Daniel Wilmoth

In the gospel of Mark, Jesus visits the temple in Jerusalem with his disciples. In an open area of the temple are receptacles for donations. He sees rich people put in large amounts. He also sees a poor widow donate two lepta, the smallest coins in circulation. He tells his disciples,

Truly…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. (Mark 12:43 – 44 NIV)

We find such charity by the poor praised in the Bible. For example, Paul writes,

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.  In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.  For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. (2 Corinthians 8:1 – 3 NIV)

Charity by the poor is confusing. We expect the poor to receive rather than to give charity. Why should those who need money give away what little they have? Surely whatever can be accomplished with their meager donations can be accomplished with less sacrifice by others.

Our choices, including charity, are closely related to our attitudes. Attitude plays a central role in the practice of Christianity. Understanding the Christian perspective on attitude aids in understanding the appeal of charity by the poor. When Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment, he responds with two related to attitude.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:37 – 40 NIV)

The Law and the Prophets refer to the instructions in Hebrew scripture. The Law and the Prophets hang on the commandments Jesus cites because the proper attitudes induce the behavior they prescribe. Proper attitudes also induce behavior beyond what is prescribed. After discussing the greatest commandments, Jesus is asked what it means to be a neighbor. He responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds…. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.  The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ (Luke 10:30 – 35 ESV)

Hebrew scripture prohibits robbery. Love for a neighbor induces the Samaritan to go further and care for a victim. His attitude shapes his behavior.

However, our behavior can also shape our attitudes.  Much as we can choose to train our bodies, we can also choose to train our minds. In a letter to Timothy, Paul writes,

…train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way…. (1 Timothy 4:7 – 8 ESV).

We improve our attitudes through spiritual disciplines like prayer, ritual, and Bible study. Charity can be another spiritual discipline, one through which we reform our attitudes toward money. The Bible repeatedly warns about the love of money. For example, Paul writes,

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Tim. 6:9 – 10 NIV)

Jesus also warns about the love of money, explaining that it can compete with the love of God. He teaches that we can protect ourselves from the love of money by giving it away.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth….  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…. No one can serve two masters…. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:19 – 24 NIV)

Because charity can be a way of shaping attitude, charity can benefit not only those who receive but also those who give. In the book of Acts, Paul cites benefits from giving when he describes his own charity. He explains that although he is entitled to support from those to whom he ministers, he prefers to work so that he can provide for others.

I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel.  You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.  In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:33 – 35 ESV)

Charity by the poor is confusing because it seems to make their hard circumstances even harder. However, charity is intertwined with attitude. With charity, we prioritize our love for others over our own comfort. For Christians, loving others is more important than living comfortably. For the poor as well as the rich, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Never say about anything, “I’ve lost it,” but rather, “I’ve given it back.”

Epictetus, Handbook

In her popular book The Secret, Rhonda Byrne claims that we can get whatever we want using the “law of attraction.” Byrne writes that what we think about, we attract. To obtain anything, we need only focus on what we want.

It is the law that determines the complete order in the Universe, every moment of your life, and every single thing you experience in your life. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are, the law of attraction is forming your entire life experience, and this all-powerful law is doing that through your thoughts.¹

Byrne claims the law of attraction has been recognized by many religions, including Christianity. She elaborates a process for using the law of attraction that includes three steps: ask, believe, and receive. She quotes Jesus discussing those aspects of prayer.

Despite the parallel between the process Byrne provides and Christian prayer, The Secret and the Bible relate to our desires in radically different ways. The Secret focuses on conforming the universe to our will. In the Bible, we are taught that our instinctual desires can mislead us. The Bible focuses not on conforming the universe to our will, but on conforming our will to the will of God. Continue reading “The power of prayer”

The natural state of all possessions is to need repair and maintenance.  What you own will eventually own you.

Kevin Kelly, Excellent Advice for Living

Religious practice has declined in the United States. The share of the population describing themselves as religious fell from 65 percent in 2012 to 54 percent in 2017.¹ The share affiliated with any specific religion fell from 84 percent in 2007 to 71 percent in 2021.² During that period, the share affiliated with Christianity fell from 78 percent to 63 percent.

However, the decline in religious affiliation was not accompanied by an equivalent rise in atheism or agnosticism.³ While the share describing themselves as religious fell by 11 percentage points, the share describing themselves as spiritual fell by only 3 percentage points, from 78 percent in 2012 to 75 percent in 2017.⁴

The decline in religious practice was a decline in formal aspects of religion like ritual. Ritual does not obviously transform the world in a constructive way, and some may have abandoned religious practice because they see little value in ritual. However, ritual is a powerful tool for shaping our lives.

Continue reading “Rediscovering ritual”

When someone tells you something is wrong, they’re usually right.  When they tell you how to fix it, they’re usually wrong.

Kevin Kelly, Excellent Advice for Living

The Tao Te Ching presents the basic principles of Taoism in just a few dozen short versions. The Chinese word “tao” means way, and Taoism provides guidance for living in a way that corresponds with the way of the universe. The text was written thousands of years ago and is attributed to Lao Tzu, a name that can be translated as “Old Master.”

In the time since it was written, the world has changed dramatically, with an explosion of new technology that has greatly improved standards of living. Given the benefits of technology, we may be surprised to find technology viewed skeptically in the Tao Te Ching, where we read,

Let every state be simple
like a small village with few people
There may be tools to speed things up
ten or a hundred times
yet no one will care to use them
There may be boats and carriages
yet they will remain without riders…¹

Technology enables us to obtain more of what we desire. However, obtaining more of what we desire may not be sufficient to live well. The Tao Te Ching warns,

There is no greater loss than losing Tao
No greater curse than desire
No greater tragedy than discontentment
No greater fault than selfishness²

To live well, we must desire well. We must be wise. In the Tao Te Ching, to be wise is to relinquish desire. We find a skeptical view of technology in the Tao Te Ching because we may use technology in the service of desires we have failed to relinquish.

Continue reading “Knowledge versus wisdom”

It’s silly to try to escape other people’s faults.  They are inescapable.  Just try to escape your own.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.71

In 1937, in the midst of the Great Depression, Napoleon Hill published Think and Grow Rich, a book that would sell millions of copies. In it, he writes that he has learned the key to becoming rich from industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Hill writes that we have complete control over only our own thoughts and must begin our journey to riches by using that control to inflame in ourselves a desire for money. With characteristic exuberance, he concludes,

The Master Key is intangible, but it is powerful! It is the privilege of creating, in your own mind, a BURNING DESIRE for a definite form of riches. There is no penalty for the use of the Key, but there is a price you must pay if you do not use it. The price is FAILURE.¹

Hill prescribes a daily practice that will keep the flame burning. He instructs readers to write down the amount of money they want, when they want it, and their plan for getting it. The statements are then to be read aloud twice per day, once after waking in the morning and once before sleeping in the evening, while readers visualize themselves in possession of the money.

If you truly DESIRE money so keenly that your desire is an obsession, you will have no difficulty in convincing yourself that you will acquire it…. You may as well know, right here, that you can never have riches in great quantities, UNLESS you can work yourself into a white heat of DESIRE for money, and actually BELIEVE you will possess it.²

The valuable insight at the heart of the book is that our desires do not simply happen to us. Hill saw that we can shape our desires, and by shaping our desires, we can shape our circumstances. However, the idea that we can shape our desires long predates Hill, and some of the implications recognized by others are in tension with his guidance. Continue reading “Think and be rich”

Truth serves only its slaves.

A. G. Sertillanges, The Intellectual Life