The Death of Compassion
Today I read an article by Clint Rainey over at culture11.com entitled The Decline and Fall of Charity. It is really said to think about some of the things in this article. As Americans our care for the poor as demonstrated by our giving to charities is dismal. When we look at this the only thing that we can say is that as Americans we are lacking in compassion. As the economy becomes more unstable projections are that it will get worse. When our generation is judged by how we cared for our poor we will come up lacking. For it appears that compassion may be dying.
In every election we hear politicians preaching the need to care for the poor, yet the actual care falls far short. One side says that the government should be in charge of looking after the poor, the other says that it is the role of the private sector. Yet, looking at the recent financial scandals it appears that we should not trust the politicians and business community to be any more caring then the private sector. We seem to be lacking the virtue of compassion on all levels.
The one bright spot in the article is that the group that gives the most is Christians. Which, considering compassion is a Christian virtue, is really good. Yet, before we start patting ourselves on the back, we need to realize that we were only marginally ahead of the culture at large. According to Empty Tomb, a Christian research group, put the average giving among church goers at 3.4% which is 21% less than what people gave during the worst of the great depression. According to this article contributions from churchgoers has been cascading downward since the 1960′s. This is simply dealing with giving to churches, and doesn’t even reflect giving to the poor. Often mercy ministries are lacking in church ministry, and giving to mercy ministries out side of the church is declining.
Have you ever thought why there is such a decline when personal wealth has been on the increase? The only conclusion I can come to is that we have our eyes on our wealth and not on the person of Jesus. For as Jesus said,
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24, ESV).
I wonder if God is asking us who we have been serving? Read the article and see if God is speaking to you.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Nice Site layout for your blog. I am looking forward to reading more from you.
Tom Humes