When does buying clothes, electronics, or taking a trip or time and money for leisure cross this line?
How can we possibly answer these questions for other people?
The paradox of insular language
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We often develop slang or codewords to keep the others from understanding
what we’re saying. Here’s an example (thanks BK) of the lengths that some
are goi...
1 year ago
4 comments:
Yes, it does seem arbitrary to judge others when we have a mote in our own eye. However, I do have to wonder about people on welfare (food stamps, etc.) who go on more vacations in one year while on said assistance when I don't go on any. Or, who show me their awesome new iPhone after telling me the week before they are getting their rent paid by the church.
However, for those not receiving church or state assistance, I have nothing to say about how they spend their money.
In my experience, that seems to be the only time anyone cares whether you have anything new.
Clearly there are problems with the system and doles in and of themselves are problematic, ... but unless you know for sure where that money came from or really understand their situation, you don't know what sort of criteria were used to decide on that purchase.
heyNamI agree with the posts above. There are big problems with government assistance and I have issues with it. However, what I thought of when I read your blog, was my own thoughts when contemplating the law of consecration and how I would really go about living it fully. How do you decide when it's okay to spend money on a new kitchen floor or a new couch, when the old ones are functional but ugly and depressing? Wouldn't things like that always come after others' needs for more basic things? How do you decide what is really your excess? I feel like I have to have savings, retirement, etc, but how do I know if I'm putting away too much and therefore not being as generous as I should be? I don't really know the answers to these questions!
Exactly! ;)
In pondering this lately, I think the best way is to judge ourselves and how we feel about the system (inspired or not) and have compassion for the individual (how can we help them). So many decisions in life are just hard, but we should do our part to make sure our hearts are in the right place (with God) in whatever we do.
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