Posted on 02/01/2011 8:13:31 AM PST by Alex Murphy
"On one level, Americans, together with all sinners, are not nearly as generous with their resources as God is with us. The triune God overflows throughout the created order, and abundance is the name of the game. So, in learning the disciplines of giving, we are not trying to reach a certain specified amount, but are rather trying to learn how to imitate the divine heart. And in this regard, Americans certainly have a long way to go. But there is another way of asking this question, and that is on the horizontal level. How does American generosity stack up against those who are usually the most prone to be critical of Americans? Here the data is more reassuring. Evangelicals are more generous than mainliners, Protestants are more generous than Catholics, Christians are more generous than secularists, and Americans are far more generous than everybody else in the world. But instead of ascending praise according to this, we usually hear ascending carping.
If generosity was a class and the Americans were scoring a 68 and the Europeans were scoring a 42, we ought not to ask the Europeans to grade our papers. But, at the same time, God as the instructor doesn't grade on a curve, and the Americans are still scoring a 68 and need to improve."
Douglas Wilson, minister, Christ Church
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
Douglas Wilson, minister, Christ Church
Americans would be a lot more generous if allowed to keep more of our own money and decide for ourselves.
Stuff like this drives me crazy. Enough with the guilt trip already! In the vast, vast scheme of things, there is no one on earth as generous as Americans. We give to those in need freely and without reservation...often to find, as recently as a few days ago, that these so-called “charities” pooh-pooh the theft of not millions, but BILLIONS of OUR money.
Charity begins at home. We come to the aid of our neighbors. No one asks for it. We just do it. Stop trying to place us in some ridiculous catagory along with the leeches of the world which make grandiose promises they never deliver on. WE don’t belong in a “catagory” amongst stingy and/or greedy nations. We are a light unto the world and they hate us for it.
I asked an ex-waitress about her experiences a few weeks ago. One thing she said was that the worst tippers by far were the Christians who came to eat after church and left very small tips. Her other note was that the Christians would often take up a booth for 3 hours while meeting with someone for a bible study and then also leave a very small tip even though she checked on them over and over to see if wanted to order anything.
Many Christians are very good tippers, some even extravagantly so, but I also know some of the other kind. Our pastor occasional reminds his people to tip well, because it sends the wrong message when you don’t. And if you plan to leave a tract, you’d better double it or triple it. The worst thing, and I know people who would do it, is to leave a tract and a small tip or none at all. Or witness to a waitress (she’s a captive audience to an extent) and then again leave a small tip. Worst thing you can do.
People are stupid if they don’t tip well and revisit the place. Can you imagine what they do to the food in the kitchen before it comes to the table. I give a great tip for that particular reason. They will not screw with your food if you tip well. It is common sense and people should know better. Not only that it is the right thing to do.
There is a reason for that. The Left, Democrats, wants the credit for doing good and the control that goes with it. If you were allowed to keep your money and then give to a worthy cause, it would be you that would get credit and you would also feel good about yourself rather than about the government collective.
It is just an extension of It Takes a Village rather than individual accomplishment.
With the amount I pay in taxes now, my attitude is “Sorry, I already gave at the office.”
Works...works...works... Law ...Law ...law
That is the understatement of the ages. Would it be disrespectful to say 'Duh'?
Jesus ... Jesus ... Jesus ... Jesus ... Jesus ... Jesus
I'll take Jesus' own words over the mere traditions of Men fretting about "works" and "Law".
Law Law law... No one is saved by works of the law..That is not THE gospel
Just want to comment, that to see works as saving in this scripture is a misreading... the sheep were always sheep.. and the goats were always goats..
The sheep did not do good work to be sheep..they did not even realize they were doing them.. They did what they did because they were sheep, because they were rooted in Christ..
You can blather and drivel all you want ... it won't make Jesus' own words go away.
"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
I get the point.
I pray that you do, too.
Is that your infallible interpretation of Scripture? Have you been granted magisterial authority to instruct all and sundry in the meaning of the Gospel?
I find your interpretation to be mindless and silly, and to reduce Our Lord's words to the bleatings of a 1st Century Captain Obvious. Indeed, I consider your interpretation profoundly insulting to Him.
The Goats are condemned , not because they did not work, but because that work was not done to the glory of God.. They did the works of the natural man..... they had never repented and believed..and scripture tells us that what is not of Faith IS SIN, so this was a sin judgement for the goats and a reward judgement for the sheep
When Christ rewards them for their work they ask when they did it..
The God pleasing works were not self serving works to earn or secure their salvation or for the approval of men ..They flowed out of the heart of Christ as works HE HAD ORDAINED for them before the foundation of the world
Hear Jesus teaching on salvation by works
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
The goats brought forth fruit..but it was not God pleasing work..
Mat 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
The goats could never do works pleasing to God no matter what they did
Mat 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
A judgement of works..... but that judgemen actually happened before the works, because they were not good "trees" to begin with (sheep)
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
So the works do not make one good..but they tell us the condition of the the relationship with God
Mat 7:21
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Christ NEVER knew them, they were never saved then lost.. HE NEVER knew them , They pleaded their case on works.. BUT their fruit was rotten to the core, because its roots were not in Christ
The ONLY work that saves is the work of Christ
ROFL!!!!
Have you any idea the implicit arrogance in that command? Has it ever occurred to you that I have read it ... many times ... and that I have weighed your interpretation in the balance and found it wanting?
what you find is
No, that's what you found. By what authority do you presume to impose your personal interpretation of Scripture on others? Do you believe yourself to interpret infallibly? Do you fancy yourself an inerrant arbiter of doctrine?
Now ... what I find, throughout the Gospel of Matthew (and indeed throughout all four Gospels) is example after example, both directly and by parable, of Jesus explaining and teaching His followers (and others) how He expects them to conduct themselves.
If you choose to ignore Him, I believe that you do so at your own peril.
Your interpretation of this passage appears to me to suck the life out of it. I reject your interpretation.
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