Are we richly blessed?

Responsibility and Wealth (June 1, 2023)

The natural Christian assumption is that we should feel happy and thank God when we receive blessings of the financial kind.  Maybe it’s a reward for being faithful.  This is a tricky assumption as most wealth in the world is likely held by people of lesser faith, at least in the Christian God.  After all, one-percent of the population of the world owns 50% of the world’s total wealth.

Or its primarily a factor of personal achievement, with little connection to the will of God.  After all, the Bible says God will supply us with what we need, not what we want.  Or is wealth bestowed to Christians by God as a test of how we deal with the money?

Regardless of the varying religious philosophies of wealth, we could all benefit from a healthy dose of apprehension when we earn more than we need.  That is, wealth should go hand-in-hand with responsibility, particularly to those who are not in a position to meet their basic needs.  

In my various articles addressing charitable donations in Canada, I outline the failure of the truly wealthy (e.g., the one-percent) to give away a reasonable percentage of their annual income, measured at one point in time to be only one-half of one percent.  I have read writings on the internet that stress the goodness of the rich giving away such large donations in terms of total dollars, and as a percentage of total dollars given by everyone.  It’s starting to feel like a smoke-screen or rationalization for their true philanthropic natures.

But it appears to be an issue even more problematic than the numbers suggest.  We all know the Christian teaching on not talking/bragging about our giving.  (You know, right-hand versus left-hand.)  Yet we so often hear about the large ‘endowments’ made by the rich, often to universities and arts organizations.  In fact, the ones you hear about most are for capital projects.  By the way, the rich donor gets to name the new building, wing or exhibit.  It often seams to be more of an exercise in legacy building than philanthropy.  (And, are universities and art centres really where charity should be prioritized?)

Just for the fun of it, I perused the annual report of one of my local area’s largest charities.  Lo and behold, they had a Donor Honour Roll section with five categories for donations in defined dollar-ranges (each with a catchy name).  On the ‘roll’ were 104 donors noted as anonymous and 289 listed by family name (no foundations or companies were on these rolls).  Thus, 74% of these high-givers opted-in to having their name listed on the charity’s website.  This suggests that, for many, altruism was not their only motivation for their donation.

I fully get why this is not an issue for the receiver of donations, and nor should it be.  It is an issue related only to each person’s walk with God.