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Oh, yeah . . . Scrupulous people. They didn't have any scruples about beating a loud MEGAdrum and blaring away on a loud horn while shaking about 30 tambourines at 60Hz or so -- until the damned things nearly broke -- right outside my window for one hour early every Sunday morning when I was a teenager who had just discovered the joys of overimbibing on Saturday nights! Nooooooooooooooooo . . . Couldn't be scrupulous then, could they?! Hadta wait 'til they had a big audience! :-)

"The money that Mr. Rush received was via the lottery: We preach against gambling,"

I commend the SA for their stand also. As a contrast, last year the SC State newspaper railed for months against the state lottery only to see the voters approve it. The State now prints the lottery numbers each day. Total left wing hyprocrites all. The religious do gooders who fought openly against the lottery are not turning down lottery scholarship money for their children either. More hyprocrites.....

I was in the Fifth Grade in 1962. My father was stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. One day in October, our teacher told us that the buses were waiting outside to take us home. We were warned to go straight home and nowhere else. Within 15 minutes of our being dropped off, another bus would be picking us up with our mothers to ship us back to the states. We were about to go to war with Cuba and the Soviet Union.

We were supposed to keep evac bags packed at all times. My mom had a few minutes to throw some stuff together and get us on the bus headed for our evacuation ship.

Our particular ship was loaded down with old ammunition that was supposed to be hauled out to sea and dumped. Because of the heavy load, our ship was much slower than the other ships in the evacuation effort. We were left behind, and we were tracked the entire way by a Russian submarine. The sailors on board endured enormous hardships to make the voyage easier for us evacuees. They slept on deck, and everyone had to eat, sleep, and use the head in shifts. The sailors were wonderful.

We arrived in Norfolk, VA in late October. It was unbelievably cold. My brother and I didn't own any winter clothing ... we lived in shorts and t-shirts. They put us up at some Naval barracks for the night, and the next day took us to a huge warehouse manned by the Salvation army. The warehouse was stocked with clothes, blankets, kitchen supplies, food, and anything else you could think of. The Salvation Army workers kept urging us to take more than we thought we needed and all we thought we could use.

It was very hard. My mom didn't have a car, we had no money, and 2 rambunctious kids to keep up with. And it looked like Dad was about to be in a nuclear war back in Gitmo. But the Salvation Army helped us survive by providing a start back in the states.

Every Christmas, I make a point of telling my 2 boys about what the Salvation Army did, what they do, and I have them put a donation in the SA kettles.

I admire SA's stand in this case. I'm sure they don't get many $100,000 donations. But if they believe gambling is wrong, they did the right thing. The donation was made public, and they had to make it clear they didn't accept it.

Total and utter silliness.

I had this discussion with another FReeper recently when the Powerball winner stated he'd be tithing to his churches........and this FReeper chastised those preachers for even considering accepting the money since it came from "gambling".

Horse hockey.

It's simple, folks, and the Salvation Army should know better. Christians are clearly and unequivocally taught the concept of "first fruits"; tithing the first 10% of ANY monies that come to us. Period. It isn't your money; it's God's money. It really is that simple.

They should have accepted the money and used it for God's work. To turn it down like this flies in the face of the Christian church's very teachings and is worse than ridiculous.

".......too Heaven-bound to be any earthly good..................."