technique for raising money honoring to Jesus? And is God in need of "guilt money"? (which is what I think they were collecting).
First I need to state that I love the idea of giving to charity, church, and Christ honoring ministries. I feel it is not only something we need to do, but something we should want to do as well. It is the best defense from keeping money from turning into a god (or an idol). The easiest way to give money away is to give credit to God for supplying it in the first place. But at the same time ,we are commanded to be good stewards with our money. So when should we give and when should we keep?
I think charity should be done out of love, compassion, and sympathy but never out of guilt. I'm convinced that God doesn't need money, and that God doesn't motivate through guilt. Charity is a gift from God, both to the people in need as well as (if not more for) the people who are giving. America unfortunately is in a time of the "Prosperity Gospel", which sells Jesus as the provider of health and wealth if the person obeys His commands. To me, wealth is the god in this message! It is not the Gospel! But with this idolatry in our churches today, it only makes sence that people are mislead about giving and the motivation behind it.
To me, the offering plate at church is not much different than the people standing at the intersection this morning. I wonder how much "guilt money" ends up in those plates on any given Sunday morning. We have gone from an individual placing an offering on their knees at the alter of the Lord, to dropping an envelope in a plate passed down the aisle. I use to be one of the people handing these plates out in a church service. I remember the college kids, as well as occational adults, who didn't have money to put in the plate. Their eyes told their story. They wanted me to know their reasonable explanation, but they knew they couldn't explain. Guilt and shame was very evident. And I've been guilty of these looks and feelings as well, in addition to feeling prideful when people happened to see me during the times when I did drop that envelope in the plate. This can't be God's plan! Publicly giving to God has to generate thoughts that aren't God honoring. I wish the church would rethink this issue of offering and come up with an enviroment where people could give their money (or not) to God in such a way that is free of public pride or public shame. Pride and shame are not from God!
But the church does have a big disadvantage when it comes to money. The preachers can not teach about tithing without producing some negative attitudes. The church leaders are perceived as the God's beneficiaries, so of course they want people to give to God. So let me say, as someone who is not in the ministry, that giving to God through Christ honoring ministries, with a modivation of love, is a blessing in itself. The Bible does promise rewards for people with this faithfulness of giving, but contrary to the "prosperity gospel", God's intent behind these financial blessings is not to make people wealthy, but to give people the resources to provide charity. So the churches of Jesus need to try and keep our money where God intended to be: Behind us and Him, not between.

Just because I mentioned it in this post, I'll post John Piper's video of his opinion of the Prosperity Gospel. This video is tough to watch, but it is from a Baptist minister who is very passionate about Jesus, and someone I admire as a preacher of Christ.