More Generous Than Whom?
Sorry for the lack of posts. We’ve had an interesting vacation. Just so you all know, the tsunamis have not affected us nor anyone we know (we’ve gotten a lot of questions about that). Fortunately, none of our relatives in Thailand live in the south. I have no idea if all of this will affect our plans at all - at the moment I doubt it. (Though we did see a headline saying over 30,000 children may have been orphaned by this).
I do find all the talk about the relative generosity of America really interesting. Words like “stingy” and “generous” are relative, so it’s hard to use them. In terms of hard numbers, of course America gives the most - because it has the most. That’s great, there’s nothing wrong with that. But if America wants to compare itself to other countries (e.g. by saying that America is the world’s “most generous nation”), then those numbers don’t really count.
I mean, let’s say Joe has $100 and Bill has $5,000 - Joe gives $1 and Bill gives $3 to some charity. Obviously Bill gave more, which is great for the charity that’s receiving, but for Bill to say he’s more generous than Joe is a little silly. That’s not to minimize what Bill has done. From the charity’s point of view, anything and everything is helpful and it really doesn’t matter where it came from or how much more there is. I’m just talking about the comparison. When we’re talking about who’s more generous than whom, percentage is all that matters.
For the world at large, this is arguable. For the Christian, Jesus answered this for us:
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.”
The stats I’ve seen suggest the American government is not the most generous government in the world by percentage. That is to say nothing of the American people - I haven’t seen those stats, and I don’t doubt that they are quite generous. This of course begs the question as to where a country’s charity should be coming from: the government, the individuals, or both? I might publicly think about that later, but not right now. Right now, I’ve got some things to fix on this website.
WOOT! First post! Sorry, I thought I was on another site ;). What I meant to say is that foreign military expenditure is seems neglected in considering US “generosity”. US cost of troops in Japan, Korea, Europe, Balkans, to name a few is not trivial. And that’s nothing to speak of the cost of those lost in service abroad.
I’m glad you made it back safely.
I would think that 30, 000 +/- new orphans would affects your plans somewhat, but hey you never know. Dream big…our God has no limits.
NAG: That’s a good point. Some of the cost of troops can certainly be counted, and I don’t know the statistics for that.
I doubt all of it could be considered “generous” though, since most of it is for protection of American interests. But certainly some of it helps other countries defend themselves when they otherwise couldn’t.
Honestly, I’d like my government to be selfish and self interested. Sure helping other people ultimately serves its interests, but isn’t a government’s ultimate purpose to serve its people?
Anyway, I think I contend the use of the language. I don’t know that a government can be generous, I think people can. It will be a sad day when government giving supplants personal giving (both in amount and by design). Jesus also taught us to love the least among us. I interpret that as personally giving and working with them instead of having the government automatically deducting 50% from our income and doling out resources as it sees fit.
Nathan, this may be the first time I totally agree with you on the subject of politics or government ;) I agree that it’s not the government’s job to be “generous”. Which means that the American response (if there even needs to be one) to the “stingy” comments needs to be repeatedly pointing to the American people instead of trying to justify government generosity.
I think my point is that our government’s giving cannot be considered generous, but like you said, I don’t think it has to be (or even should be) necessarily.
Well I think you guys have nailed it.
Adam, I like the new look.
“I have no idea if all of this will affect our plans at all - at the moment I doubt it. (Though we did see a headline saying over 30,000 children may have been orphaned by this).”
Adam, are you going to keep blogging when you head out? I hope so. I will do my best to share His works through you with my readers and try to raise some sponsors. Please keep me informed about your plans (i.e., keep posting!). Perhaps Christian bloggers stateside should “adopt” a missionary abroad and raise prayer and support? Perhaps we’ll start a trend…
Thanks, Rick. I do plan on continuing to post in Thailand. I don’t know how often it will be yet, but hopefully at least once a week. I figured on this blog being a sort of newsletter for those who want more-than-quarterly updates.
And when we start raising support (which will be soon), I’ll post about it here for sure. In fact, I was planning on having an Amazon or Paypal donation button to make it easy for folks :).
Sounds like a good idea. I can’t recall how I did it exactly, but it’s on the PayPal site somewhere. When you do make it to Thailand and get things set up - be sure to post pictures (if possible).