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Comment by cdoxsey | Hacker News Reader

I'm always struck by this proverb:

> “Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

One thing I didn't see in the comments here, though I may've just missed it, is that with more money you have more of an opportunity to give it away. You can make a real difference for people in need. I suspect not many in the HN crowd tithe, by which I mean giving 10% of your income to charity, but perhaps it's something to consider, and probably more fulfilling than a slightly nicer car.

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I like your post. As a Christian myself, I've always found it likewise fascinating.

God's teachings on money are sprinkled throughout scripture.

You are right: God expects us to give from what He provides us with.

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 11:24-25

Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. Proverbs 11:28

Better is a little with righteousness than great income with injustice. Proverbs 16:8

He who oppresses the poor to make more for himself or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty. Proverbs 22:16

Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. Proverbs 23:4

Basically, the concept of sacrificial giving is that it does hurt to give it. Jesus made it clear that giving from your surplus is fairly meaningless. Trusting in God and being obedient are what He expects. When you feel led to give, give. The more you sow, the more you reap. But Jesus is very plain in telling us to give in secret so as to please God. Men you give in public to be seen and approved by men is wrong.

Tithing is something that is largely forgotten in the post-Christian world we now find ourselves in. Peace.

> Tithing is something that is largely forgotten in the post-Christian world we now find ourselves in. Peace.

That's simply not true. The 2016 World Giving Index[1] shows that their three measures of charity have all increased over time, including financial donations (page 16). Many of the top ten countries for percentage who donate money have had decreased religiosity (page 21).

1: https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publi...

Maybe this comment is controversial, maybe it is not. Feel free to discuss it, since I am putting this out there as an idea with the intention to get more ego-centric people also to consider a more giving mentality. Despite my nickname I consider myself to be in this camp and do my best to get myself to an instinctive state of altruism, but it is tough. Training my rationality is easier than training my instinct.

Anyways, if you don't want to give 10% of your income to charity, consider giving a mixture of 10% of your income or time to really help your family. As a baseline that is (you can always help more).

Some are in families that don't need help. However, I know people that are part of a family where they are clearly the most educated person and also in a minority within their family of being able to properly read and write. Governmental institutions can be a real hazard, even if they are accomodating. When you don't have decent reading and writing skills everything of that sort is tough.

Then, there are people who clearly have poor people within their families. I mean all kinds of poor people: poor in mind, poor in spirit or poor in finances (or all three). In some cases money will solve the problem. In most cases I don't think it will. But giving them some smart attention may at least alleviate some of their suffering. I say smart attention because people who have all three could hurt you if you do not watch out.

I try to do this and find it hard. But I also think it's a better use of my time because it shows the real difficulty of solving problems for people in need. Just giving money away abstracts you away from that process. And as a bonus, they are my family :)

I'm noticing that slowly but surely it is also easier to help people that I don't know. Since it becomes easier to empathize to their situations, because I've seen them more close up.

In general I would agree. I'm not catholic, but in that tradition they have the principle of subsidiarity:

> Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority.

Taking care of your family is definitely a priority. I would also encourage supporting local charities and getting involved with the work too (ie volunteer days).

You're right that its not just about the money, it just happens to be a resource that a lot of us have available, and merely giving can be a good place to start.

I'm curious on how you view tithing in the context of taxation.

Governments have taken upon themselves to help those in need, and taken from the population to do so. Could one not argue that a certain proportion of your income has already gone to charity? (presuming you're paying income taxes)

Part of giving to charity in addition to taxes is that I don't think the government (USA) is really handling my money properly when it comes to social programs. Private giving in the USA allows us to choose how our money is spent more specifically and usually lets you make a bigger impact in an area you care about. You should look up private giving in the USA, it's an astounding figure that is given every year voluntarily, there are tax deductions if you itemize, but at the end of the day I would save more money taking the standard deduction and not giving, so it's still a sacrifice monetarily for a lot of people here.

Technically the tithe is to be given to the church. Charity giving is above and beyond that. And you are supposed to tithe out of your gross income -- your "first-fruits." It's an expensive habit! One of the many reasons I'm glad to no longer be religious.

Also I think that the evidence doesn't really support the idea that having too much money is bad for your happiness.

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