Charity and Renown, v.1

Yes, I’m sorry I forgot about this.

Mostly, I started this blog as a place to put my thoughts anonymously without connecting my facebook or other public personas to it. But I said to myself, “Self, maybe you should put your thoughts on your facebook profile. What do you have to hide?”

Well, given how politicized modern employers are, I’d say enough.

So, here we go again.

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Now, I probably haven’t said it here before, but I’m no fan of Glenn Beck. There are various reasons for this, but mostly it’s not his corporate-lap dog politics, it’s not his insufferable mannerisms and ego;

It’s his theology.

Now, let me start and say, I’m not knocking Mormonism. I am the first person to say if someone wants to believe in a galactic space overlord named Xenu who brainwashed alien souls to cause all human misery on the planet today, then have fun with that, homeslice. As long as their theology does not go against basic human compassion, put innocent lives at risk, or demand that the entire world covert or die, I’m pretty much cool with it.

But to call oneself Christian is to declare that you are willing to believe a very specific set of beliefs, and moral codes to live by. The entirety of Christian law is summed up in two short rules: Love God, and Love Thy Neighbor. Nothing else matters – our duty to look after the poor and downtrod is only secondary to our love for God. And what baffles me today is how that most simplistic of message, simplistic of an ethos, simplistic of a worldview has been twisted by those with a microphone to somehow justify their own greed.

Human avarice is something that we all struggle with. How much do we really need to live comfortable lives and fulfill our duties as Christians? Depends on who you ask. But while there may be no inherent sin in being wealthy, it’s what you do with those resources that define you as a Christian or not.

In Beck’s television show earlier today, he reminisced with the audience that while on the Christmas vacation, he and his wife made a commitment to donate more to charity. He made a commitment to “invest in people. Not having pity on someone less fortunate and giving them a couple of bucks. That doesn’t change anything! How does that person turn around and make a difference. My wife and I are going to invest in people!”

Okay, I’ll admit that merely the dispersal of wealth is not a perfect system for aiding the poor. Merely giving someone money on the street is no guarantee that money will be spent wisely, or for the best things that person needs at the moment. People may need job training, new clothes, or other items in order to help them out of the abyss of poverty.

Beck goes on to crow, wishing that someone would print a T-shirt that says to those liberals, “I’ve upped my charity, now up yours,” and then he revealed that he has such a t-shirt for sale on his website.

And every good intention and actual good work that would have come that effort that Beck was about to make just went out the window. Getting people behind an admirable slogan is certainly not a bad thing via T-shirts. When it comes to charity and helping the poor, telling people to donate more time, effort or financial resources is a good thing. All of it is undone when you turn right around and encourage them to buy a T-shirt that not only celebrates on how much of a better person they now are, but effectively gives a giant middle finger to everyone else who isn’t a good as a person as they are.

All while padding Beck’s pockets with profits made from the T-shirt.

I could forgive all of this if the proceeds went to charity. But a search of Beck’s website reveals a deafening silence on where those profits are going to go to, and since Beck is very much a for-profit kind of guy, the only assumption I can make is that he and his company are getting the profits.

I am also suddenly reminded of a certain Matthew 6:3 as well; “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”

Christianity, as with many other religions, preaches humility when doing charity. It’s not enough to do charity work for the praise of others; we should be wholeheartedly rejecting that praise. Instead, we should let the acts stand for what they are, and be more concerned about helping people then the renown that comes with them.

But that would mean Beck is a humble man, and humble men do not have Cable punditry shows.

Sources:

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201101040031

http://glennbeck.shop.musictoday.com/Product.aspx?cp=29940&pc=BXCT045

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