T
taekwondaveI just read Mosiah chapter 4 again. Marvelous chapter. Specifically the part about giving to beggars. Seems pretty clear-cut but I've noticed a wide range of opinions on the matter and figured I'd tell you mine and see if you wanna give yours.
I remember as a kid driving past a man with a sign that said, "Vietnam Vet. Please help." My heart just fell for it and I called out to my dad, whom I was sure had just missed him and told him to turn around and give him something. "He'll spend it on drugs." And we kept driving.
I had no idea how my dad knew he would spend it on drugs. He looked hungry. But whatever.
On my mission we were told to keep a little pocket-purse with us to keep coins in for when beggars approached us. The president told us to give but limited us as to how much. One day we were in a really big hurry and saw a drunk man who always asked us for money and we weren't in the mood to stop; being so late. So we pretended we didn't see or hear him and quickly crossed to the other side of the street. The wale that went up from that man could be heard for a mile. "The rich Mormons claim to follow Jesus but ignore the cries of the needy! Look at the rich Mormons go!"
Never felt more ashamed. I read the words of King Benjamin in Mosiah chapter 4 and determined to never turn a deaf ear to a beggar again. After my mission I nearly went poor giving to beggars outside walmart or in downtown salt lake or at gas stations or wherever I happened to see them. I even had a friend of mine mention me in a talk having seen me slip a large bill to a homeless man when I thought she wasn't looking. I always believed God would recompense me somehow for doing that and it was a source of "Godly pride" for me.
But last year I took this random trip to Rome, Italy. I started in Los Angeles with no money and determined to earn my way from the USC Coliseum where the Trojans played to the ACTUAL Coliseum in Rome. I thought I'd write a book about it and become famous. (Still workin on it ;) )
The first thing I did to earn money was I memorized a few stupid jokes and walked up to people on the street and said, "Excuse me. This is going to sound kind of weird but...if I tell you a joke...and it makes you laugh...could you spare a dollar?" Worked like a charm. Made my first fifty bucks or so that way.
A few days into the trip though I wasn't feeling the mojo to tell jokes. I was really hungry and had run out of money and needed to get back into town to use a computer. I went to a bus stop and just...ASKED someone for fifty cents to buy a bus ticket.
This was a weird moment for me. The moment that person handed over the change I felt a shift inside. Far from the feeling of gratitude and equality I felt with those I had traded a dollar for a joke with, I never wanted to see that person again. I was embarrassed. I had taken their money without giving ANYTHING of value to them in return. He had handed it over willingly but for no other reason than I made him feel guilty.
I had never considered that element before. I had never thought that what can look like a favor and can look like kindness and charity is really just a betrayal of self AND others. Why would anybody want to feel less than anybody else? Now that I thought about it, I liked giving to homeless people the best when they were sleeping. I didn't like them to see my face. And I never wanted to see THEM again either. Odd. I didn't realize that such a transaction could DIVIDE two people rather than bring them together. (If ye are not one ye are not mine?)
I recently succombed to a request by an aunt of mine for $100 that she SWORE she would give back to me the next day. I knew I should demand some collateral so as to safeguard our relationship should she be unable to pay but I didn't, and not having the money to repay me and ashamed about it she now avoids me rather than growin closer to me. Perhaps if I'm smart I'll call her up and formally forgive the debt, citing some miracle of finding a $100 bill on the ground or something but...somehow that feels...patronizing. We're supposed to feel like equals; like family. But we don't. All because I chose to be "Christ-like". Hm. I'm starting to wonder if Christ would really do that.
So we consider the golden rule: We do unto others as we would have them do unto us.
And we consider Mosiah Chapter 4: King Benjamin argues that not giving to beggars betrays the golden rule.
But I wonder if Benjamin ever begged. I wonder if he had ever been on that side of it if he'd still say that.
But I think the value of his sermon is not found so much in the action he mentions, so much as the motive. Notice he says: "Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just--"
Sounds to me that he is not so much condemning the inaction, but what he believes to be the motive behind it; which is not love but judgment, which we should avoid. He seems to believe very firmly in the golden rule, for he says: "For behold, are we not all beggars...calling unto (God) for a remission of your sins?" He clearly thinks then that to deny the beggar would be a violation of the golden rule, and I have to admit, were such the thought in your heart at the moment of not giving, that gross sin is probably in your heart.
And yet I think I could argue that not to give, given my own experience of being on the other end of this, IS in accordance with the golden rule; as having asked for money, in retrospect, I wish the person I begged from had turned me down.
What do you guys think? (I know it's long but it's got my mind all caught up.)
I remember as a kid driving past a man with a sign that said, "Vietnam Vet. Please help." My heart just fell for it and I called out to my dad, whom I was sure had just missed him and told him to turn around and give him something. "He'll spend it on drugs." And we kept driving.
I had no idea how my dad knew he would spend it on drugs. He looked hungry. But whatever.
On my mission we were told to keep a little pocket-purse with us to keep coins in for when beggars approached us. The president told us to give but limited us as to how much. One day we were in a really big hurry and saw a drunk man who always asked us for money and we weren't in the mood to stop; being so late. So we pretended we didn't see or hear him and quickly crossed to the other side of the street. The wale that went up from that man could be heard for a mile. "The rich Mormons claim to follow Jesus but ignore the cries of the needy! Look at the rich Mormons go!"
Never felt more ashamed. I read the words of King Benjamin in Mosiah chapter 4 and determined to never turn a deaf ear to a beggar again. After my mission I nearly went poor giving to beggars outside walmart or in downtown salt lake or at gas stations or wherever I happened to see them. I even had a friend of mine mention me in a talk having seen me slip a large bill to a homeless man when I thought she wasn't looking. I always believed God would recompense me somehow for doing that and it was a source of "Godly pride" for me.
But last year I took this random trip to Rome, Italy. I started in Los Angeles with no money and determined to earn my way from the USC Coliseum where the Trojans played to the ACTUAL Coliseum in Rome. I thought I'd write a book about it and become famous. (Still workin on it ;) )
The first thing I did to earn money was I memorized a few stupid jokes and walked up to people on the street and said, "Excuse me. This is going to sound kind of weird but...if I tell you a joke...and it makes you laugh...could you spare a dollar?" Worked like a charm. Made my first fifty bucks or so that way.
A few days into the trip though I wasn't feeling the mojo to tell jokes. I was really hungry and had run out of money and needed to get back into town to use a computer. I went to a bus stop and just...ASKED someone for fifty cents to buy a bus ticket.
This was a weird moment for me. The moment that person handed over the change I felt a shift inside. Far from the feeling of gratitude and equality I felt with those I had traded a dollar for a joke with, I never wanted to see that person again. I was embarrassed. I had taken their money without giving ANYTHING of value to them in return. He had handed it over willingly but for no other reason than I made him feel guilty.
I had never considered that element before. I had never thought that what can look like a favor and can look like kindness and charity is really just a betrayal of self AND others. Why would anybody want to feel less than anybody else? Now that I thought about it, I liked giving to homeless people the best when they were sleeping. I didn't like them to see my face. And I never wanted to see THEM again either. Odd. I didn't realize that such a transaction could DIVIDE two people rather than bring them together. (If ye are not one ye are not mine?)
I recently succombed to a request by an aunt of mine for $100 that she SWORE she would give back to me the next day. I knew I should demand some collateral so as to safeguard our relationship should she be unable to pay but I didn't, and not having the money to repay me and ashamed about it she now avoids me rather than growin closer to me. Perhaps if I'm smart I'll call her up and formally forgive the debt, citing some miracle of finding a $100 bill on the ground or something but...somehow that feels...patronizing. We're supposed to feel like equals; like family. But we don't. All because I chose to be "Christ-like". Hm. I'm starting to wonder if Christ would really do that.
So we consider the golden rule: We do unto others as we would have them do unto us.
And we consider Mosiah Chapter 4: King Benjamin argues that not giving to beggars betrays the golden rule.
But I wonder if Benjamin ever begged. I wonder if he had ever been on that side of it if he'd still say that.
But I think the value of his sermon is not found so much in the action he mentions, so much as the motive. Notice he says: "Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just--"
Sounds to me that he is not so much condemning the inaction, but what he believes to be the motive behind it; which is not love but judgment, which we should avoid. He seems to believe very firmly in the golden rule, for he says: "For behold, are we not all beggars...calling unto (God) for a remission of your sins?" He clearly thinks then that to deny the beggar would be a violation of the golden rule, and I have to admit, were such the thought in your heart at the moment of not giving, that gross sin is probably in your heart.
And yet I think I could argue that not to give, given my own experience of being on the other end of this, IS in accordance with the golden rule; as having asked for money, in retrospect, I wish the person I begged from had turned me down.
What do you guys think? (I know it's long but it's got my mind all caught up.)