The second it becomes involuntary, it's no longer a donation.
O'Connor was on the committee that organized the auction and was responsible for acquiring paintings for the auction.
There is a conflict of interest here. The guy is in charge of acquiring donated paintings for the church.
Here's my scenario:
1) Hale unknowingly donates expensive painting to church
2) O'Conner realizes that he may have an expensive painting on his hands. His duty is to get the best price for the church. This involves getting it appraised and informing all potential bidders of it's possible value. Instead, he tells no one except for his two friends. Sounds like fraud to me.
Seems suspect to me.
$3,200 is a pretty hefty price and I am sure the Church was happy when the sale went through. If they had bought it for $20.00, it would be a different story.
THIS IS A HUGE PEOPLE THING.
churches would be great places if it was not for people.
now let's get back to the foundational word in the greek for church.
COMMUNITY,a place for those of the same mind-set to gather.
the mind-set should not be money,but the teaching of christian values[ie;the gospel]
'We were all friends and decided we would buy the painting,' he said Thursday. 'We just thought it would be a great investment.'"
Sheesh. What a weasel.
Hey, O'Connor: WWJD???
If I hadn't been on the committee and hadn't been in charge of getting paintings for the auction then I wouldn't donate one penny of my profit to the Church. If anything I'd find another Church and donate to them since they're not attempting to bully me into it.
But this guy's behavior smacks of fraud. I wouldn't have a clue that some ugly painting like that is worth anything. Investment? They *had* to believe it was worth more than the few thousand they were willing to spend. This "case" demands a proper investigation.
You know...this group made a donation to God and God blesses it by returning a blessing over 100 fold. They should just tithe it to get down to 320 thousand just to shut them up! Better yet...they owe them nothing!
It's usually "Buyer Beware" but the seller should know what they're doing and not complain about it later.The fact that it's a church is meaningless.
Boy, there sure are a lot of judges on this thread.
No none here knows the hearts of any of the parties to this event.
No one knows the true circumstances of this event, only what is reported by a reporter that very well may have gotten the facts wrong (naw, that don't ever happen does it?)
Yet, look at all the condemnation.
The Lord loves a cheerful giver. It's not like He's short of cash.
Nothing I buy at yard sales ever turns out to be the lost third of a 14th-century triptych painted by an unknown Sienese artist that sells for $489,600.
My wife usually just makes me put it in the storage shed.
O'Connor making this kind of profit doesn't pass the smell test. He was the both the seller's agent and the buyer. If as agent he sold a $489,000 painting to a third party for $3,200 not knowing what it was worth, I'd chalk it up as one of those things. If as a buyer not connected to the church auction he saw a steal, err bargain, and made a 15,000% return on his money, great for him. But he was both. An agent cannot screw his principal like that. If this church was a local government that sold something worth $489,000 for $3,200 to the government employee in charge of the sale there would be an indictment.
Interesting they make it sound like an "evil church" story. The fact is, any charity, once hearing about a large windfall, will set their donation dogs upon it and try to get a piece of it - using some related history is always useful in a potential transaction. This is how private donating should work, rather than a government collecting our money and handing it out to anyone who asks.
If these "friends" don't want to donate anything, it's their right to refuse. They're not being forced to to anything; they were obviously going to keep all the dough, and they resent the fact that they're "expected" to make a sacrifice now. Whining to the press so they can feel better about not making a grateful donation to the church, I guess!
Socialists consider all wealth to be community property, except for _THEIR_ wealth.
GOD mandates tithing 10% should go to some worthy cause to help the poor...48K would be a nice amount to the church as well as other people in need...