READER RESPONSE -- God loves a cheerful giver

Reader Tim Giblette writes some nice words about today’s Pioneer Press column and in addition adds what I find to be a thoughtful paragraph that casts the column in a spiritual light.

To restate the essence of your argument from a religious standpoint; when one is forced to contribute to the less fortunate at the point of a government sword, neither the giver nor receiver is blessed. The giver because the act was involuntary, and the receiver because an ungrateful sense of entitlement develops as well as the hazards of living on the dole. On the flip side of that equation, when someone voluntarily contributes time or money to those who are less fortunate than both parties are blessed because the giver improves his character and pleases God while the receiver is more apt to be humbled by the generosity of his fellow man (especially if the charity requires some sort of effort on the part of the recipient so that he may retain his dignity).

The wonder of God's handiwork is that concepts like "morality" are truths that, as Jefferson noted, "are self-evident" -- meaning they can be explained without reference to God in the political realm, but are never fully understood without reference to God in the spiritual realm.

Amen, Tim

2 Corinthians 9:7