GIVING

Interesting. I have always been a tither, most of the time to the church. It is one of those things that I was raised to do even when times were lean. My Dad was convinced that God would zap you if you didn't tithe and he was not even a regular church goer. The only thing he was more strict sbout was support of the Jews.  

Now, that I'm somewhat slack on going to church, I mostly do what you are doing. I am fairly generous to Jackie's church as they promote a strong Palestinian ministry. I have about a half dozen causes that I give to and actually seek out special things. One of my best ones is this coffee house run by these two gay guys. I would go in weekly and invariably a class of developmentally disabled kids and adults would come in with their teacher. They would take up half the tables and never buy anything. I started giving John and Art what we would expect them to buy if they ever did. My thoughts were that this unusual generosity (letting these kids have a place for an hour or do a day) should not go unrewarded. I give to beggars, bums, homeless, various sorts of street people, i. e., musicians, etc. I always operate with the Augustinian principle, "since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection to you."

Quick war story. When I was a civilian pastor, I was amazed at how little people gave. The Church never had money issues. They didn't owe any money and relatively speaking, they paid me almost next to nothing which was good as I said or did anything I wanted with the idea that they could fire me and I could care less. Lots of freedom in that attitude. But, we did have a kind of pledge week and one Sunday afternoon, I went into the office for something and the treasurer had left the pledge sheet out and I stupidly looked at it. I was appalled. We had at least six or eight bigtime millionaires (natural gas money) in the church. They pledged like a dollar a week. We had a couple of hundred families in the church. It was astounding. Jackie and I were by far the biggest givers to the church. In some ways, I wish I had known this earlier as I would have tried to help the church develop a philosophy of giving (which I think is important for all of us). Oh well. Thanks for giving me this chance to share.  

TAXING THE RICH

Let's face it, the Republican party is the party of the rich.  Jerry.

 

Oops!  Guess I am in the wrong party.  Jerry, I bet you are the richest member of 10 chaps, and you don’t seem to have a clue about the significance of the financial mess we have drifted into over the years.  In an earlier post you said something like, “not really interested, too complicated.”  I am afraid that our debt crisis will have a devastating effect on our country, as ugly as the crash in 1929.  So many places have closed down around here, and things seem to be getting worse.  Gas prices are falling again, mainly because so many citizens can’t afford to drive their cars.  I am worried about the direction of our country, and I don’t like the feeling.

 I am beginning to think I am a liberal democrat.  I want to  make Social Security more healthy and would like to have a  responsive health care system. 

I don’t even make half of what you talk about and I think I am in great shape.   But I still think that giving away money to families from cradle to grave (unless they  are really disabled) is counterproductive.  So I guess I won’t be a good Democrat after all.  And I am not a good Republican..

I must be a man without a party.   Am I anathema to the system?  I do listen to public radio, cnn,  family talk radio and like the Mike Huckabee program.

Guess I am just a died in the wool country hick.   Are we a dying breed? Glad to have you as an active friend.  Gives me someone to talk with that won’t get Mad and run away.

 Clyde

 

 

Clyde, I think that you have some good programs and are doing good work. I do think that most out there probably listen to a little too much Fox News. Anybody who makes $250,000 or over should pay more taxes. They would not be wealthy if they didn't live in this great country and had the opportunity to make this enormous wealth. Only makes sense that they should pay more.The rich shouldn't have these big tax cuts, as well as corporations making billions. Let's face it, the Republican party is the party of the rich. They protect them and are the best at spin as they convince smart, aware citizens like yourself that it is the fault of those awful democrats who want to protect things like social security and medicare. We could easily solve much of our unemployment now with government programs. We are the only country that can do it. The defit is a red herring in my view. {{{{{{{{Jerry}}}}}}}}

SAY WHAT

DIALOGUE FROM THE TEN CHAPS***

Let's face it, the Republican party is the party of the rich.  Jda

Oops!  Guess I am in the wrong party.  I bet you are the richest member of 10 chaps, and you don’t seem to have a clue about the significance of the financial mess we have drifted into over the years.  In an earlier post you said something like, “not really interested, too complicated.”  I am afraid that our debt crisis will have a devastating effect on our country, as ugly as the crash in 1929.  So many places have closed down around here, and things seem to be getting worse.  Gas prices are falling again, mainly because so many citizens can’t afford to drive their cars.  I am worried about the direction of our country, and I don’t like the feeling.  LH
 I am beginning to think I am a liberal democrat.  I want to  make Social Security more healthy and would like to have a  responsive health care system. 

I don’t even make half of what you talk about and I think I am in great shape.   But I still think that giving away money to families from cradle to grave (unless they  are really disabled) is counterproductive.  So I guess I won’t be a good Democrat after all.  And I am not a good Republican..

I must be a man without a party.   Am I anathema to the system?  I do listen to public radio, cnn,  family talk radio and like the Mike Huckabee program.

Guess I am just a died in the wool country hick.   Are we a dying breed? Glad to have you as an active friend.  Gives me someone to talk with that won’t get Mad and run away. CN

 I think that you have some good programs and are doing good work (Churches I'n his area). I do think that most out there probably listen to a little too much Fox News. Anybody who makes $250,000 or over should pay more taxes. They would not be wealthy if they didn't live in this great country and had the opportunity to make this enormous wealth. Only makes sense that they should pay more.The rich shouldn't have these big tax cuts, as well as corporations making billions. Let's face it, the Republican party is the party of the rich. They protect them and are the best at spin as they convince smart, aware citizens like yourself that it is the fault of those awful democrats who want to protect things like social security and medicare. We could easily solve much of our unemployment now with government programs. We are the only country that can do it. The deficit is a red herring in my view. jda

***The 10 chaps is an email group of retired military chaplains. Their dialogue is often very representative of what Americans think.