Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Reading v. Watching Movies


Some people consider reading to be superior over watching movies, no matter what you are reading, or what you are watching.

There is a point to be made here.  Any kind of reading, even trashy novels, improves one's writing skills.  One's spelling improves, the likelihood of writing well increases.  To watch movies is a passive action.

However, if one is watching a good movie, like reading a good book, it opens your eyes to look at reality in a different way, to see things from another's perspective, to open our minds to a historical context, to introduce us to a new culture or a new experience that we might never have otherwise had.  Even if that experience is partly fictional, it invigorates our minds to a deeper understanding and compassion to what others have been through.  And a movie can give you that visceral experience without the length of a book.

So I guess it depends on what kind of book you are reading and what kind of movie you are watching.  And it depends on what kind of education you value.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Compassion

A recent study has found that religious people, in general, have less compassion than others who are not religious.  NPR article  This is odd, since it has already been shown that religious people tend to give more to charity than the non-religious. Study by Stanford

What does this mean?  First of all, that the religious give more out of duty rather than compassion.  It would be interesting to try to get the numbers that religious and secular people give to charities to the poor or give to political causes or one's own religious community.  It also means that duty is a more effective means of motivating giving rather than compassion.

For Christians, however, why should this be?  There is something terribly wrong with this.  Some Christians say, "The important thing is that we are giving, not the motivation for giving."  At least when I first posted the original study and concluded something was wrong, that was the response I got.  Obedience to the command of giving is what is important, not the motivation behind it.

I strongly disagree.  For a number of reasons.

First of all, to give out of duty means that giving is significant, not where we give.  Most Christians feel that it is sufficient to give to their church and their church primarily gives that money to staff salaries and property maintenance and growth.  Because there is little concern about compassion, little of the money actually goes where Jesus says it goes.  He never said, "Sell your possessions and give to the church."  The apostles didn't take the sacrifice of the people and give themselves good salaries, nor did they build any buildings.  Rather, they used the far majority of their funds creating programs for the poor.  (Acts 4-5)  The poor is where the majority of Christian funds should be given.  There is nothing wrong with salaries ("The worker is worth his hire") or buildings necessarily, but if the staff and buildings aren't used for the benefit of the poor, then we are disobeying Jesus command.  Thus, neglecting our true duty.

Secondly, we are supposed to have the character of God.  This isn't taught much in Christian churches, (sadly), but there is a strong theme in the NT about having the character of God. "Be imitators of God and walk in love" (Eph 5:1) "Love your enemies so you may be sons of your Father in heaven for he is kind to the ungrateful." (Matthew 5:42-43)

And most Christians do know that we are supposed to imitate Jesus.  And one of the main characteristics of Jesus is compassion for those in need.  "He had compassion on them." (Just in Matthew: 9:36; 14:14;  15:32; 20:34).  Jesus spent all of his time teaching and meeting people's needs.  He really had no other ministry.
If the church of Jesus has rejected compassion as their main motivation, but duty, they are no longer sons of God, who is "gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in merciful faithfulness."  Instead, we are slaves.  The slave does the duty of the Master because they must.  It is the son of the Master that sees his duty as being like the Master.

We all have a certain amount of empathy.  Without it, we cannot learn, we cannot live in societies or communities.  And we have the ability to exercise our compassion.  If we refuse to grow our compassion, we refuse to become like God, thus we are refusing to be children of God.   Yes, we can give out of duty, but then we remain slaves.

God deliver us from our limited moral vision.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Grace



A basic principle of life is "You reap what you sow." Whatever you did in your past life, that is what you will gain in your present and future life. 


If I sowed well and have a huge, wonderful garden, and I see my neighbor who didn't sow well and he and his family are starving-- what does it say about me if I look at him and say "You should have sown better", without giving him from my bounty? It means I am without compassion. 


I'd rather hang out with the generous people who treat others "unfairly".  Like Jesus.


"She travels outside of karma"