Charity - 5th Sunday Lesson Missing the Mark

[Fether]

this is very much an opinion post, and would love to hear thoughts on it.

Our 5th Sunday lesson yestersat was on charity. It proceeded as usual with defining Charity, then a conversation on what Charity looks like and how to  attain it. Things like “serve your children” and “donate things and talents”. We heard lots of stories of miracle stories of giving to the poor, and helping a family who lost everything in a house fire.

All these are good, but not better, nor best. I honestly think these types of conversations completely miss the mark.

The true test to acquire charity is not found in giving a coat to a freezing child, or buying a bed for a person who just lost their home in a fire. Those acts are extremely easy and the most average of humans on the earth will do this… but we aren’t trying to be average. Charity is the pure love of Christ, an attribute that is difficult to acquire and can only be done by the spirit.

To me, the true sign of Charity is found in avoiding gossip, patience, avoiding all anger, speaking no evil of anyone, offering the benefit of the doubt when you don’t know the full story, etc. these are the conversations we need to have, not spending an entire 5th Sunday trying to convince to donate food to a family that is starving to death.

[Traveler]

33 minutes ago, Fether said:

this is very much an opinion post, and would love to hear thoughts on it.

Our 5th Sunday lesson yestersat was on charity. It proceeded as usual with defining Charity, then a conversation on what Charity looks like and how to  attain it. Things like “serve your children” and “donate things and talents”. We heard lots of stories of miracle stories of giving to the poor, and helping a family who lost everything in a house fire.

All these are good, but not better, nor best. I honestly think these types of conversations completely miss the mark.

The true test to acquire charity is not found in giving a coat to a freezing child, or buying a bed for a person who just lost their home in a fire. Those acts are extremely easy and the most average of humans on the earth will do this… but we aren’t trying to be average. Charity is the pure love of Christ, an attribute that is difficult to acquire and can only be done by the spirit.

To me, the true sign of Charity is found in avoiding gossip, patience, avoiding all anger, speaking no evil of anyone, offering the benefit of the doubt when you don’t know the full story, etc. these are the conversations we need to have, not spending an entire 5th Sunday trying to convince to donate food to a family that is starving to death.

Often 5th Sunday lesson are the responsibility of Priesthood authority and reflect specific problems or challenges currently being faced as a ward family.  As I read the above post I remembered when Brigham Young called on the Saints in Utah to mount a rescue for the Martin and Willie handcart companies implying that unless help was mounted that consequences would befall the Saints for their lack of charity.  It is my opinion that charity has more to do with giving a freezing child at the time you encounter or hear of such than it is about anything that could be argued in a second hour meeting.

 

The Traveler

[Fether]

25 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Often 5th Sunday lesson are the responsibility of Priesthood authority and reflect specific problems or challenges currently being faced as a ward family.  As I read the above post I remembered when Brigham Young called on the Saints in Utah to mount a rescue for the Martin and Willie handcart companies implying that unless help was mounted that consequences would befall the Saints for their lack of charity.  It is my opinion that charity has more to do with giving a freezing child at the time you encounter or hear of such than it is about anything that could be argued in a second hour meeting.

 

The Traveler

This is true, we have dealt with some insane floods over the last couple months. Supposedly it is the worst flooding the area has seen in 600 years. There have been calls for assistance across the entire valley and thousands upon thousands have reached out. The day after the flooding, I went to go clean an entire block that got flooded. I was there for 4 hours and when I left, almost every basement had their carpets stripped and the mud level was taken down to less then 3inches. 

About a block from my house lives a single non-member who also has an aging mother. Their property was absolutely destroyed. Me and much of the ward has been over there multiple times to help clean things out. There has been a skid steer there for weeks trying to clean out the 3 feet of mud that had covered her 4 acre lot.

I think service is absolutely key when it comes to charity, but service is not Charity. The Bible Dictionary says “[Charity] is never used to denote alms or deeds of benevolence, although it may be a prompting motive“. To me, it seems service is a sign that someone might have charityC but it is not the charity Moroni 7 talks about. It seems there is still a large part of charity that is being missed when we talk about it.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Fether

[laronius]

Many of the acts of love performed by Jesus would probably fall into the category of things most people would do if they had the power to do so. So I don't think we can always identify charity solely by it's manifestation. A person's motives are not always apparent and two identical acts by different people could have different motives: love, guilt, pride, etc. Charity is, after all, love but in it's pure, divinely enhanced state.

So is it only charity when it's manifested as an act someone with less pure love would not perform? I think there is as much an increased depth as there is breadth when someone acquires the gift of charity such that an identical act may be performed with purer love. But I do get your point @Fether. Some manifestations of love do not come as naturally as others and perhaps may manifest closer proximity to that divine attribute we seek.

Where is this flooding taking place? Apparently it has not been on my radar.

[Fether]

3 hours ago, laronius said:

Where is this flooding taking place? Apparently it has not been on my radar.

Cedar City. It’s nothing devastating that would make more than a one or two days of evening news, but that kind of flooding is unheard of here.

[Fether]

3 hours ago, laronius said:

Many of the acts of love performed by Jesus would probably fall into the category of things most people would do if they had the power to do so. So I don't think we can always identify charity solely by it's manifestation. A person's motives are not always apparent and two identical acts by different people could have different motives: love, guilt, pride, etc. Charity is, after all, love but in it's pure, divinely enhanced state.

So is it only charity when it's manifested as an act someone with less pure love would not perform? I think there is as much an increased depth as there is breadth when someone acquires the gift of charity such that an identical act may be performed with purer love. But I do get your point @Fether.

I think there are contemporary forms of charity, world forms of you will. Affection, kindness, generosity, love, admiration, care, etc.

Charity is the pure love of Christ. It isn’t “like” the pure love of Christ, or it’s not “the best way to look at it”. It IS the pure love of a Christ, and I don’t think that love can be simple drawn down to “do good”.

Everyone wants to do good, and that comes from Christ, but that is not a full definition of charity. We find that pure love of Christ partly i  extravagant acts of donations and giving, but I would say until we learn to despise gossip, and to empathize with those who may have vastly different religious, moral, or political views. It’s found in me forgiving my co-worker who, time and time again, fails to do what he says he will do, leaving me with extra tasks to do that take me away from getting paid. I feel like overcoming those things will bring us closer to developing that pure love of Christ than donating our extra TV to a person whose house burned down.

I also feel like Charity is an attribute you have, not something you apply to others. If I am saying “I need more charity for Joe”, then I would say I have no charity at all. What is being referred to is tolerance, or perhaps some other contemporary of charity. Charity is not applied selectively, but rather when we have it, it is applied to all equally.

[Anddenex]

What then is the "pure love of Christ"? There are aspects of charity that are easily seen in Christ's life:

1) He glorified the Father, and his will was swallowed up in the will of his Father.

2) He was willing to give his life that another might be saved. In his case everyone might be saved.

3) He followed his own counsel regarding a willingness not to save his own life. The teaching that he that saveth his life shall lose it, but he that loses his life shall save it.

4) Pure religion and what that is, which is what Christ did

We are understanding the quote from the Bible dictionary a little differently. I have interpreted that in light of the Pharisees giving tithes and offerings in comparison with the widow's mite. Their (Pharisees) giving wasn't giving to glorify God, or to follow the other three items mentioned. It was to glorify themselves. So the donation of alms is not always a sign of charity, but it can be a sign if the person is giving according to the two great commandments. So, it is more a matter of heart.

Example, the three young men who carried women and children across the river who ended up losing their life. We are informed that act alone (an act of benevolence) sealed their inheritance to the Celestial kingdom. I can't say as to their heart for #1, but we definitely can see how they honored 2, 3, and 4.

Charity is a gift. It is a way of life and living, not a moment in time. A moment in time may be a sign that someone has the pure love of Christ, or has exercised charity (which is what allows us to grow).

[Fether]

2 minutes ago, Anddenex said:

We are understanding the quote from the Bible dictionary a little differently. I have interpreted that in light of the Pharisees giving tithes and offerings in comparison with the widow's mite. Their (Pharisees) giving wasn't giving to glorify God, or to follow the other three items mentioned. It was to glorify themselves. So the donation of alms is not always a sign of charity, but it can be a sign if the person is giving according to the two great commandments. So, it is more a matter of heart.

We understand it the same. I agree with this completely. My qualm was that when we talk about charity, the vast majority of the time it is done by talking about epic acts of service, that somehow those acts are what we need to focus on.

I find that those epic acts of service are, often times, far easier to do than the little ones.

I think, rather than focusing on those acts, we should focus more on the small day to day acts. Our opinions of others, gossip, developing empathy. The things we do when no one is watching, or when we are surrounded by like minded people, is a better sign of our level of charity.

[Anddenex]

7 minutes ago, Fether said:

We understand it the same. I agree with this completely. My qualm was that when we talk about charity, the vast majority of the time it is done by talking about epic acts of service, that somehow those acts are what we need to focus on.

I find that those epic acts of service are, often times, far easier to do than the little ones.

I think, rather than focusing on those acts, we should focus more on the small day to day acts. Our opinions of others, gossip, developing empathy. The things we do when no one is watching, or when we are surrounded by like minded people, is a better sign of our level of charity.

We are in agreement also, especially pertaining to gossip, back biting, forgiveness, and other small but important principles interwoven with Charity.

[Grunt]

On 11/1/2021 at 12:58 PM, Fether said:

this is very much an opinion post, and would love to hear thoughts on it.

Our 5th Sunday lesson yestersat was on charity. It proceeded as usual with defining Charity, then a conversation on what Charity looks like and how to  attain it. Things like “serve your children” and “donate things and talents”. We heard lots of stories of miracle stories of giving to the poor, and helping a family who lost everything in a house fire.

All these are good, but not better, nor best. I honestly think these types of conversations completely miss the mark.

The true test to acquire charity is not found in giving a coat to a freezing child, or buying a bed for a person who just lost their home in a fire. Those acts are extremely easy and the most average of humans on the earth will do this… but we aren’t trying to be average. Charity is the pure love of Christ, an attribute that is difficult to acquire and can only be done by the spirit.

To me, the true sign of Charity is found in avoiding gossip, patience, avoiding all anger, speaking no evil of anyone, offering the benefit of the doubt when you don’t know the full story, etc. these are the conversations we need to have, not spending an entire 5th Sunday trying to convince to donate food to a family that is starving to death.

Thank you for this.  There are so many things I could be better at.